Page 2 - Milk Creek Reds Angus Bull Sale – March 16, 2024
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elcome
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Welcome
Thank you for taking the time to view our offering of Red Angus genetics that have been developed using our eastern Montana environment to sort out the
sustainable traits that make a cow herd profitable. Throughout this catalog we have assembled information on this year’s offering that we feel is beneficial to
aide you in sorting through the bulls and hopefully selecting the best genetics that will help you meet the goals of your operation. If there is additional infor-
mation that we can provide that is not found within the catalog, please contact us so we may provide additional information to help you in your selections.
Throughout the years of being involved in the Red Angus business, we have experienced a variety of environmental challenges that has changed how we
operate our ranch, select our genetics and manage our time. 2023 was a year that brought new challenges along with opportunities to grow and adapt to the
challenges that were presented to us. The challenges most of the time are out of our control such as: weather, parasites, labor and a whole host of others.
No one is exempt from these challenges. We know that in 2024 we will be faced with a new set of challenges that will help us develop enhancements to our
management practices. We continue to allow the environmental challenges to improve our genetics so that our business will remain financially sustainable
through each trial that comes our way. Through these decisions, our goal is to develop genetics that will help our customers enhance their cowherd to be
economically sustainable within whatever environment they are placed or developed in.
The U.S. cattle industry has seen some record setting prices throughout all classes of cattle in the second half of 2023 and it appears that the current cattle in-
ventory would support an extension of those prices into 2024 and maybe beyond. Within our region, we have seen a large number of cull cows hit the market
from August until now which is a result of the lower pregnancy rates brought on by grasshoppers, stable flies, and hay produced in 2022 that was below the
nutritional needs of the cattle being fed. Some producers saw anywhere from 15-65 percent open rates in both replacement heifers and cows. This reduction
in cow numbers coupled with drought in parts of central and southern U.S. that reduced the cowherd even more will have an impact on our cattle markets
going forward.
As we put this sale offering together, the bulls will sell in catalog order. We begin the sale with a pen of high indexing moderate birthweight bulls and follow
with a group of high indexing, low birthweight heifer bulls. After these first two pens we arrange the remaining pens by sire groups allowing for good bulls
to be cataloged from the beginning to the end. Some pens will have a mix of one or more sires if there isn’t enough progeny from a sire group to fill a pen.
We hope that as you view the bulls live, via video or within these pages you will find consistency in type and kind throughout.
Additional information such as scrotal measurements and frame scores and carcass EPDs will be posted on our website as well as DV Auction as they
become available. We look forward to meeting and visiting with new and existing customers that have a passion for the ranching lifestyle that we get to live
every day.
May God Richly Bless You, As servants of the Lord, we are striving to be
Bruce, Tena, Jaclyn Ketchum and Jeff, Cele, and Blaze Menees stewards of the land and cattle that He created and
allowed us to manage so that we may glorify Him.
Bruce, Tena & Jaclyn Ketchum • Jeff, Cele and Blaze Menees
Catalog and video online at www.milkcreekreds.com