Horse Butte Ranch, owned and operated by Dennis and
Erica Voss, is located in the northeastern foothills of
the Crazy Mountains, south of the historic cow town of
Two Dot, about 120 miles northwest of Billings, Montana.
Lined with cottonwoods, Big Elk Creek meanders down
through the ranch on the east side, getting its source
of water high up in the Crazy Mountains. The ranch is
blessed with good water and strong, hard grass. However
the environment is challenging to the cow herd because
it is very rocky with steep elevations and long
distances to travel to water. Horse Butte cows must be
tough, rugged and aggressive range foragers. Little hay
is fed and only when winter conditions require it.
The 600 cows and heifers are range calved in May and
June. This lessens the winter feed requirements and, as
another benefit, results in healthier calves that
haven’t been stressed by wet, cold weather. Multiple
bulls are used in larger breeding pastures on both
commercial and registered cattle. DNA is used to sire
identify calves. The maternal qualities of the Angus cow
have always been central to our genetic selection
process. The Horse Butte cow is moderate framed,
efficient, deep bodied, excellent uddered and a devoted
mother with an intense maternal attitude.
In 1998 we were given the prestigious “Certified Angus
Seedstock Producer of the Year” award for our years of
carcass testing and devotion to the Certified Angus Beef
product. Starting in 2003, the “Horse Butte Forage
Developed Bull Sale” was changed to a November sale,
offering coming 2 year old, May/June calved range bulls.
We now select about 140 head of bull calves from the
registered cows for our sale at weaning, based upon
conformation, foot and leg structure, health and
performance off the cow at weaning, not knowing which
sires they are out of. Through DNA testing about 95% can
be sire identified. The balance of the bull calves are
banded and sold as yearling steers
Shoshone bloodlines, line bred by Larry Leonhardt over
many years to lock in maternal goodness and consistency,
infuse the cowherd. Currently Shoshone Encore 6310 (born
in 1985, bred his last cows as a 12 year old bull and
his dam calved her last calf at 17 years of age) is the
foundation of the Horse Butte genetic base. This bull
offers the right amount of many traits to fit our
program and environment. The inclusion of PAPA Forte
1921 and DHD Traveler 6807 and Shoshone genetics
complete the picture. This offers our commercial bull
buyers outcross genetics tailored for efficiency and
maternal fundamentals. A lot of our customers retain
their own replacement heifers and they don’t want their
cows to get too big. They also rely on our genetics to
produce fertility, excellent udders and all the good
things the Angus cow can offer.
Horse Butte cattle produce Certified Angus Beef premiums
as well as cater to forage oriented marketing programs.
They feed out fast and efficiently with exceptional
appetite and conversion. The Horse Butte bulls produce
outstanding replacement females and optimal performance
in grass environments. They are not cattle selected for
extremes in any trait. We use EPD’s as an afterthought –
a way to see what’s resulted from our selection criteria
which is based on breeding animal to animal. We’ve never
bought into breeding numbers to numbers or dollars to
dollars, and the commercial producers who support our
program understand this.
Our horse program is designed to produce
versatile, athletic Quarter Horses with intelligence,
disposition and cow sense from our 50 broodmares. Six
stallions are used exclusively for the mare bands
including The Hollywood Buster, the last grandson of
Hollywood Gold.
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