Our retirement group, the KCPL Power Partners Retirement Club, held their monthly event at the Seven-0 Cattle Ranch in Urich, MO on October 13, 2015. The owner of the ranch is also a retiree from KCPL. He was a rancher before he was a utility worker. The KCPL job helped keep the ranch afloat during hard times. It isn't easy running a small operation.
Being small hasn't meant being behind the times. Rod utilizes computerization to keep his records on his business and on his cattle. We were amazed at the kind of data that is kept. They breed and raise cattle for sale and they know which bulls are productive and which ones aren't. Growth rates for the calves are closely monitored and feed composition is adjusted to keep development on schedule.
Branding the cattle is no longer just a single ranch logo. Now the brand has numeric coded information on each cow's heritage.
The ranch covers 800 acres and the herd is approaching 200 cattle.
I couldn't resist a few photos of the cattle skulls. I remember sketching one in art class in high school.
Rod has his own chuck wagon which we will use latter for a luncheon.
Rod and Kristi give us the history of the ranch before we start the tour.
We had about 30 club members make the one hour drive from the Kansas City area to the ranch.
Sigrid has the pink jacket.
The grandson of one of our club members.
This building housed the hydraulic cow press (not the right name but I am a city boy). One by one, the cattle can be brought into the press which holds them in place for injections, castrations, etc. It also has a weight scale built in. All the data is collected in the small yellow device and then downloaded to a computer.
The grill is being prepared for the hamburger and all beef hot dogs we will eat later.
Most of us toured the ranch on the hay wagon.
The cattle are located all over the ranch. Electric fencing is used in the pastures to control where they graze so the fields can be rotated.
We planned our tour to coincide with the berthing season. There were a number of newly born calves in the pastures.
Heading back to the house.
A few of us rode in the Kawasaki mule when space ran out on the wagon. Rod used to use horses to get around the ranch but now relies on the mule.
The food was great. Rod provided the meats, buns, and beans. Club members brought side dishes and desserts.
It goes almost without saying, but the hot dogs were all beef.
The weather was fantastic as was the food and company. Another fun adventure in the books.
