Strength from Within | November 2025

By Cheryl Kepes

photos courtesy Spickler family

Spickler Ranch North harnesses its genetic power through meticulous herd management and reliance on its own progeny for current and future success.

Spickler Ranch North calls home a section of east central North Dakota where the rolling hills are covered with a mix of native grasses and converge with the James River. The ranch, owned and operated by Justin and Sara Spickler along with their children; Wyatt, Will, Jessa, and Watson, has been in the family going on four generations. The registered, purebred Angus operation utilizes genetics developed over 20 years to produce functional bulls and females.

The Spicklers run their cow herd on 7,000 acres of owned and leased land. They rely heavily on the native grasses to grow and develop their herd. The cow herd consists of roughly 800 registered Angus cows. The Spicklers sell 135 bulls during their annual production sale every December. The ranch is known for developing bulls that can thrive in various environmental conditions.

Building Adaptable Genetics

The purebred Angus females in Spickler Ranch North’s herd possess strong maternal characteristics and proven longevity traits. Many of the females’ pedigrees connect to longstanding cow families within the program. Females such as Queen Essa, Blossom, Selena, and Cora along with their progeny all serve as the linchpins of Spickler Ranch North’s herd.

Cattle at Spickler Ranch North graze on cool and warm season grasses throughout the year. The Spicklers utilize rotational grazing and stockpile grass as well. Their goal is for their Angus cattle to sustain on grass for six months out of the year, a little longer if the snow doesn’t get too deep.

The females receive grass and alfalfa hay after they calve. However, for the most part, they must flourish with the resources provided in their environment. Any supplemental feedstuffs given to the herd are procured to reflect the range setting. This management strategy has played an important role in the development of registered Angus females that can succeed in their environment with minimal input.

“By doing that generationally, we have found that our cow herd has adapted,” Justin Spickler said. “The cows that are hard-keeping, tight-hided and short-haired, they pretty much weed themselves out because they don’t breed back after the next year. So, it has developed a cow herd that has thrived just by basically selection pressure on the ones that can make it in the environment, other than changing the environment to fit the cattle.”

Pedigrees and Performance

The breeding program at Spickler Ranch North consists of primarily AI work. The Spicklers breed all but 25 cows and heifers via AI. The select few that aren’t bred via AI, are utilized in the operation’s ET program.

The Spicklers AI the cows and heifers in groups of an average of 130 a week over the course of eight weeks. They start in May with groups of heifers and wrap up the end of June with mature cows. A synchronization protocol with CIDRs is used to help tighten the calving window.

Heifers are preg checked and then bred via AI a second time if needed before being exposed to a bull for natural service. Spickler Ranch North relies on its own herd sires to make genetic advancements within the herd. Though the Spicklers are quick to point out there are a lot of excellent Angus bulls in the country, it works best for their operation to develop their own.

“We use a lot of our own bulls on our cows that we’ve decided are from cow families that have extra high-quality udders, small teats, tight udders, excellent fertility, good feet and disposition, and solid mothering ability. By using our own bulls, we can eliminate a lot of unknowns that we would possibly run into with other cattle,” Justin shared.

In addition to emphasizing maternal traits, the Spicklers stress performance. “We still want the cattle to have performance and grow. We have customers who like to buy bulls and seedstock that are deep, thick, and stout. And the easiest way we have found to do that is using our own bulls,” Justin said.

Bull Development

Much like the Angus heifers and cows, the bulls at Spickler Ranch North are managed to succeed in the environment where they are raised. Once the bulls are weaned, they are then developed on a 44 mcal ration until they are yearlings. The groups of bulls are evaluated at several steps along the way for disposition, performance, hoof quality, injury, and fertility.

The bulls in the Spicklers’ annual production sale range in age from calves to yearlings to coming two-year-olds. Many of the bulls in the production sale in December will be turned out on grass after they are evaluated as yearlings. “This year’s sale bulls spent about 70 to 75 days on grass and that helps them to continue fill out and get moving and get exercise,” Justin stated. “By keeping them a little longer and turning them out on grass we have more of an opportunity to identify bulls that won’t hold up structurally in hoof quality or just actual injury.”

Most of Spickler Ranch North’s customers are commercial cattle producers. The Spickler family holds great appreciation for their bull buyers. “I think we have the best customer base in the entire world,” Justin shared. “There’s a lot of Angus bulls in the world and you can get them anywhere and they choose to get some in part or in some cases all their bulls from us and it’s a huge blessing and that’s absolutely what keeps us going,” he added.

Good Timing

The family credits their bulls’ popularity to consistency of offspring and good timing. For example, Spickler Ranch North’s bull S Powerpoint 5503 came on the scene when the industry needed a high-marbling Angus bull with a different pedigree. When S Architect 9501 emerged, the industry wanted a good-footed bull, and he fit the bill. Likewise, the timing has worked well for S Right Time 7861, he’s added fleshing ability, fertility, and good udder quality to Angus progeny at a time when producers are looking for those traits.

“Our focus hasn’t changed, we are still trying to get the cattle to fit all the important criteria we have laid out and some sires excel and if they excel at a time when the industry is looking for a change in genetics then it seems like things lineup and more people use them,” Justin said.

Horsin’ Around

Though cattle are the mainstay at the ranch, the Spicklers also raise Quarter horses. In fact, Justin’s been a Quarter horse breeder and member of AQHA longer than he’s been an Angus breeder. The Spicklers operate with a small group of mares that are serviced by a Peptoboonsmal stallion.

The Quarter horses serve as the perfect mode of transportation on the ranch, particularly in the rocky, rough ground and through trees and ravines. The ranch crews utilize the horses to sort and gather cattle and for other ranch chores.

Looking Ahead

The Spicklers hold fast to an attitude of being flexible and able to pivot in a new direction. “We’ve known all along that God will take care of us, but we’ve had to learn to be really adaptable and responsive to change,” Justin explained. Their ability to adapt when circumstances change has served them well.

Justin and Sara have kept their eye on the future for quite some time. They work daily with the goal of creating an operation that will be viable for their children if they decide to join the ranch one day. “We’ve been well cared for all along, but we just felt like we were led to try to have that opportunity for our children and if the none of the kids choose to come back, that’s obviously fine, and if they do choose to come back, that’s fine, too, and then our plan was in place,” Justin said.

Upcoming Sale:

Monday, December 8, 2025

1:00 pm CST - At the ranch

learn more www.spicklerranchnorth.com