Ambrose Steinkamp was at Brad Z Ranch’s opening day of bull sales last year when owner Jim Bradford described to those in attendance the carcass results Steinkamp had gotten after taking a group of steers and heifers to slaughter.  Later, as Steinkamp was looking through a pen of Brad Z Ranch bulls, another attendee approached Steinkamp, who has purchased Brad Z Ranch bulls or bull semen for years. The man, Steinkamp said, was skeptical that 39 of the 40 steers and heifers had graded choice. The group had an average age of 11 ½ months and an average weight of 1,196 pounds.

“I offered to show him the kill sheet,” Steinkamp said. “Afterward, he told me he wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it.”

Steinkamp’s ability to get his calves to market at a younger age than most, while still getting good results makes him stand out, Jim Bradford believes. “Time is money and if you can get them to market and get them to grade like that, that’s phenomenal,” Bradford said.  Ambrose, 69, and his son, Dan, 43, farm nearly 1,100 acres just outside of Wall Lake in western Iowa. They have a herd of about 140 cows. They feed out the calves from their own cows, plus another 150 purchased calves.

Ambrose, who has been farming since 1958, started his cattle herd in 1966. For years, he has made a point to look for “the fastest gaining Angus bulls we could get our hands on,” Ambrose said.  Often, that meant turning to Bradford for bulls or bull semen.  “We’ve had very good bulls from him,” Ambrose said.  “They are easy-calving bulls for heifers,” Dan Steinkamp added.

Jim Bradford admires the Steinkamps for their ingenuity and entrepreneurship.  Ambrose and his wife, Mildred, built their own house, which Dan’s family now lives in on the farm. Dan’s son, Jason, recently joined the operation and is running a machinery repair business at the farm. “They are people who take responsibility, kind of do-it-yourself people,” Bradford said. “They are not common people.  They are uncommon in their ability to provide for themselves.”

-by Colleen Krantz

About the customer:

Names: Ambrose and Mildred Steinkamp; son Dan Steinkamp and his wife, Marlene; grandson Jason Steinkamp; and granddaughters Ashley, Katie, Christine
and Amanda. Daughter, Jean Ohden from Wall Lake;
grandaughter, Allison and daughter, Lisa Donnerman and husband, Dan with two children, Alyssa and Mikiel from Slater.

Location: Wall Lake, Iowa

Herd: About 140 cows; feed about 250 steers and heifers

Brad Z Ranch connection: Has been buying bulls or bull semen for years

Interesting trivia: Even the dogs are do-it-yourself types at the Steinkamp farm. One of the family’s four cattle dogs has figured out how to push a door handle’s thumb button with his nose to let himself inside the garage.