Hoffman Ranch: ‘Our Cattle Have to Work in the Real World’

There’s nothing quite like winning a champion banner at a cattle show. The excitement of the champion drive, the anticipation of the judge’s decision, and the nerves as the judge walks down the row to place his hand on the winner can match the outcome of any major sports event.

The Hoffman family, Thedford, Neb., enjoyed significant success at the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) in Denver last month, taking home seven reserve champion honors.

“We took Reserve Grand Champion Horned Hereford Bull, Reserve Grand Champion Polled Hereford Bull, Reserve Grand Champion Hereford Female in the Junior Show, and Reserve Grand Champion Hereford Female in the Open Show,” says Jason Hoffman. “My son, Haxton, who’s 12, had Reserve Grand Champion Charolais Heifer in the Junior Show, Reserve Grand Champion Charolais Heifer in the Open Show, and Reserve Grand Champion Pen of Three Hereford Heifers. He sold them in the sale for an average of $13,000.”

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Taking home a champion from the NWSS packs a lot of weight, and the historic nature of the show adds to a cattleman’s credibility.

“It feels like we won all around,” Jason adds. “Wins like that are good for the ranch and good for our customers. We want to make our cattle better every year.”

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Hoffman says that exhibiting cattle at the NWSS is a great tool to teach livestock kids qualities like responsibility, work ethic, how to evaluate and feed cattle, commitment, and more.

“It’s a lot of early mornings. They can’t back off, feeding twice a day, and scheduling things around that,” he says.

While showing cattle is great for the youth, Hoffman says the family doesn’t want to make a big deal out of their wins, because they don’t want their customers to get the wrong perception.

“The heifers we exhibit are mates to the bulls we send to deserts and mountain country, and they show great balance,” Hoffman explains. “We don’t breed show cattle—we exhibit cattle that we raise. They have to work in the real world.”

Making a Move

The Hoffman family runs 1,300 head of registered Hereford and Angus females on 20,000 acres of owned and leased land. Some years they also have more commercial females, in addition to the registered herds. Hoffman’s children, Haxton, Kennedy, 10, and Hayden, 8, also have a few Charolais.

Jason’s parents, Denny and Dixie, are still involved in the operation, along with Jason’s wife, Kaycee. Hoffman credits the six full-time employees as a critical part of ranch operations.

Hoffman Ranch first began in McArthur, Calif., as the result of Denny’s 4-H project. What started with just Herefords paid for all of the Angus cattle, and the ranch sells both breeds all over the U.S. and Canada. Denny had always had a fascination with the Nebraska Sandhills, so in 2007, the family purchased a ranch in Nebraska and moved.

“Our number one goal is to make bulls for commercial cattlemen,” Jason says. “We want to raise cattle that will survive anywhere, are phenotypically pleasing to the eye, we want efficiency and we also work on the maternal side.”

Hoffman Ranch has a herd of 400 females that calve in February and March, with another 500 calving out in August and September. They also utilize embryo transfer (ET) a lot. Ranch partner Andy Steelphlug purchased their entire donor herd, and many bulls coming from the ET program will be owned by him.

More than 600 bulls are sold by the Hoffmans each year, through bull sales held in February and November and private treaty sales.

“We have some big ranches that buy breeding bulls in volume from us about 45 days after weaning,” Jason adds.

The spring calving herd is fed cake and hay for their diet. The diet for the fall cows varies from year to year, depending on what feedstuffs are most economical to feed. Developing bulls receive a high roughage diet in the grow yard.