Sandhill Farms is a 5th generation, family-owned and operated Hereford seed stock business located in south central Kansas near Haviland. The farm consists of both grain and livestock. Our children Brooke, Tyler, and Courtney are starting the 6th generation.
The grain operation consists of both dry land and irrigated crops, which include corn, wheat, and soybeans.
The livestock program today consists of 375 polled Hereford brood cows, with about two-thirds being registered and one-third being purebred commercial. The commercial cowherd has been using registered bulls since the mid 1940's. No new females have been brought into the commercial cows, as replacements have always been retained. The registered cowherd was started in the mid 1980's as Kevin and Vera graduated from Kansas State University. For many years the goal of the registered program was to be "as good as the commercial cows" that had been bred by Kevin's grandpa Roy, and father Ron. Retaining ownership of the steers through the feedyard, and selling replacement commercial females started the performance program.
Through the use of todays technology and the previous generations wisdom, our registered program is moving into the future . We are breeding cattle that enhance the profit traits and convenience traits of our cattle. From the cowherd that has worked for generations, we are maintaining muscle, volume, udder quality and performance. In order to create the cowherd for the future, we are identifying the outliers from within the herd that will help us in our newer goals of carcass traits and curve bending growth. These outliers are then used as sires, or donor cows to make the herd better. We have brought in a few bulls and cows as genetic tools to address areas that needed tweaked. Compared to the previous generations, faster improvement is made using EPD's , ultrasound, actual carcass data, and some DNA testing. Progress is measured by repeat customers and their profit!
After selling bulls private treaty for years, Sandhill Farms hosted the first production sale in April 2008. Currently, we are selling 100 bulls per year, with 20% going to purebred operations and 80% going to commercial breeders.
