Dec. 15, 2012
History, Ownership, and Plans for Burnett Red Angus Ranch (Stine Ranch)
In the early 1900’s, William Edward Stine of Edna, Kansas and his wife, Katie, started a farming operation that today is known locally as the Stine Ranch. It was basically a farming business with cattle and hogs. Later a feedlot for finishing cattle was added. Through the years of the Great Depression the family struggled to maintain the solvency of the business. The lessons learned during this time, and the determination to succeed through hard work, wisdom in use of resources, and persistent faith in the future of the cattle business helped the family to later be able to expand its operation. In the 1950’s, the two sons, Donald and Virgil, established separate ranching operations with Donald taking the home place on Highway 166 near Edna, Kansas, and Virgil settling on a ranch 5 miles South in Oklahoma. It is the 3850-acre ranch developed by Donald (Snooks) and Helen Stine that is locally known today as the Stine Ranch. Approximately 1/3 of the acreage is in Labette County KS. and 2/3 of the land is 3 miles south on the Oklahoma line. The ranch was build by the drive and hard work of Donald Stine and his success as a owner/manager of stocker cattle bought in the south and put on bluestem for growth and finished in the ranch feedlot near Edna, Kansas.
At Donald’s death in 1997, his only child, Jane, and her husband, Gil Burnett, kept a promise they had made to keep the ranch in the family and operate it until the next generation of grandchildren would take over the same responsibility. Today Gil and Jane spend much of their time at the ranch when not visiting their son, Gregg Burnett, who manages their manufacturing business in Texas, and their daughter Michelle Mays and her family, who also live in the Dallas area. None of the Burnett’s family have thus far shown an interest in preparing to be involved in the operation and management of the cattle business. The ranch is therefore managed by Michael Allison, a highly qualified stockman and grazer who is a graduate of Kansas State University. His wife teaches in the Edna school system, and the whole family takes part in the ranch activities.
The goal of the Burnett’s is to manage the ranch in a manner that is respectful of the hard work and success of its founders. Changes have been made that are in keeping with the abilities of current management and expected changes in the industry and the beef consumer.
The Burnett’s choose to own a cow-calf operation rather than a stocker business because of volatility in the markets, and their lack of experience. Also, it was decided to build a cowherd that was easy fleshing and could be maintained on grass (without hay) and produce steers that could be finished on grass and produce a low-grade choice carcass without being fed grain. Heifers would be sold for breeding stock. Steers that are not to be grass finished are sold to feedlots or stocker operations. Ideal cow size was set at 1100 pounds with a frame score 4 to 5 at condition score 5. Red Angus was selected as the primary breed. Today the cowherd is mostly commercial, with a small number of registered cows. A separate herd of commercial cows is maintained that have shown extreme easy fleshing qualities and have the ability to pass those traits on to their heifer and bull calves. These are the cows that produce our bulls and best performing heifers.
Rotational (cell) grazing has been established as the grazing method for most of the ranch. Even though this has required the placement of miles of one wire hi-tensile fence, the ranch has been able to increase it's stocking rate to more than compensate for the effort and investment.
The ranch is presently selling some grassfed beef direct to local customers and health food stores. The family has some interest in expanding the sales of grassfed beef, however this and other issues will be influenced by the advice of the new ranch manager.
The operation of any business requires performance measurements to indicate progress and show areas of strengths and weaknesses. The ranch has facilities at three locations for weighing cattle to monitor weight gain or for computing selling price. QuickBooks and CattleMax are software packages used to monitor expenses, prepare budgets, and determine profitability. One of our key measurements is our cost per pound of beef produced. We also measure each cow’s calf at weaning and determine its percentage of her body weight. Cows that have poor performance are considered for replacement. We believe the key to sustainability is soil and grass management combined with selection for easy fleshing cattle.
We believe that through application of a respectful knowledge of caring for the soil and forages, and by managing easy fleshing cattle, we can produce a product that is beneficial to our customers, and a profitable return can be realized from our equity and labor, as well as being a tribute to those who made this opportunity possible.
Gil and Jane Burnett