Good cattle from start to finish

By Jennifer Carrico

Good cows make good calves, which has been the goal of the Aggen family from the start at their Simmental cattle operation, Oak Meadow Farm near Harmony, Minn.

Oak Meadow Farm is owned and operated by Dr. Lynn Aggen and his wife, Barb, along with their son Matt and his wife, Jessica. Son Michael also helps on the farm, and daughter Mary works for Land O'Lakes nearby.

"Our operation really started when I joined 4-H and bought a Simmental heifer for a project," said Matt. "What started out as a 4-H project has built into a family operation."

The farm consists of about 115 Simmental cows. Most of the cows are purebreds, but they have also added Angus into their herd for the SimmAngus females, which are in high demand. While many breeders have bred animals to get only black offspring, he said about 50 percent of their cows are still red.

"Some of our best cattle are the red ones, so it doesn't make much sense to quit breeding for them," said Matt. "Cattle are still sold by the pound and if our cattle perform and produce bulls that people can use that also perform, then we are going to continue to just worry about producing good cattle and not as much about what color they are."

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