At Top Line, we are focused on profitable, commercial production. That means that we do not practice the more artificial production systems found on most purebred operations.
- We calve in April and May in synch with our environment.
- We don’t creep feed our calves to achieve artificial weaning weights.
- We rear our calves in large contemporary groups for meaningful comparisons.
- We use AI, not ET, to ensure accurate comparisons of our sires and dams.
- We collect data on all the traits that affect your bottom line.
- Calving-Ease
- Weaning and Yearling Growth
- Ultrasound for Marbling and Ribeye Area
- Mature Cow Size and Weight
- We ask our cows to reproduce annually under natural conditions.
- We strictly cull for disposition, feet and leg soundness, and udder quality.
Our selection program has built a herd of moderate sized, efficient females. We have also stacked positive marbling and ribeye area. As a result, our cow herd ranks among the top 30% of active dams on birth weight, marbling, ribeye, and $W. If you are looking for a no grief, functional, efficient, and profitable set of cattle – come visit us at Top Line Cattle. Visitors are always welcome!
The Ranch
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Top Line Cattle runs its cattle on the Diamond D Ranch just north of Middletown, owned by Mike Browning a Top Line Cattle Partner and on several leases. The focal point of the operation and the home of most of the cattle, is the Guenoc Ranch. The Guenoc is a 22,000-acre ranch owned by Langtry Farms. Top Line Cattle had the good fortune to obtain the grazing lease on the ranch in late 2005. The ranch is 6 miles east of Middletown and is a perfect setting for the operation. It has 1000-plus acres of irrigated pasture and thousands of acres of hills to graze. The Ranch has some great history, it was owned by the famous stage actress Lillie Langtry in the late 1800s. It was later owned by ET Foley, an international contractor in the '50s and '60s. While owned by Foley it was the home of the largest registered Polled Hereford herd in the state. Their most famous bull was GS Golden Real 7. It has been said that GS Golden Real 7 made more improvements to the Polled Hereford breed in those early years than any other sire.
The current owner, Malulani Investments Limited (formerly Magoon Estate, Limited) has owned the property since the mid 1960s and has always been absolutely dedicated to the agriculture operation on the ranch.
Guenoc Ranch has been a part of Randy Sternberg’s (a Top Line Cattle Partner) life since he was a boy. His great uncle, Earl Huston, moved to Guenoc in 1955 where he managed the cattle operation for nearly 30 years. Randy came to the ranch and took over the operation when Earl retired. Between the two of them they managed the ranch for 50 years through three owners. After Randy left the ranch in 2004, Top Line Cattle obtained the grazing lease on the ranch and it is business as usual. Top Line Cattle would like to thank the owners and staff of Langtry Farms for the unique opportunity to be a part of such a great outfit.
Top Line Cattle History
Top Line Cattle was formed in 2003 with three partners: Mike Browning, owner operator of the Diamond D Ranch in Middletown a commercial cow operation; Randy Sternberg, commercial cow manager for Guenoc Ranch for 23 years; and Bill Kemph long time purebred operator and past employee at Leachman Cattle Company in Billings, MT and Myers Red Angus in Montana just to name a few.
In 2006 Bill moved out of Top Line and into a joint venture with his brother Tom. Zech Browning, Mike’s son and a recent graduate from Montana State University, Bozeman, then joined the Top Line Cattle partnership.
Top Line’s fist cattle purchase was 81 Red Angus cows from Myers Cattle Co in Montana in January 2004. That number soon climbed to 200 purchasing high-end females from Tim Shick of Montana and Larry Lorenzen of Pendleton Oregon. Top Line has focused their breeding program on lower birth weights, moderate frame size and carcass improvement. Top Line’s Red herd is now above the breed average in all production traits and carcass traits.
After 2 years in the Red Angus breed, Top Line began to develop a small, black Angus herd. Then, in late 2005, Top Line made a major move by purchasing the Leachman Mott/Black Canyon Angus herd out of Nebraska. This 450 cow herd was the foundation Angus herd for Leachman Cattle Company in Billings, MT and later for Leachman Cattle of Colorado. Dick Mott started his Angus herd in the late 1970’s with advice from Angus Hall of Fame breeder, Lee Leachman. By the late 1980’s, the younger Lee Leachman assumed the responsibility of making the matings.
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As we studied the pedigrees, we quickly saw that the Mott herd was stacked four and five generations deep with good, “can’t miss” AI sires including Viking, Saratoga, 9J9, Scotch Cap, Bando, Conveyor, 6I6, Frontline, New Design 1407, 878, BAR EXT, Papa Forte, and more recently Prime Star, Big Eye, Future Direction, and New Standard. In fact, we could not find a bad bull in the pedigrees! We appreciated the moderate, disciplined size of the cows. They were easy to calve, easy to handle, and easy to breed. Plus, the herd had produced a number of sires in the AI studs including Saugahatchee 3000C, and more recent bulls like Leachman New Standard (ABS), Leachman Dillon (Select), and Leachman Frontier (Genex).
To keep the herd headed in the right direction, we asked Lee Leachman to continue advising us on sire selection. We feel that Lee’s vision of industry and grasp of the breed will keep our herd in front of the pack. This saw the incorporation of Protégé, Net Present Value, Tehama Gridmaker, and Foresight in 2007. The 2008 crop is mostly sired by Mytty In Focus, Dr J Analyst and Connealy Contrast. In 2009, we are putting a strong emphasis on selection for RFI (Residual Feed Intake), because we believe that feed efficiency is the key to future profitability.
Our goal is to ensure that the Top Line herd delivers the best genetics available for the commercial rancher. Come see for yourself how our purebred herd is performing under real world conditions. We hope that we can earn your bull business!