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Cattlemen,
Greetings from all of us at Dakota Xpress! It is our honor to welcome you to our
ninth annual bull and female production sale. Dakota Xpress Simmental Group is the
combined effort of three powerful seed stock herds which consist of Mandan Lake
Simmentals, Hansen Simmentals and Kunkel Simmentals.
Hopefully this past year has brought many rewards to you our customers. Here in the
upper Midwest, we experienced a great harvest with record yields. Rainfall was not
adequate, but timely. As we all are aware, the drought is not too far away. With the
drought at hand, record numbers of cattle have been sent to market making the sup-
ply of beef that much smaller. We can only hope for rain to help alleviate the drought
conditions around the country and make the demand for beef even higher.
We again are very proud of the big, rugged set of bulls to be offered for sale on
February 15th. Across the pen, the bulls are from purebred to Sim-Angus, uniform in
size, performance orientated, and have solid color patterns. We are offering large sire
groups for you to choose what fits your needs. All of the black bulls were DNA tested
for coat color, and several of the red bulls have been identified as being non-diluter.
Also, many of them have been tested for homozygous polled.
The bulls are fed for longevity on a home grown ration. The ration consists of
chopped hay, corn silage, grain distillers, grain corn, and a liquid supplement with a
complete mineral package. This ration is designed to give us an accurate gain test
while at the same time alleviating complications of a hot ration. This is the same ra-
tion we have used for the past several years and have had excellent feedback from
our customers on how the bulls maintain themselves through maturity.
The bred and open females were selected from the hearts of our programs. They
range from Sim-Angus crosses to purebred Simmental. The elite bred females have
all been ultra-sounded for calving dates and we also provided the sex of the calf if we
could tell what it was. The open heifers are a strong group as well which makes us
confident they will make productive cows.
Herd health is a major priority at Dakota Xpress. Our ranches have implemented
the same vaccination program for all cows and calves. The bull and heifer calves
received seven-way/Somnus, One Shot, Bovi-Shield Gold 5, two weeks prior to
weaning, then boostered again at weaning, along with Dectomax pour on, Valbazen,
and Nasalgen. The open heifers have all been bangs vaccinated and the breds have
received Scourguard 4KC. The Staigle and Kunkel heifers have received Virashield 6
+ VL5 HB, and the Hansen heifers received Bovi-Shield Gold 5VL5 FP. All the cattle
in the offering have also been poured.
With the very large number of sale cattle, we encourage you to spend some time at
the Staigle Ranch, located north of Mandan prior to the sale, or in Mandan from Feb-
ruary 12th to sale time on the 15th to view the bulls. The females can be viewed at
the individual ranches or in Mandan from February 12th to the 15th. If you are unable
to attend the sale, feel free to contact any of us at Dakota Xpress, the ring men, or
sale consultants, for arrangements for your purchases. Also, the sale will be broad-
cast over the internet at
www.dvauction.com
.
We sincerely appreciate your interest in our program. Whether you are a commercial
cattleman, seed stock producer, or a junior looking for a show prospect, we believe
there is something in the offering for you. Thanks again for your continued support
and see you at the sale!
Sincerely,
Dakota Xpress Simmental Group
Pictured (back, L to R) Kevin, Cody,
•
(front) Hadlie and Wyatt Hansen
Pictured (L to R) Wade, Merri, Ethan, Logan and
•
Daniel Staigle.
Dusty, Kayla and Ty Kunkel
•
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