ountry C Friday, April 2, 2021
cres A Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 8, Edition 21
, e l t t a All c
all the time
Koketts raise Gelbviehs, Balancers BY DIANE LEUKAM STAFF WRITER
LITTLE FALLS – At Kokett Farm, it’s all about cattle. “Just yesterday, I laid down and a text came in from a guy looking at a PVF Marvel Angus and I told Andrea, ‘that’s all our life is, is cows, nothing else,’” Ben Kokett said March 17 at the farm near Little Falls. That’s just fine with them. Ben and Andrea Moss have been together just seven years, but their lives have involved cattle for decades. Andrea’s path has carried her across nations; she was born in France and lived in many places as part of a military family. As an adult, she worked cattle on a large ranch near Carson City, Nevada, at
PHOTO BY DIANE LEUKAM
Ben Kokett discusses genetic traits of cattle in an auction catalog while Andrea Moss looks on, March 17 at their home near Little Falls. The couple raises Gelbvieh, Angus, Red Angus and Balancer cattle on the Kokett farm.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Daisy Mae, a purebred Red Balancer heifer, stands at attention during a cattle show in 2018 at the Morrison County Fair.
the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. While there, she was responsible for a variety of tasks for a herd consisting of Angus, Shorthorn, Longhorn and Brahman. In general, she feels the cattle on the Kokett farm have a better life than those out on
the open range. “Every now and then, we make comparisons and our cattle are living at the Taj Mahal compared to what those poor critters did,” Andrea said. “I love to work with our herd and these cattle are amazing; as far as cattle go they are friendly,
which I can really appreciate.” For Ben, his love of cattle goes back much further, to when he was growing up nearby. “Dad bought me a calf when I was 8 and so it began,” he said. Clover was a Polled Hereford, and Ben showed the calf as a member of the the Snappy Elmdalers 4-H Club. Now, the animals on the farm are all polled (bred to be without horns), but they are different breeds. The Koketts raise 100 beef cows that are Gelbvieh, Angus, Red Angus and Balancer, which is the trademark of registered Gelbviehs crossbred with other breeds. From the farm, they have sold bulls to 10 states and to Taiwan. Kokett started with Gelbviehs in 1975, about the time when the breed was introduced to the United States. They made a connection to a dairy farmer in Little Falls who wanted some of his dairy animals bred with Gelbviehs. They made a deal. “They wanted the calves,
and the same with embryos,” Ben said. “We would put in three embryos, we’d get one and they’d take two. We had seen quite a few breeds and the Gelbviehs were the ones we liked, and we still like.” According to Ben, the best trait of the Gelbviehs is their fertility. He has had plenty of time to develop his opinions, having worked in AI (artificial insemination) as a cattle breeder for 44 years. Most of his clients are dairy farmers within a 30-mile radius. Most of his work is with Holstein cattle for dairy, but when an animal fails to breed back after calving, another breed is selected for better fertility. “We’ll breed them three or four times, then throw an Angus or Montbéliarde in,” he said. When he is not on the road working for dairy farmers, he is at home working with the beef herd. Genetics play a huge part
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