Reuben and Shelly Ritthaler raise hay and cattle on unique country Reuben Ritthaler is the third generation on his family’s ranch near Upton, where his grandfather and greatuncle were some of the first to homestead in the 1890s. “My great-uncle Frank came up on a Texas Trail drive, bringing cattle to the area where the 101 Ranch used to summer cattle,” Reuben says. “Frank and my grandpa Billy ranched together for awhile, then split their holdings. My parents bought the ranch from grandpa and grandma. Then, my wife and I and my brother and his wife bought it from my dad,” notes Reuben. “My brother and I named it Ritthaler Cattle Company when we took it over. After my brother passed away in 1990, my wife and I bought out my sister-in-law,” he adds. Good hay country Today, the ranch runs a lot of cattle and grows a lot of hay – without irrigation. “This is probably the only area in Wyoming that can put up 2.5 tons of alfalfa hay per acre on a dry-
land farm,” Reuben states. “There is some irrigation, but there isn’t much water to irrigate with and we can still grow a lot of hay.” “It’s a good thing because we have nasty weather and a lot of snow in the winter, so we need to feed a lot of hay,” he adds. Reuben points out the ranch’s location – settled on the banks of Buffalo and Raven creeks – makes good hay country “Just 30 miles south, toward the Cheyenne River, it’s a totally different ecosystem,” he says. “They can’t grow hay, but they can graze cattle year-round with supplement because they have open winters.” He continues, “This part of the country is unique – it’s good hay country. The Lord gave us good hay country because He knew we’d need it. We get snow that shuts down grazing, no matter how much grass we have.” Reuben explains the grass in his region is native shortgrass bunchgrass and very strong, with good
Original homestead – Ritthaler Cattle Company was originally homesteaded by Reuben Ritthaler’s grandfather and great-uncle in the 1890s. Courtesy photo
BIG WEST Land & Cattle, Inc.
BULLS FOR SALE HIGH ALTITUDE • HIGH GROWTH BULLS WITH BUTTS, NUTS AND GUTS
Balanced Genetic Traits in a Structurally Sound Frame Good Feet, Legs, Phenotype and Eye Appeal
Ingalls Kahuna
Continued on next page
CED: +10 • BW: -.2 • WW: +89 YW: +152 •SC: +2.65 $M: +100 • $C: +335
Ritthaler Cattle Company is home to fastest growing rail park in the U.S. In addition to raising hay and cattle, Reuben started a rail park known as Tiger Transfer with his neighbor nearly 20 years ago, and today, it is the fastest growing rail park in the U.S. “We are on the main line of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway,” Reuben points out. “We have about 55,000 feet of track, we handle a lot of cars and we have a lot of people working there.” “I’m ranching on a place that was homesteaded in 1899, but I homesteaded the rail park with this piece of land along the railroad,” he states. Reuben shares, “Some people have asked how I knew how to build the park. I designed it the same way I put in working corrals for cattle, and it works nicely. You can’t just put them all in one end and bring them out, you need a way to dump them out into the alley, and this is how all of the tracks are – alleys.” “We have about 12,000 trucks coming and going each year, trans-loading to and from the railroad cars. We also have a couple switch engines moving cars around,” Reuben concludes.
Owned Herd Sire
Ingalls Kahuna is the only sire in the AAA database with the phenotypic traits of CED, BW, WW, YW, YH, SC, HP, Milk, Claw & Angle in the top 25% with every carcass trait i.e. CW, Marb, RE & Fat in the top 35% and with all 8 $values in the top 25%. He is currently showing 24 EPD’s and $values in the top 1/3 of the breed, of which 12 are in the top 10% and 8 in the top 5%.
Owned Herd Sire
Sitz Resilient
CED: +8 BW: +.3 WW: +75 YW: +130 SC: +1.12 $M: +94 $C: +271
Kahuna's Dam with her 3rd calf, a full sister to Kahuna at 5½ months old. She has weaned 3 calves with an average weaning ratio of 111 and is as fertile as they come with a calving interval of 3 @ 355
Registered Angus since 1894 • 7 Generations The oldest Registered Angus herd in America
WYOMING • NORTH DAKOTA • SONORA, MX
Jasper Ingalls (WY & ND) | 307-349-3097 | jasper@bigwest.us Spencer Ingalls (ND) | 307-349-1894 | spencer@ingalls.us Dan Ingalls (MX) | 307-690-7557 | dan@ingalls.us