Weinreis Family Builds Business on Hard Work & Team Work

A ll in the family Weinreis family builds business on hard work & team work

Chuck Weinreis and his six brothers never learned to cause conflict. “Our father kept us so busy we didn’t have time to stand around and argue and hassle over stuff. We went and got the work done, and maybe another brother would show up to help you with it.” By Maria Tibbetts

That attitude carries through to today, 60 years later, when all seven are still in business together. Their business spans several states and recently added a 30,000-acre ranch in northwestern South Dakota.

“Everybody does whatever needs to be done. From what I see, that’s the only thing that makes something work,” Chuck said. Chuck is the oldest boy—their family also included five sisters. “I’m the chief ditch-digger. We don’t use titles around our outfit.”

Their outfit now includes the children of Chuck and his brothers, and the same attitude is being taught to another generation.

Weinreis Brother, LLC, started in the southwest corner of North Dakota on a place homesteaded by their grandparents. When their parents and grandparents started in the business, it was still the homesteader mentality. “You put enough groceries away for the winter and put away a few dollars to buy shoes and clothes. There weren’t any handouts in those days,” Chuck said. “I kind of yearn for those days now.”

The family business doesn’t much resemble the couple quarters their grandparents homesteaded. It’s still basically agriculture, but that spans from farming to finishing cattle.

Though they own segments of every part of the beef production chain, except packing, they face the same major challenge as everyone else in the business—a lack of control over the end product price. But being diversified helps even things out a little. “I guess just because you do a lot of this, from the farming to the cow-calf to the feedlot, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a success, because we don’t have much control over the pricing as it leaves our hands.”

What they do have some control over is their input costs. Their been able to grow their business by making sure their expansions were sustainable from a cost and

management angle, and are supported by the whole family. ‘We do things as a unit,” Chuck said.

“Our father bought land when there was opportunity to do so, and that’s been carried on,” Chuck said. Their father ran his own place most of his life, and the boys all worked together to build their own business. Not long before their dad died, they took over his business.

Their most recent land acquisition, the Spear S Ranch in Meade and Butte County, South Dakota, is one they plan to use for running yearlings. It’s been operated as a cow-calf ranch, but with a few small changes, Chuck says it will suit its new purpose well. “The grass was excellent on it. It seemed like a good investment.” They don’t plan to make a lot of improvements or changes until they have owned it for a while, and see where changes need to be made for their purposes.

JD Hewitt, Hewitt Land Company, the realtor who facilitated the sale, said the place, which was sold at auction, is one of the biggest they’ve handled, and they were happy to see it pass into the hands of a ranch family.

Weinreis Brothers Back row left to right: Daniel Weinreis, George Weinreis, Lee Weinreis, Jerry Weinreis Front row left to right: Jim Weinreis, Gene Weinreis, Chuck Weinreis

“We’re delighted any time we can work with people who know ranching and are in the ranching business and looking to expand. They’re salt-of-the-earth and we’re tickled to be able to have them as clients.”

Weinreis Brothers own another ranch about 10- 12 miles away, as the crow flies, so they’ll be able to use some of the same help to run both places. The new ranch will be managed by a member of the family, as one of their business policies is that they never hire a manager.

“We’ve always worked fairly well together. The secret to it was we always had more to do than we could get done, so we appreciated everyone being there,” Chuck said.

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“Our father bought land when there was opportunity to do so, and that’s been carried on...”

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