5L Red Angus is a seedstock operation that is the size of a relatively large commercial herd.  Each spring we breed nearly 2000 females, and then pair those cattle out to grass that can can spread from West Yellowstone to Great Falls to the plains of eastern Montana.

We “winter out”; by the first of December, most of our cows are 70 miles South of 5L Headquarters eating brown, dead standing forage.  We see them once a week to supplement protein and have not hauled one bale of hay to those cattle over the past 4 years.  You need to see those cows in late January, with their nose covered in snow, their mouth full of last summer’s grass and their back holding a body condition score of 5+ to really appreciate what 5L is all about.

We breed over 500 heifers annually.  We’re much smarter cattlemen when we select females after they’ve bred, calved unassisted, rebred on time and weaned a calf.  This also improves the validity of our data by removing selection bias from important traits such as Heifer Pregnancy, Maternal Calving Ease, and Stayability.  We believe simultaneously testing our cowherd against the environment while making them compete against a full strength regiment of our most advanced genetics ultimately results in supplying our customers with the genetics that give them the best opportunity for cowherd profitability.

While much of our selection has focused on eliminating costly failures in the cowherd, we have a substantial R&D project to identify the genetics of enhanced feeder calf value.  In addition to feeding our own cattle, in 2015 we were part of an progeny testing alliance that mated over 700 cows in structured progeny tests to collect, phenotypes for weight traits, gain, and intake and carcass traits.  More recently, we’ve invested in a GrowSafe system large enough to capture individual intake and calculate feed conversion on every bull marketed at 5L – plus, the bulk of our replacement females.  The price of this R&D is scary!  But it is small compared to our commitment to providing bulls that build hi-value reputation calf crops for our customers.

Thank you for your interest in 5L Red Angus! If you would like more information about our cattle please feel free to contact us anytime at 406.842.5693.