The VDAR Cow

Since the cow is the center of our existence at Van Dyke Angus Ranch, each female in our program must meet our high expectations.

The breeding program at VDAR is simple, but very effective.  We use proven sires and a focused selection criteria when choosing females for our cowherd.

Each year a couple of proven bulls from outside sources are used in the VDAR herd.  Interestingly, most of these bulls we introduce are sired by progeny-proven bulls bred by Van Dyke Angus Ranch and sold to outside programs.

After that first breeding season, a bull is never used again on this ranch until he has producing daughters in the VDAR herd.  We gather information from these producing daughters and then make the decision to either use the bull in our cowherd again or retire him.

Each year a couple of young bulls from VDAR’s own herd, born to proven dams, are also introduced.  These young bulls of ours are judged by the same criteria.  They are not used again until their daughters are acceptable producing cows.

The VDAR selection criterion focuses first on fertility.  Around here a cow must become pregnant in 42 days or she is gone.  Period.  Our secondary focus is productivity.  A VDAR cow must wean in excess of 50% of her body weight.  Because these criteria we’ve developed are the absolute essence of our program, there are no deviations from this high weaning standard.

Discipline and selectivity based on these principles have ensured that the VDAR cowherd is made up of highly fertile, productive females.  There are not many in the country like ours.  Fertility, especially, is where the Van Dyke Angus Ranch cowherd really stands out when compared to other registered herds.  No other breeding program employs such focused selection criteria as we do.

A lot can be said about the VDAR cowherd, and we could go on and on detailing the attributes of each cow.  But in the end it can all be summed up quite simply:  This is among the most fertile and productive cowherds in the country.