Eagle Creek
The Eagle Creek ranch is located 18 miles southeast of Big Sandy on the Warrick Road. This part of the ranch is more mountainous as it sits up against the southeastern edge of the Bear Paw mountain range. Aspen groves and Evergreen Trees are abundant here. Range grasses include most species of Wheat Grass, Blue Grama, and Timothy. A scenic and majestic part of the ranch, Eagle Creek is home to owner and CEO Stephen Roth and his wife Karen. Rusty Sparks, COO East Division has been with the ranch for over 25 years and is in charge of calving the first-year heifers in March and coordinating day-to-day operations at Eagle Creek, NL and Seifert ranches. He is responsible for two other leased ranches on the eastern end of the ranch. Rusty and his wife Diane manage the ranch’s extensive livestock and range management software which includes annual cattle movement schedules and AUM usage and ranch-wide livestock inventory. Diane is actively involved in livestock and range data input as well as assisting with calving out the first year heifers. Rusty and Diane have two grown children.
Each year in October, approximately 850 head of heifer calves are weaned at Eagle Creek. Their mothers are pregnancy tested and trailed to fall/winter pasture. Fence-line weaning is used to wean the heifer calves from their mothers and has proven to be the most efficient and economical method. Death loss in these heifer calves during this time-frame is less than half a percent. Lick tubs from Cenex Harvest States are put out for the heifer calves for 30 days to aid in the weaning process.
500 two-year-olds begin calving the first of March. These first year mothers are exposed as yearlings for only 30 days. During calving, the cows are in a 100 acre pasture during the day and moved to a monitoring lot at night. Every attempt is made to assist these first time mothers in the calving process. 40 plus indoor pens and a heated indoor OB room provide a low stress environment in which to calve. Supplementation is used post calving to bring the young mothers back on an increasing plane of nutrition until spring grasses are present.
