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The Future is Bright | November 2024

By Sarah Hill

Photos courtesy Valley Oaks Angus


Rooted in the Angus breed, Valley Oaks Angus is expanding and also helping other beef producers thrive.



In a little more than three decades, Valley Oaks Angus, Oak Grove, Mo., has built a reputation for functional, productive cattle. Owned by Tony and David Ward and their families, the herd was established in 1992. The Wards had shown Angus cattle growing up, competing at shows across the country, including the National Junior Angus Show (NJAS), so purchasing a herd of registered Angus cattle was a natural starting point for the operation. General Manager Jeff Gooden was hired in 2016.


Valley Oaks held its first production sale in 1993. An annual bull sale is held every March, with about 80 bulls sold per year. Many bulls are also sold through private treaty. A female production sale is held every November, selling about 60 lots, including pregnancies, fall calving cows, pairs, spring bred cows and spring yearling heifers.



All Across Missouri

Today, the operation includes several locations. The main headquarters is in Oak Grove, Mo., and a farm they call “Valley Oaks South” is near Clinton, Mo. The headquarters is home to 300 head of registered Angus cattle and the family’s show facilities. A newly acquired farm near Warsaw, Mo., includes a bull stud and embryo transfer facility and is managed by Gooden’s son, Reed. The Warsaw facility is where Valley Oaks hosts their sales and develops bulls.


“We cooperate with Crosscountry Genetics to implant embryos and calve them out,” Gooden said. “Then the calves are returned to their owners.”


Although Valley Oaks has primarily been focused on Angus cattle, they bought several Hereford bulls from big-name breeders to use as cleanup bulls on their commercial cows. The resulting black baldie calves were good for feeding out or using as recipient cows.


“We still run Hereford bulls behind our cows. Black baldies make for good recip cows,” Gooden said. “Reed selects a lot of the matings himself, but our top priorities are calving ease and growth numbers.”



Gooden explains that many Missouri cattle producers have small herds of only 20 to 30 head, so cows have to be able to deliver calves solo. However, Valley Oaks also selects matings based on carcass and growth numbers, since many of calves out of their bulls end up back in their feedlot. Many of their bull customers also watch weaning weight numbers.


The commercial herd is fed bagged corn silage and hay and receives supplemental grain during bad weather. During the summer, if the weather isn’t too dry, the cattle graze and get a few pounds of grain a couple of times per week. After the corn is cut in the fall, rye is planted as another silage crop that’s harvested in the spring on 150 to 200 acres of crop ground.


All of the ET calves that are co-oped for other producers are at the Warsaw farm and are born in the fall. The registered herd has about 70 head of fall calving cows and 150 cows calving in the spring. Any of Valley Oaks’ own ET calves are born at the Oak Grove farm. The Valley Oaks South location, near Clinton, Mo., has about 50 head of commercial bred heifers and the operation is looking to build up that herd.



Pasture to Plate

The operation took its growth a step further, building a 900-head under roof feedlot and slaughterhouse near Latour, Mo. Valley Oaks buys back calves from many of their bull customers to feed out in the feedlot. Valley Oaks bull customers receive a five-cent per pound premium, but calves must weigh at least 600 pounds, have been weaned for at least 30 days, and have received two rounds of shots.


At the feedlot, calves are grown up to 900 pounds and then are brought into the barn for finishing. The feedlot is located only 20 minutes from a Herzog Meat Company plant that sells beef all over Missouri. Valley Oaks provides a load of cattle to that plant every week.


“Our feedlot isn’t overcrowded, so the gains are unbelievable,” Gooden said. “When you take those cattle to market, we want to make sure the consumer is getting the best beef they can. We really wanted the operation to be from pasture to plate. We still sell quarters, halves, and wholes direct to the consumer.”



Hitting the Show Circuit

Over the years, as the Ward siblings aged out of showing, the herd numbers diminished. All that changed when Tony’s children became old enough to show and David’s grandson, Grant, got involved. One of Tony and David’s brothers, Clayton, is also involved with the farm, but his kids don’t show cattle. Today, five of David’s grandkids show four different breeds of cattle all across the U.S., including Angus, Hereford, Shorthorns, and Simmentals. The show string hits local jackpot shows and larger shows, including the NJAS, American Royal, North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE), Cattlemen’s Congress, and more.


“Showing different breeds gives them all a chance to do well,” Gooden said. “We’re pretty competitive at local and state fairs.”


Two years ago, Valley Oaks had the supreme heifer at the Missouri State Fair with a Simmental heifer. This year, they took home reserve Hereford heifer from the Missouri State Fair.



Bright Future

Grant works on the farm helping with day-to-day activities, so the next generation is already making its mark on the operation. Tony’s daughter, Addison, is majoring in Animal Science at Kansas State University and is planning to be an embryologist.


“The future is a long way off, but we’re going to be in the cattle business for a long time to come,” Gooden said.


Fall Female Sale:

Saturday, November 9, 2024

12:00 pm - Warsaw, Mo.


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Bill Schermer, Owner/Herd Consultant
641.425.2641 | bill@stockmanmag.com

Makayla Flower, Managing Editor
605.690.6050 | makayla@stockmanmag.com

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