By Sarah Hill
Photos courtesy Bush Angus
Bush Angus, Britton, S.D., builds on their legacy of performance.

For nearly 100 years, the Bush family, Britton, S.D., has been committed to raising high-quality registered Angus cattle. The sixth generation is now joining the operation.
W.E. Bush, a rancher and South Dakota state senator, brought the first registered Angus cow to the farm in 1927. He sold registered Angus bulls, seed, pigs, and horses. W.E.’s son, Clifford, had a registered Angus heifer that showed well at the South Dakota State Fair, so he purchased that heifer.
The following year, the heifer’s dam was added to the Bush herd. That dam proved to be foundational to the family’s Angus herd, with all cows today currently tracing to that one female. Clifford took over day-to-day operations when his father joined the state senate. Clifford’s son, Jim, took over the reins shortly after returning home from college.

Anchored in Angus
The family has stuck with the Angus breed over the decades because the breed is low maintenance, fertile, and durable.
“Angus females have excellent longevity, and the bulls still have performance and a good look to them,” said Jim’s son, Scott Bush. “When I came home from college, I thought it was easy to have a good cow, because my dad was such a good cattleman. I’ve learned a lot since then.”
Scott always knew he was going to farm. Jim and his wife, Carol, insisted that Scott attend college first, so he got a degree in animal science from South Dakota State University, also serving on the livestock judging team. He came back to the farm after graduating in 1992.
Scott’s son, Tyler, graduated in 2021 from South Dakota State University with his animal science degree, after completing a successful career in collegiate livestock judging. Tyler won the national collegiate judging contest in Louisville during his senior year of college and served as chairman of the National Junior Angus Board of Directors.
“I’m thankful that Tyler came back to the farm,” Scott said. “He’s really good to work with, smart and a go-getter. We both judge a lot of cattle shows across the country and sometimes judge together, so it can get tricky with our schedules.”
Finding good labor has been another challenge in the past few years - particularly someone who is willing to tackle multiple types of work on the farm. Scott’s wife, Jo, helps on the ranch, and his daughter, Brittany, owns a daycare in town but helps with the bull sale.
The operation includes pasture, alfalfa fields, and farm ground where they raise corn and soybeans.

Incorporating Technology
Bush Angus looks a little different today than it did in 1992. The family has incorporated technology into various aspects of the operation, from utilizing embryo transfer and EID tags to cameras and genomic testing.
“I was blessed with what I came into, with the facilities, but we like being at the forefront of technology,” Scott said. “You’ve got to keep moving forward.”
The Bush family has also expanded the cow herd and moved up their calving date so they can be more competitive selling older bulls. Their land base has grown over the decades and today, the Bush family is promoting their bulls nationwide.
Each Animal Counts
Bush Angus calves out 175 cows each spring. Scott said they prefer to keep their cattle big and productive and have culled down their numbers more with the intention of making each animal count.
“That approach has really helped us,” he said. “We typically have about 75 bull calves born every year and are pretty hard on culling, but we generally cut only five to seven a year—and that’s just because they’re too young to sell.”
When Scott first returned to the ranch, the herd was calving around March 25. Over the past 30 years, the Bushes have bumped up their calving date, so females start as early as January 8 in 2025.
“The cows were cycling well, so we decided to give it a whirl,” he said. “The cows responded well, despite getting bumped up 30 to 45 days, and the bulls did a good job.”
Bush Angus focuses on breeding powerful cattle that are stout, big-boned, good hipped, and nice to look at. Scott said that approach results in more consistent cattle with an extra blend of maternal traits.
“We breed to produce bulls that are big and powerful,” he said. “You have to remember; the half siblings of those bulls make up your cow herd. That masculinity in bulls translates to making good cows.”
Bush Angus has produced several standout bulls that have had success in AI studs. A few years ago, the family bred and sold Bush’s Custom Built 860 for $86,000, but they’ve still been using him on their own herd.
“He’s been a standard, especially for more calving ease,” Bush said. “He doesn’t give up any stoutness.”
A bull the family purchased called Evenson Everest 964 has been another top sire for the herd, producing the Bush’s top selling sets of calves every year. Bush Angus has sold many bulls out of Everest, equipped with good foot quality and power.
“We’re pretty aggressive about buying bulls to bring in new genetics,” Scott said. “We like a certain kind of cattle, but we like to buy herd bulls and get different blends. When we buy a bull, it’s a herd bull, not a clean up bull. With our herd size, every three years or so, you’ve got to make a move with the genetics, so the cattle don’t get concentrated a certain way.”
Vin-Mar O’Reilly Factor is a bull that has shaped the Bush Angus female base, and Scott said that all of the pedigrees of their best cows have O’Reilly Factor as the grandsire.
The Bush family works with two cooperator herds to raise embryo calves out of donor cows.
No Grain, Ever
All the cattle at Bush Angus eat a roughage-based diet, and the cow herd never receives grain. The family chops silage each year, which is a critical part of their herd’s feeding regimen. Rations include silage, ground hay, alfalfa and grass, and the herd grazes on cornstalks in the fall. When the weather gets bitterly cold, the Bushes will raise the net energy maintenance ration with silage.
“We’ve been blessed with good crops,” Scott said. “Our silage has some punch to it.”
Replacement heifers are on a high-roughage ration at 44 to 45 megacalories, including three pounds of corn, a protein pellet with essential amino acids, omega 6, yeast and Amaferm®.
“We don’t want them to get too fleshy, because then they’re easier to breed,” he said. “A simple ration is good - it helps the cattle be more consistent.”
Bulls are weaned at the end of August and put on a TMR that’s 46 to 48 mega calories for the fall with 15 percent protein, including corn silage, ground hay, and a protein pellet. If the fall gets cold, the Bush family will bump the TMR up to 50 megacalories.

