The Kraye Angus Ranch is located in the heart of the awesome Nebraska Sandhills. The Sandhills provide a very unique environment, and many ranching practices that work well in other parts of the country, are not possible in this region due to the fragility of the soil. Cattle raised in the Sandhills have to be able to adapt to the harsh weather conditions that can range from extreme cold to high heat and humidity. Primarily a cow/calf operation, Kraye ranch runs approximately 500 registered Angus cows and 300 commercial cows.

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.

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.

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. We still have many cows in the herd whose pedigrees read like the “Who’s Who” of the Angus breed with sires including EXT, Focus, VRD, Krugerrand, Sitz Alliance, and Traveler 044. Then there are the younger cows that are the progeny of Image Maker, Net Worth, 095, In Focus, 338, and Final Answer. It is a continuing challenge to match up the genetic traits of our cows with the genetics of the leading sires of the breed.

In the past we had given up on getting our first calf heifers artificially inseminated. Due to quiet heats we were 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. Pleased with those results we decided to try the CIDR’s on our first calf heifers. For the first couple of years we had really good results, but for the last two years the end result has been marginal, and now we are reevaluating our breeding program for these young cows.

This year (2011) we worked up a synchronization schedule that kept us quite busy. We started with 136 registered replacement heifers, plus a handful of commercial heifers. We used MGA on the heifers and they cycled very well with the majority of them settling to their A.I. dates. We ended up with 13 open heifers, 5 of which never cycled at all, and we had 15 heifers that settled with the cleanup bulls.

We synchronized the 1st and 2nd calf heifers to be bred as soon as the heifers were done. We got better results, than we had last year, especially on the first group of young cows, but still borderline as to whether it is economically feasible.

The older cows are all bred on natural heats and in a month’s time we artificially inseminated 469 cows and heifers. It was stressful at times but a productive month!

We used a variety of semen this spring (2011), trying to match up some favorable genetic traits. On the heifers we used Final Answer, Velocity (a 338 son), Upgrade (an Upward son), Really Windy (a VDAR bull out of Windy Ridge), and Chisum ( a grandson of Sitz Alliance). On the cows we used semen from 458N, Upward, 338, Gridiron, Velocity, Upgrade, Chisum and CC&7.

We had a good year, weather wise. If 2010 had been a normal year, or as close as we could remember what a “normal” year was like, then this year, 2011 was a close second. We had adequate and timely rains and we had heat and sunshine. The cool season grasses grew and matured, allowing the warm season grasses to grow and flourish. After years of careful management our pastures were in very good shape. For the second year in a row, we had a good hay crop. The weather allowed us to get the hay processed and baled in excellent conditions. We did lose one pivot of Sudan and Teff grass to high winds and hail, just days before it was ready to be swathed, but we counted ourselves lucky because the other pivot in the same valley was planted to new seeding alfalfa and it had not emerged yet and was safe from the hail. We utilized the hail damaged pivot for grazing. We turned out 181 heifer calves on the 25th of October and with supplemental protein there was enough grazing on that pivot until the 15th of December.

With the pastures in good condition and plenty of forage, we weaned our calves at a more traditional time. We weaned the bull calves on the 3rd of September with an average weight of 599 lbs. We kept the bull calves on pasture, here on the ranch, until the 3rd of October and then we trucked them to Sonneman’s Feed Yard, in North Platte. We have had only good comments on the condition of the bulls, so it was an easy decision to send the bulls back to Albert and Alan to have them feed them out again this year.

We didn’t wean the heifer calves until September 27th and the average weight on the heifers was 608 lbs. The heifer calves are kept here on the ranch and they have done very well this fall. The heifers are growing and maturing. We are preparing to get them in and get yearling weights and put in permanent ear tags, sometime in mid-January.

During the preconditioning and weaning process, we closely evaluate each bull and heifer calf, taking into consideration their individual age and pedigree. We cull hard during the first go rounds, banding any bull that we feel doesn’t meet our quality standards. The heifers are subjected to the same standards and judged just as harshly.

Even with the bull calves being fed in North Platte, we keep a sharp eye on them. One of us goes thru the bulls at least once a week and we take periodic weights to keep track of the bulls’ progress. It is hard on us not being able to see the bulls all of the time, but we have complete confidence in the Sonneman’s providing the bulls with all of their daily requirements. We walk through the bull’s pens as much as possible and the bulls are calming down and most always a pleasure
to work with.               

Life is a series of learning experiences and 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 the best cattle we possibly can. All of our cattle…bulls, heifers, and cows are all honest, hard working cattle that must pay their own way, just as a herd of commercial cattle would be expected to do.

2012 will mark the 21st anniversary of our annual production sale. The sale will be on the 7th of April, the first Saturday of the month, and we will keep our fingers crossed for a beautiful weather day! We will be selling 130 performance bred, registered yearling Angus bulls and 40 purebred, commercial yearling heifers. We are proud of these bulls and heifers. They are modern, deep bodied cattle that are heavily muscled with strong bones and correct conformation, and they are calm with naturally good dispositions.

At Kraye Angus our cattle are our livelihood, our hobby, our recreation and our passion. 99% of all of our cows are home raised and have never been off of the ranch.

We enjoy visiting about our cattle and our cattle program. We will gladly try to answer any and all of your questions.