OTHELLO, Wash. — Jeff Schmidt and his family run JR Ranch in the Columbia Basin near Othello, Wash., selling bulls and marketing some of their cattle through his parents’ grocery store as natural beef.

His parents, Roger and Ellie Schmidt, own and operate Sunny Farms Country Store in the town of Sequim, in western Washington.

After attending Washington State University, Jeff wanted to expand the cattle herd. Land around Sequim was too expensive for raising cattle, so in 1991 the Schmidts found land in eastern Washington. Jeff and his wife, Pam, moved there and have 1,000 acres of owned and leased land where they raise cattle.

In 1998, Jeff added Angus cattle to the herd, and today runs about 500 cows and markets bulls in their JR Ranch production sales, selling 100 to 150 bulls each year.

In years past, part of the herd calved in the spring and part in the fall. This provided flexibility, to have calves of harvestable age year-round for the store, and to sell bulls as yearlings or 2 year olds.

“Now we calve all our cows in April and May,” Jeff said.

His focus has been to develop cattle that work strictly on forage. The cows graze 365 days a year. Heifer calves are left on their mothers through winter, until March. This makes better cows; those heifers develop a functional rumen quicker, learn to forage and not depend on hay, and do well with just a little milk from mom.

Jeff feels cattle should fit their environment, to utilize what the farm or ranch can grow.

“Let the environment sort the cattle, rather than you trying to outguess Mother Nature,” he said. “There are certain individuals that look better, every year, and have better calves. If you quit worrying about numbers and EPDs and just look at the flesh on the cattle (and the calf they raise) and remember their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers, and the cows that do it right, soon you have cow families that outshine the rest of the herd.

“We have some red cattle; we infused Red Angus genetics into the Shorthorns we had. So now I have a non-registered composite blend of red cattle. The guys who buy these bulls really like them, and are unhappy when I don’t have enough! Those are sold private treaty,” Jeff said.

“We’re using a Shorthorn bull now that has old bloodlines and low birthweights, good survivability — though he’s a little touchy on disposition. When a person has Black Angus cattle you get used to that trait, however,” Jeff said.

“For most ranchers I sell cattle to, survivability is a must,” he said. “A little attitude doesn’t hurt, when cattle have to make it in big country with lots of miles to cover, and predators. Hybrid vigor helps, also, with a blend of breeds.”

Those cattle are more durable, stay in the herd longer, and the bulls last longer.

His cattle are grazed rotationally.

“We’ve increased the carrying capacity of our ranch by more than one-third. Today, with 500 cows we run our yearlings with them because we have so much grass. This summer was more challenging (hot and dry) but the rotational grazing has improved the health of the soil and forage,” he said.

As a seedstock producer, he tries to produce the type of animal that will work for his bull customers, and produce animals that provide a great eating experience for people who buy “Roger’s Beef.”