A Real Love for the Shorthorn Red &White

red and the Shorthorn white,” says Tom. “It’s unbelievable the color you can get from the two of them.”

Today, Kleinjan Farms calves out around 340 cows and heifers every year. At one time, they had as many as 470 pairs on grass.

The operation centers around a crossbreeding program consisting of three English breeds: Angus, Herefords, and of course, Shorthorns.

With around 40 Shorthorns in the herd, about half are bred back to Shorthorn, while the other half enter the crossbreeding program by being bred to Hereford. The Hereford cross heifers are bred to Angus, which brings the black and black baldie cattle into the operation. Baldie heifers are typically bred back to Angus or Charolais.

Tom appreciates how their crossbreeding program allows him to bring out traits from each of the four breeds they use. His love for the wellknown Shorthorn mothering ability and disposition, in addition to their color, are what fuel his passion for the red and whites.

One of the most iconic parts about Tom’s Shorthorn herd is the pasture he puts them on. Positioned alongside a well-traveled road, Tom’s neighbors know exactly which pasture they can find his red, white and roan cattle every year, as Tom has continued his dad’s tradition of putting them out on the “Shorthorn pasture.”

“Back when dad was alive, there was one year where I didn’t put the Shorthorns on that pasture,” Tom says with a laugh. “He never said anything to me because he knew I was in charge of where the cows went, but I was pretty sure he would have preferred I kept the Shorthorns out on that grass.”

The Shorthorns have yet to miss a summer out on that pasture since.

A regular at the Watertown Winter Farm Show

Tom has been attending the Watertown Winter Farm Show in Watertown, South Dakota, since he and his dad would attend together prior to his dad’s passing in 1994.

“Dad and I would go to the sale together, and I would watch him buy the bulls,” Tom says. “After he died, I guess it kinda landed in my lap.”

The Watertown Winter Farm Show, held every February, has been around since 1946. The cattle shows have become one of the main attractions of the event. Breeders from across the region enter their cattle into their breed’s show, which is followed by an auction sale later in the day.

“We’ve bought a lot of good bulls off that sale and have always liked buying bulls that were used to being handled,” Tom says.

Tom’s support of the Shorthorn breed at the Watertown Winter Farm Show has been evidenced by the show committee’s records, which indicate he has bought 17 bulls from the sale over the past two decades, which does not include the number of bulls his dad purchased in the years before.

“Tom’s dedication to his family, faith and community are second to none,” says Jeff Vander Wal, Watertown Farm Show Shorthorn Breed Manager. “His dad instilled in him a desire to establish a British-based herd with a perfect set of baseline Shorthorn females. Kleinjan Farms produces exemplary feedlot cattle that receive high premium carcass prices. Tom doesn’t follow fads or copy trends, but we follow the success of his operation. He does it the right way.”

Because of Tom’s dedication to the Watertown Winter Farm Show and the Shorthorn breed, he received the 2023 Ian Miller Shorthorn Award.

The award was created in memory of Ian Miller, whose family has been active in the Shorthorn industry and the Watertown Winter Farm Show for many years. After Ian passed away in 2008 in a baling accident near Park River, North Dakota, the Shorthorn breed consignors from the show established the award in his memory and present it annually to a member of the Shorthorn community who promotes the Shorthorn breed and assists others with their Shorthorn operations.

To keep or not to keep Tom does not mess around when it comes to upholding his herd’s mothering abilities, which are rooted firmly in the breed characteristics of his program.

“A lot of my decisions on which heifers I’m keeping are made the day I tag that calf. I check her mother’s udder, feet and how she acts, and if any of those three are a question mark, I won’t keep that heifer calf,” says Tom.

At vaccination, Tom evaluates heifer calves again to make sure they are fit to make the second cut. Retaining an average of 20% of heifer calves every year, the remaining heifers are sold as breds every January, while steer calves are fed out at the farm’s feedlot.

Feeding their home-raised calves is one of the keys to Kleinjan Farms’ commercial operation. Crossing a high disposition Shorthorn with a breed like Angus produces an animal that feeds and performs well in the feedlot industry.

“Those black Angus crossed with Shorthorn feed really well and make quite the feedlot animal,” explains Tom.

The farm’s feeding philosophy is grounded in hitting a different market than most by feeding for longer than most feed yards will. Feedlot calves are backgrounded for an extended period of time and marketed during the late winter months when typical fat cattle numbers are down, therefore adding more value to their bottom line. When finished, cattle are sold to Tyson Fresh Meats in Dakota City, Nebraska.

“The cattle purchased from Kleinjan Farms consistently outperform the plant average grading of all cattle harvested at our Dakota City, Nebraska, complex,” says Tyson Fresh Meats Senior Cattle Buyer Becky Connor. “Their grading invariably reaches 50% prime, with very few, if any, grading select. Through their time-tested genetics, well-managed feeding program and impeccable animal welfare practices, Kleinjan Farms produces a desirable product sought after by both the packer and consumer all the while adding extreme value to their gridbased marketing strategy.”

Diversification over the years.

Feeding calves is not the only way

Kleinjan Farms has diversified over the years.

“My dad’s philosophy was that you never put all your eggs in one basket –that’s how you have to run the farm, too,” says Tom.

The Kleinjans raised lambs until the early 2000s but fed feeder lambs – as many as 3,600 at one time – up until a few years ago. Dairy cattle occupied a 50-head barn for many years as well. Their farrow-to-finish swine operation was phased out about 15 years ago. At its peak, the farm was farrowing out 25 sows every six weeks.

“We eventually got to the point where we could sell corn better than we could feed it, so we had to modernize parts of our farm,” says Tom.

The farm’s main crops include corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and hay. While the farm now puts up about 8,000 square bales each year, they used to put up as many as 34,000 annually.

“The sourest thing to Dad was to have to buy roughage,” Tom says with a laugh. “We had to make sure we were never short on a feed source.”

While other livestock have come and gone from the farm, the Shorthorn foundation has continued to stay rooted in Kleinjan Farms’ breeding program.