Bieber Red Angus Fever Bieber family decides Red Angus is the answer
Published on Jan. 18, 2020
In the early 1960s, brothers Ron and Leroy Bieber purchased some property and started raising Hereford cattle. Amidst the red and white herd were a few baldys, which ended up producing 60 more pounds on average than the Herefords.
This led to Ron’s quest for the perfect cow.
Crossbred cattle
In 1964, the brothers split their operations. Ron and his wife, Lois, purchased their first Shorthorn bull shortly after.
Two years later, the couple bought 35 Shorthorn cattle bred to a polled Hereford bull.
After this, Ron and Lois realized systematic crossbreeding would result in cattle with superior weights and better breedback as well as eliminate pinkeye, cancer eye and prolapse, so they decided to convert their entire cowherd to crossbred cattle.
In 1967, the Biebers decided it was time to go searching for the next cross to use on their operation.
A year later, Ron saw an ad in the Western Livestock Reporter for 50 registered Red Angus cows in May, Idaho. He packed his things and headed off to Idaho where he was greeted by Gene Cook who took him on a tour of his Red Angus operation.
Ron hand-picked 14 of Gene’s cows and had them shipped to his place near Leola, S.D. in early December. This marked the official beginning of their Red Angus seedstock operation.
Red Angus is the answer
It didn’t take long after his first Red Angus purchase for Ron to fall in love with the breed. In fact, in September 1969, Ron bought 20 head of Red Angus females during R.C. Buckner’s dispersion sale in Tyler, Texas.
In the fall of 1975, he sold his crossbred herd and converted his ranch to a purebred Red Angus operation.
“My father didn’t think the Red Angus bulls on his Hereford/Shorthorn cross cows were the answer,” notes Ron’s son, Craig Bieber. “So he converted to just Red Angus cattle and really liked them. He started learning more about the breed and thought it would be worthwhile for him to run a Red Angus operation.”
Overcoming challenges
Although things seemed smooth sailing after Ron had found the perfect cow to fit his operation, the Biebers ran into some challenges like all cattle operations do.
In 1975, the family started having some difficulty selling their bulls. This led to their decision to host an annual production sale. The Biebers put up an insulated Morton building, which continues to host Bieber Red Angus sales to this day.
“We currently have two or more sales a year,” says Craig. “We host our annual bull sale on the first Thursday in March and our annual female production sale on the second Thursday in November.”
This past year, Bieber Red Angus hosted four different sales – their Bieber Fever Spring Production Sale in March at their ranch in Leola, S.D., their Bieber Fever in the Southeast Sale in October at Chatel Farms in Reidsville, Ga., their Bieber Fever Turnout Bull Sale in May at Hub City Livestock in Aberdeen, S.D. and their Bieber Fever Fall Female and Bull Production Sale in November at their ranch.
“We have our Bieber Fever Spring Production Sale coming up on March 5 at our ranch in Leola, S.D.,” states Craig. “We will be selling 275 Red Angus yearling bulls.”
Working toward superior genetics
Bieber Red Angus’ website notes in the early years, Bieber Red Angus only provided birthweights, weaning weights and rate of gain on calves from weaning to yearling at each sale. Now they provide 12 expected progeny differences (EPDs) and nine weights and measurements on all of their bulls.
Since the first Red Angus sire summary was produced in 1986, their sires have held over 101 trait leader positions for birth, weaning, yearling, milk and stayability EPDs, according to their website.
“Because there is a high correlation between feed efficiency, growth and meat yield, our 30 years of selection for optimum growth has resulted in cattle that produce superior carcass traits,” their website reads. “Maternal traits will always have a high priority in our herd, and we have continually selected for balanced cattle with an emphasis on optimum growth. Balanced cattle have high fertility, adequate milk, longevity, growth and quality red meat yield.”
The motto at Bieber Red Angus is fault free practical cattle.
“Our goal is to improve our customers’ profitability by producing genetically superior cattle,” says Craig. “Our big thing is that we raise our cattle in a commercially oriented system where the best cattle need to excel under normal conditions without a lot of extra feed and care.”
They also strongly believe every good bull needs an outstanding dam because every progressive program has superior females producing a calf every year.
“We select and breed the top 70 percent of all heifers born here in order to ensure the best females are producing our customers’ next herd sire,” reads their website.
Please visit beiberredangus.com for more information.
Hannah Bugas is the assistant editor for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
