Grand Oaks Farm
Endurance Shorthorn Cattle
The red, white and roan Shorthorn cattle in our green pastures is a restful and pleasing sight. We rationally graze our animals to provide the cattle with a clean bite of grass and forbs with each step. The cattle impact our pastures and thereby feed the soil and its micro-inhabitants. The biome is regenerating the soils on our farm and improving our pastures. Healthy pastures equals healthy animals and healthy people.
Why Shorthorns?
Our love of Shorthorn cattle goes back to our grandparents and beyond. Scott's family owned Shorthorns in the late 1800s, and Kimberly's grandparents also had a Shorthorn herd.
As we researched cattle breeds for our grazing operation, we discovered that the dual purpose aspect of the heritage Shorthorns gives the breed advantages for grass-finishing. We enjoy the calm dispositions, distinctive color patterns, and the versatility of our Shorthorn cattle. We are selecting for specific traits, which improve how our animals perform on our farm. These traits include fertility, disposition, milk production, physical conformation, and animal size. Using linear measurements and careful attention to the "old school or classical" ways of identifying desirable traits, we are improving our herd with each calf crop.
Heritage & Native Shorthorns
The pedigrees of heritage Shorthorns can be traced back to the Coates herd book from the 1820s. Truly heritage Shorthorns do not have any Maine-Anjou, Red Angus, or other breeds mixed into their pedigrees. Due to our familial connection to Shorthorns, especially the old genetics, we have chosen to build a herd of heritage, or native, Shorthorns.
We started our herd with registered Shorthorns purchased from Gary Kaper in 2016. As we continued to learn about grass-finishing and pasture management, we decided to look for even older genetics. This pursuit led us to the Heritage Shorthorn Society and then to Dennis & Mary Hoffrogge, where we have also purchased animals for our herd of heritage Shorthorns.
For more information about Heritage Shorthorns, please visit the Heritage Shorthorn Society.
Breeding Stock
As our herd grows, we will offer breeding stock for purchase. Please contact us with inquiries about animal availability.