Cattle Ranch Of The Week: Trinity Farms

Mike Forman started Trinity Farms in Eastern Washington raising sheep.

When the Mike and his wife’s children were in high school, Trinity Farms decided to branch out into cattle. Their son, Robb, purchased a Hereford heifer with hopes of showing her. He was given the opportunity to go to Denver that same year to help work with Simmental cattle owned by Mike Stoltey. The Forman’s small herd of commercial cattle and the Hereford soon found their way down the road, and purebred Simmental came to the forefront of their lives. At the time Trinity Farms started raising them, Simmental cattle were “traditional” in color…basically yellow or yellow and white spotted, a few reds, no blacks. They originate in Switzerland and are probably still yellow or yellow and white today. The Simmies at the ranch started changing color in 1987 and the Forman’s were on their way to a change that is still evolving today. They found themselves not only showing in local and state fairs but by the time their cattle were red, they had progressed to Canada, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City and Louisville.

Times have changed. Trinity Farm’s red cattle today are basically used in our F1 hybrid Meatmaker cross. Trinity crosses them with Red Angus, and the results are fantastic! All the rest of their Simmentals are now black or black baldies.

In the spring of 1990, the Forman’s formed a partnership with their son Robb. They purchased their main ranch headquarters that fall. The newspaper ad listed it as a “stockman’s dream,” and what a dream it was! In 1991, Robb and Debbie Bartolac were married. They met while showing cattle back in the mid ’80s. By the time they met, Trinity had built a fairly good sized herd.

Implanting embryos was done surgically, directly inserting the embryo into the fallopian tube of the recip. Trinity has been crossbreeding Simmental bulls with cooperator owned Angus cows to create their F1 cross cattle for several years. Their bull customers were excited with the results they were getting by using the F1 bulls on their cows. It was a natural step for Trinity to begin raising our own purebred Angus along with their purebred Simmental.

Trinity Farms operates on close to 900 acres of ground, which includes producing Timothy hay that is sold and exported overseas. Five very dedicated full time employees help make everything possible.

For More Information Visit: http://www.trinityfarms.info/aboutus.html

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