Official Publication, North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement
Association
July 2000 -- Volume 5, Number 2
Towner, ND, commerical cow-calf producer Joe C. Bailey was named winner of the 1997 North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association Producer of the Year by the organization. Bailey also represented North Dakota in international competition against other state award winners, according to Kris Ringwall, executive secretary of the NDBCIA.
The national award winner was announced during the 29th Annual Beef Improvement Federation Meeting & Research Symposium held May 14 -17, 1997 in Dickinson, ND. Bailey competed with 10 other producers from the United States and Canada. Merlin Anderson of Dresden, KS, was the national award winner.
Bailey has been in the commercial cattle business at Towner, North Dakota for 31 years. The Rainbow Ranch consists of 1,280 acres of pasture and hayland. The cow herd consists of 85 head of primarily Gelbvieh crossbreeds along with a group of registered Red Angus females. Gelbvieh and Red Angus sires are used. Steer calves, along with cull heifers are sold off the cow in late October.
The Red Angus bull calves are sold by private treaty. The Rainbow Ranch is entirely a forage production unit. Cattle are the sole converters of this roughage into the salable edible product of beef. Joe has increased the efficiency of the pasture land by using a cell grazing system.
A cell system occupying a quarter of land will carry 28 cow/calf pairs for the full grazing season as compared to 18 pairs per quarter on the balance of the pasture land. Joe has used the computerized performance reports from the Cow Herd Appraisal Performance Software Program (CHAPS) since 1989. The percentage of calves born in the first 21 days has increased 20%. Calving is 98% completed in 63 days.
The average weaning age is at 163 days and weight per day of age is over three pounds. A tightly grouped calving season along with early weaning of heavy weight calves is the production model of uniformity and consistency Bailey has strived for.
Keith Helmuth, record processing supervisor for the NDBCIA, said good record keeping is a very important part of successful operations. He urged producers to keep their records up to date
 
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