Reading… - Studer Shorthorns

Studer Shorthorns Celebrates 100 Years
by Shelby Rogers, director of marketing & communications
“My grandpa, Ben, registered his first
Shorthorn cattle in 1916,” said Dale
Studer, the third generation of Studer
Shorthorns. “First a white cow and
then a roan. From then on our family
had Shorthorns.”
In 1960, at only seven years old,
Dale began following his father, Nate,
around the barn to help him bring in
the nurse cows. By 1965, Dale began
going with Ben to state fairs and
national shows to help him.
“I bought my first heifer in ’68 from
Bert Hanson,” Dale said. “It was always
Shorthorns every single day after that
for me. From then till now it will
always be Shorthorns for me.”
This is where Dale’s love continued
to grow and develop for Shorthorns.
He was able to learn from his Father,
Grandfather, brother Mike and brother
Rich first-hand what it meant to have a
love for the Shorthorn breed. At that
time, Nate started phasing out of the
showing and started passing it onto the
boys to do. When Mike came home
from the army he was in charge of
caring for the Shorthorns. Shortly
thereafter, Rich left for Vietnam to
serve his country. Mike and Ben took
over the breeding decisions in the herd
from 1960-1975.
Studer Shorthorns is a family
operation built on generations of hard
work, faith and love that has made a
foundation for the future generations.
“There was 757 t-posts from Anita’s
house to mine,” Dale said. That was
2.5 miles. We got married in 1980 and
started our family with Nathan and
Kaisha while we lived in our first home.
She is the love of my life and the reason
I am able to keep raising Shorthorns
today.”
Dale said farming was rough in the
early 80s and by 1985 they moved to
Hamilton, Texas, to work at Riverside
Farms. His brothers remained in
Wesley and was able to keep a few
Shorthorns with them.
“We stayed in Texas for about six
years and actually had three kids born
there,” Dale said. “Ashley, Austin and
Sarah.”
Dale and Anita moved back to Iowa
in 1991 and ended up in Creston, the
same town they have been since they
moved back to Iowa. The kids, Nathan,
Kaisha, Ashley, Austin and Sarah, got
involved in 4-H and started showing.
Nathan bought his first two show
heifers from Jordan Acres when he
started showing in 1993.
“We haven’t missed the Iowa State
Fair since I started showing in ‘93,”
said Nate Studer, fourth generation of
Studer Shorthorns. “We started where
dad left off attending several Midwest
state fairs, as well as many state and
national junior shows. It was certainly
something our entire family was
privileged to grow up around.”
This tradition still remains today and
they will be taking 10 head to state fair
this year.
As the Studer herd grew in numbers
and quality in the early 2000s they
joined in their first production sale
with Genetics Online in Eastern Iowa.
Soon after they joined with the Loudon
family in the Generations of Exellence
sale located closer to home. In 2005,
Studer’s said they really made an effort
to expand their marketing and
promotion of quality bulls to seedstock
and commercial producers. They
brought in genetics from the North in
Canada, to provide something different
to the herd.
“In order to sustain the herd you had
to promote the breed to Purebred and
Commercial breeders,” Nate said. “The
commercial cattle market is the biggest
segment of customers for any seedstock
operation and we needed to provide
consistent and reliable traits that
appealed to this market as well. You
couldn’t just sell to one or the other, we
had to get genetics that both parts of
the industry would see as beneficial.”
Bringing in the changes in genetics
in 2005 was one of the biggest changes
at Studer. Dale said there was a
separation in showing and commercial
and with a market based around the
commercial industry.
“In the Midwest there was a need for
cattle to be more efficient,” Dale said.
“They had to perform on less resources.
with grass acres dwindling and creating
higher input costs. It was important to
think about frame size and being
sustainable with what acres we had for
the cattle.”
Studer Shorthorns maintains their
herd with managing forage through
rotational grazing on 600 acres of
mostly fescue pasture, which can be a
challenging forage, in itself, for the
northern imported cattle.
In 2010, opportunity provided, that
they move to a new sale site on the
home farm. The name Family Legacies
was born over the kitchen counter at
Dale and Anita’s house as they tried to
decide what type of name was fitting
for Studer Shorthorns. This year will
mark the 6th Family Legacies Sale and
will be the celebration of 100 years in
the Shorthorn business. The rolling
hills of Southwest Iowa contain a
heritage built on five generations that is
still going strong today.
In the Fall of 2014, at breakfast after
church one Sunday morning, the
Studer guys began discussing how they
could get their bulls presented to a
broader audience, expand their
marketing’s, and concentrate on a
promotional event for their potential
clients. The Don’t You Think It’s Time
Online Bull sale was born and started
in February 2015. As one might
imagine, this was a little new type of
marketing for Dale, but with the
encouragement of the younger
generation the sale was a great success
and sold bulls to 8 states. They were
one of the first ones in the breed to
have an online bull sale.
Studer Shorthorns currently has
more than 150 Purebred Shorthorn
cows with 600 acres of pasture. They
have mostly winter and early spring
calves from January to April.
“We are excited for the future of the
breed, with the potential to become a
valuable genetic asset to the industry,
by focusing on the positive impacts that
Shorthorn cattle can provide and
diversifying our customer base.” Nate
said.
Family is a big part of Studer
Shorthorns and as Dale and Anita’s
children have gotten older their family
continues to expand. Their children
are always quick to step-up and help at
shows and sales.
Nate, Jenny and Brock live
Northwest of Creston and are active in
the day to day operation at Studer
Shorthorns.
Ashley, Chance, Kyzer and Landry
make their home in Wiota, Iowa and
have a show cattle and show pig
operation. They continue the tradition
of Studer Shorthorns with cows in their
own herd. They have an annual Fall
Sale each September.
Kaisha, Chad, Drew and Cayson live
in Des Moines, Iowa and stay active
with traveling and attending sporting
events with their kids.
Austin currently lives in Ankeny,
Iowa and works for Dupont Crop
Protection as a Technical Sales
Agronomist.
Sarah is the youngest and lives in
Seasboro, Iowa and is a Labor and
Delivery Nurse at Mercy Medical
Center in Des Moines.
Austin and Sarah continue to
maintain cows of their own in the main
cowherd.
The fifth generation of kids (Kyzer,
Brock, Cayson and Landry) are starting
to be active on the farm and will
continue to carry on the legacy of
Studer Shorthorns.
Studer Shorthorns have received
many recognitions over the years, but
one nearest to their heart has been
named Builder of the Breed twice.
Once in 1969 with grandfather, Ben
and again in 2000 with the Dale Studer
Family.
“God, Shorthorns and family is all I
have ever known,” Dale said. “I wake
up and its Shorthorns. That is how it
will be for the rest of my life.”
“I would like to dedicate the last
100 years to my Grandfather Ben, my
Father and Mother, Nate and Imogene,
my late Brother Tom (Stub) and his
family and my late brother Richard and
his family.” =