Mike and Shari Wendel own and operate Wendel Livestock in LaMoure, ND just outside the James River Valley. Our herd consists of 475 cows that include Shane Wendel, Dan Wendel and our son Reed Wendel, who purchased is own ranch and is joining our efforts. All cows have the same breeding, feeding and health protocols. Wendel Livestock started with Mike’s father, Dennis Wendel back in 1963. Angus cows were added to herd in early 1980’s because of her mothering ability, calving ease and longevity. Shari’s father, Gerald Rodine, has been raising and feeding out cattle since the early 1970’s. We have combined both expertise and now feed out the steer mates to sale bulls. We also feed many of our bull customers’ steers and heifers we have partnered with that purchase exclusively WL bulls. We are proud co-founders of Dakota Angus LLC and continue to partner with genetic customers to market our quality beef from pasture to plate and share the profits.

We have always embraced tools to better measure progress and improvement in our herd. We include three generations of livestock judgers to best evaluate phenotypic qualities. We utilize accurate AHIR measurements, including ultrasounding all sale bulls, Angus GS testing of all females and sale bulls, and Maternal Plus. We believe data and information flow has great value and power to make our herd better. We also use AI extensively and our continual ET program focuses on replicating our best cows in large numbers to produce bulls that sire high value consistent feeder cattle.

We look forward to the future as we balance the most functional Angus cow that produces a product that generates the most premium in the final product.