Always Selling Cattle
In 2025, the Bushes will host their 51st annual sale. In past years, Bush Angus has also sold 25 to 30 open heifers and some bred females. All their bulls are broken to tie by sale day.
“We market a few show heifers in the fall and sell donor cows and embryos,” Scott said. “It used to be that you only sold cattle on the day of your bull sale. Today, you’ve always got to have something available for sale when somebody calls - otherwise, you could lose that customer.”
The personal touch with customers is what Scott really enjoys about raising cattle, and he says it’s more challenging to have that personal touch when selling cattle online. The Bushes have a policy to deliver their bulls to the customer’s barn door.
“Honesty and integrity are number one; we’ve always been straight forward with our customers,” Scott said. “I like selling bulls and being around people.”
Out of each year’s calf crop, the majority are sold during the ranch’s annual sale, with a few being retained each year to be sold through private treaty. In 2024, some 80 percent of bulls sold from Bush Angus ended up within 45 miles of their ranch.
“We’ve had some nice local trade, and we’ve been very lucky with that,” he said. “It looks bad if you can’t sell bulls to your neighbors.”
The Bushes use social media to promote their bulls and are always working on their website, according to Scott. They’ve sold bulls across the U.S. and Canada, but are always looking to broaden their reach.
“We’ve also got a nice customer base in Maryland,” he said. “We’re tracking hits and seeing why we get hits and when most of our website traffic comes, but I’m still pretty old school - I like print ads in good magazines.”
Show Ring Success
The Bushes have shown and won grand and reserve many times at the National Western Stock Show in both the show ring and the pen show. They’ve also made appearances at the American Royal and North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) and the NILE Stock Show. The family also won their division at the National Junior Angus Show on several occasions.
“We haven’t missed Denver in years,” Bush said. “It’s our favorite. It takes more people nowadays on a crew to be competitive, and it’s been tough lately, with our labor situation. Tyler can’t go to shows as much as he wants.”

Not Slowing Down
The future is filled with excitement for Bush Angus. Jim is still very active on the ranch. Tyler is proving himself to be an excellent cattleman and people person and is looking to expand the operation into selling more heifers in the fall and attending more shows.
“As long as Tyler wants to go, I’m not going to stop him,” Scott said. “We’re tough on quality - we keep culling and have a goal in mind. We talk about what kind of female we want every day and try to make the best possible version of that.”
When the family isn’t working on the ranch, judging a cattle show, or buying bulls – then they’re likely on the golf course.
“Sitting back and being complacent isn’t part of our strategy,” Scott said. “Staying aggressive and seeking new opportunity is what will still keep our operation moving forward generationally.”
51st Annual Production Sale:
Saturday, February 22, 2025
At the farm near Britton, S.D.
learn more at www.bushangus.com
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