52 Years of dedication to our customer
Tue 03 May, 2016
As many of you know…Lloyd and Jane have been in the cattle industry for many years and have been very influential for all of us.
Lloyd was at the forefront of the importation of exotic breeds into the US – he tried Maine Anjou, Simmental, Chianina and several other breeds. This convinced him that the Charolais breed is the ‘whole package’: breeding, calving, performance, efficiency, carcass and rancher appeal.
In 1963, Lloyd and Jane DeBruycker purchased their farm, and soon after, in 1964, bought their first purebred Charolais heifers from AB Cobb Charolais. Quickly following was a purchase of Amigo’s Pride, a purebred Charolais bull, from Marguerite Miller’s Kona Ranch in Missoula, Montana.
In 1968, Lloyd purchased one of the most influential bulls in the cattle industry, ABC Bamark. ABC Bamark became one of Lloyd’s top-selling bulls, with a quarter interest selling for $40,000 at the 1974 AICA Charolais Sale of Sires. At this sale, Bamark was taken up 4 floors, using the service elevator, into the Grand Ballroom of the Denver Hilton Hotel! ¼ interest in Bamark sold for more than the combined price of the other bulls offered in that sale.
Bamark was such a part of Lloyd’s career that Bamark was kept at the farm until he died and is buried on the farm. Bamark’s bloodlines continue through most of the bulls sold today by DeBruycker Charolais.
In the 1970’s, Lloyd began the Herd Improvement Test with Gary Gershmel and Harold Schmidt. Bulls from all breeds were fed at the Green Giant Feedlot in Stanford, MT, and top bulls were then sold at the end of the testing period.
In an effort to improve our Charolais herd, Lloyd consistently entered numerous gain and carcass contests each year with steers of his Charolais genetics and regularly did very well, along with winning The Great Western Beef Expo several times.
Lloyd and Jane raised many top bulls that have been well-accepted in the Charolais breed and by commercial cattlemen, including LHD Ali Mark T214; LHD Mr. Perfect Y416; LHD Cigar E46. As Buddy Cobb from AB Cobb Charolais once told Lloyd, ‘we are lucky in our lifetime if we have one breed-changing sire. You, Lloyd, have raised many of them’.
We share this history snapshot so hopefully you will see that the past 52 years have been dedicated to you, our customer – to work toward developing the finest bulls and performance to enhance your herd and your bottom line.
For those who have been with us since the beginning of our bull sales, we want to thank you! For those who are new customers this year, we hope this information offers you additional confidence in our program.