2024 Fall Cattle Journal | Strommen Ranch: Maternal POWER®  

When the brutal weather of a North Dakota winter hits, most cattlemen begin supplemental feeding to aid their cattle through the challenging season. Not so for Aaron and Sheyna Strommen of Strommen Ranch. Their hardy herd of purebred Angus seedstock cows graze the North Dakota rangelands with minimal outside assistance until well into the winter months. Aaron and Sheyna value cows that can thrive on what nature provides and pass their hardy traits onto their offspring. “We try and graze as long as possible,” Aaron said. “We allow Mother Nature to take its course and not interfere as much as we can. We definitely try to push them and make them work a little harder than the average purebred guy. We just have a different management system. We don’t just say it, we truly run them like commercial cattlemen do. Our cows are better for it.” 

Strommens view this hardiness as one of the most unique traits of their operation, alongside a focus on their cows’ maternal traits. While many seedstock producers focus on production or terminal traits, Strommens select for traits such as fertility, udder quality, mothering ability, and disposition. Aaron said, “We’re really focused on the female side of things here. We think as cow-calf producers here in the northern plains you make your money with your females. She’s going to be here 10-12 years, while the steer crop is only there for a short time. Fertility, udder quality, production, disposition, and feet are all key to profitable cow-calf production.”  

Their cows are renowned for their maternal traits and lay claim to several notable titles. A portion of their herd are Pathfinder cows, a designation set by the American Angus Association for cows that meet standards for fertility, calving interval, and production. Once a cow achieves that designation, she gets to keep that designation for life. “We place a lot of emphasis on cows that can make that level,” said Aaron. In addition to Pathfinder status, Strommen cows boast a unique label of their own: Maternal POWER®. 10 years ago, Strommens took it upon themselves to brand their cows with desirable maternal characteristics as Maternal POWER® cows. Strommen cows that “…have a lot of fertility, good structure, mothering ability, and would raise big, powerful calves” feature this trademarked label exclusive to their ranch.  

Their customers recognize the benefits these highly decorated females bring to the table. Every February, the Strommen Ranch hosts a Maternal POWER® bull sale where their customers have the opportunity to invest in their genetics. They sell over 100 yearling and two-year-old bulls at this time along with a handful of private treaty bulls to their current customers. The Strommen Ranch also works with two other ranches to put on the Badlands Angus Alliance Sale, where they invite their commercial customers to bring bred heifers on consignment. Aaron said that this year at the sale they will have nearly 60 two-year-old bulls, plus about 800 commercial bred heifers and 100 registered females between their own cattle and those owned by their customers. Aaron also said that their customers have realized a $331/head premium on their Strommen Ranch influenced bred heifers through this sale over the past six years when compared with similar bred heifer sales in the region. 

Aaron believes that this focus on their customers is another thing that sets their ranch apart. “That’s something not a lot of people are doing. We won’t have success unless our customers are having success. We try to help drive their profitability up by helping market their heifers and commercial stock.”  

Not everyone gets to boast and market their Maternal POWER® genetics, but that’s just one benefit of associating with Strommens.  

“Many of our customers have a built-in demand for their females influenced by our genetics, many selling their replacement heifers higher than their steer mates,” said Aaron.  

Another benefit is the opportunity to have the Strommen Ranch crew artificially inseminate their cattle.  

“We’ll sell semen out of our bulls at a discounted rate to our customers, and if they want us to come and AI their cows or heifers we can bring our mobile facilities right to their operation. We can bring the semen and breed their cattle for them.”  

For Strommens, it’s all about customer satisfaction. “We’re customer driven first. Genetics are very important, but without our customers we’re just another cow-calf operation. Everything we do, we try and focus on the things that’ll make our customers profitable. If we can share a little bit of our operation with them, that makes it good for everyone.” 

With all this talk about maternal traits it can be easy to forget about the other half of the equation, but Strommens place just as much emphasis on their bulls as they do their cows. When it comes to their herd sires, they prefer to work outside the box and utilize management techniques many other seedstock producers don’t. For example, they rely on four main lines of sires: Rainmaker, Emulation, Traveler, and Rito, which are all functional, maternally focused, and production-oriented genetics. “We just keep crossing those lines back and forth,” Aaron said. “Once we find a mating that works we just repeat, repeat, repeat. The goal is to make a consistent and uniform cow herd that works in our environment so our customers have the ability to select bulls from any pen we have and get similar results no matter the genetics.” They also have 2 bulls owned in partnership with Santiago Debernardi, a rancher from Argentina.  

Debernardi and 60 other cattlemen from Argentina and Brazil have toured the Strommen Ranch over the past 11 years. Debernardi has maintained a close relationship with Strommens. 

Strommens have no trouble forging lifelong connections. Their operation has come a long way since its beginning in 2001, when newlyweds Aaron and Sheyna had “five or six registered females, a pickup, a 16 foot bumper trailer, two horses, and a pile of dreams.” After lots of hard work along with their three children (Cassidy, who is now a junior at South Dakota State University, Cooper, a freshman at Bismarck State College, and Clint, a seventh-grader), Strommens were able to purchase their first ranch four years ago and expand again this August.  

Aaron and Sheyna view their children as an essential part of the growth of their operation. “We are blessed to have them because without them helping, we wouldn’t have built what we’ve built. Since they were little, they’ve been fully involved in our operation.” Forming and maintaining connections are what Strommens do best, along with representing the best and brightest maternal traits the northern Great Plains have to offer.