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Since their wedding in 1984, John and Julie have been the primary care takers of the cow herd, and have lived right on the ranch. John and Julie and their children, David and Helen, bought the ranch from John's parents, Fred and Theresa Kraye, in 2001. Although Fred and Theresa retired from the cattle business, with a dispersal sale in the fall of 2000, Fred is still actively involved in the production of alfalfa hay on the ranch. Approximately 800 acres of irrigated alfalfa makes the ranch a haying operation during the summer months. The Kraye ranch was formed when John's grandfather, Ernst Kraye, bought a portion of the ranch in the 1920's and added adjoining acres, over the years, as they became available. Fred Kraye was born and raised on the ranch and in 1953 bought his first Angus cows, to be able to keep his cattle separate from his dad's Herefords. Angus cows have been a major part of the ranch, ever since.
It has been a Kraye policy to synchronize and artificially inseminate the yearling heifers and the early calving mature cows, which has diversified the genetic makeup of the Kraye Angus cow herd. Many of the cows are the progeny of the leading sires of the Angus breed, such as EXT, Focus, VRD, Krugerrand, War Command, Scotchcap, Sitz Alliance, Traveler 044, Garden's Prime Time, and many others. Over, the years, we had given up on getting our first calf heifers artificially inseminated, because we seemed to be missing too many heat cycles and we were hindering more than helping, so for several years we turned the first calf heifers out with the clean up bulls, just as soon as possible. We had pretty good luck with that. Then new technology came along and we had some other options. We had used a fertility enhancer, called a CIDR on some of our later calving cows and we were able to move them up a cycle or two. We decided to try the CIDRs on our first calf heifers. We were really pleased with the results. This spring we worked up a synchronization schedule that had the first calf heifers cycling just about the time that we were done A.I.ing the replacement heifers. The three and four year old cows followed close behind the first calf heifers. Needless to say, it kept us busy. We used a wide variety of semen this year, trying to match some favorable genetic traits. On the replacement heifers we used: In Focus, 1961, Foundation, and Image Maker. On the cows we used Foresight, 2V1, On Target, 338, Net Worth, 416, In Focus and Ambush 28. We are looking forward to these calves being born in 2008. After the severe drought of 2006, we were very fortunate and had adequate moisture during the spring and summer of 2007. Our pastures rewarded us for our diligence in managing our grass thru the dry years, and we had an abundance of grass. The extra forage allowed us to wean the calves, at a more traditional time. We weaned the bull calves on the 27th of August and the heifers on the 17th of September. During the pre-conditioning and weaning process, we closely evaluate each bull calf, taking into consideration their individual age and pedigree. We were long on bull calves and we culled hard, this first go round and we banded a large group of bulls and sent them to a farmer-feeder in Iowa, and we are certain they will make excellent beef. After weaning we selected another group of bull calves, and banded them, and sent them off to be feed in a feedlot in Burwell, Nebraska. That left 120 bull calves for the annual production sale. These bulls are an impressive group, sired by On Target, 2V1, Foresight, 095, Danny Boy, Lead On, Focus, In Focus, 1407, War Alliance, BT Right Time, Yukon, Onward, Connealy VRD and more. Offering some of the best genetics available in the Angus breed, for both performance and calving ease, these bulls will fit into anyone’s herd. The heifer calves go thru the same selection process that the bull calves do. At pre-conditioning we sorted off the few heifer calves that didn’t meet our quality requirements, and sold them for feeder cattle. We chose 147 of the best heifers and kept them for replacements. 20 of those heifers have been reserved to be sold at the annual production sale, on April 5th, 2008, and they will be sold as purebred, commercial heifers. As cattle ranchers, we try to learn from past mistakes and we try to anticipate the challenges of the future. We are not always successful, but we try to stay focused and raise good quality, honest, hard working cattle.
At Kraye Angus our cattle are our livelihood, our hobby, our recreation and our passion. 98% of all of our cows are home raised and have never been off of the ranch. The bulls are fed at home and are available for inspection at any time. We enjoy visiting about our cattle and our cattle program. We will gladly try to answer any and all of your questions. We are proud of our cattle and are committed to the improvement of our herd. We appreciate your interest in our cattle. |
Over the years Kraye Angus has participated in the AHIR program, thru the American Angus Association, and kept thorough records on all of the cows and calves. They have used EPD's to develop more marketable calves, while maintaining a balanced cow herd. An intense culling process is used for production and profitability, while adhering to the guidelines of the Angus breed. Through the use of AHIR and the AIMS software, extensive records have been kept on every cow and any cow not producing her fair share is culled from the herd. A large percentage of the heifer calves will stay on the ranch, as replacement heifers. 
Our 17th annual production sale is fast approaching. We are proud of these bulls. They are deep bodied, heavily muscled bulls, with strong bones and correct conformation. The bulls are calm with naturally good dispositions.