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The second day of our Western Livestock Journal Bluegrass Ranch Study Tour was from Embassy Suites in Lexington, Kentucky, since we would spend five nights in Lexington. So nice to not have to put your suitcase out in the hallway or down in the lobby before going to breakfast each day.

Our destination was Tarter Farm and Ranch Equipment, Dunnville, Kentucky, a two-hour drive southwest of Lexington through beautiful green forests and rolling hills. A privately owned plant operated by the fourth generation of the Tarter family. Making everything from cattle squeeze chutes and horse stalls to farm gates and galvanized tanks. The plant was founded in 1945, making wooden gates. By the late 1960s Tarter was producing steel, spot welded and tubular gates, finally installing their own tube mill in the early 1970s. When 4th generation of Tarter family took over, they expanded business to include steel gates and other farm equipment.

Our bus visited the manufacturing building first, with Reg White welcoming us. Hard to hear him as the men and women continued working and welding. They make panels, gates, hay and feed racks, bunk and trough feeders that vary in size from small for sheep and goats and large for cattle, water troughs, plus dog kennels at the different areas. I think I heard 40 complete feeders in a ten hour shift. Last year they manufactured one million two hundred thousand dog panels. Tarter has a training school for welders, and 75 welders working in this plant. Have some automatic welding because lack of welders.

Next stop was where the tubes were manufactured from a sheet of steel. My notes were a little better since Todd came aboard our bus and used the sound system. He has been with Tarter 22 years. Tarter also has a plant in Corinne, UT for western distribution. They load 25 semis with product each day. There were 75 working in this building, with 1,350 employees. However, he said they are short 100 employees, 40 percent were Hispanic and we noticed there were women as well as men working in the two buildings.

We were told to make the right selection of gate when buying, since there is the economy gate that is lower priced than the heavy duty gate. An economy gate will bend when your bull or cow hits it. Tractor Supply is a large customer.

Of the steel, 60 percent is American, and they purchase with contracts at the steel mills. The steel has to be able to make a tube. Gauge will vary from heavy to thin and I learned that 027 is heavy and 135 is a thin sheet of steel. A tube mill is where a series of rolls is made, with a round diameter between one inch and 2 1/2 inches.

We were able to step up to a viewing area and watch a laser cut a tube at an angle. We had been issued safety goggles if we weren’t already wearing glasses, when we got off the busses at first stop. Very interesting process of how the pieces of a livestock panel are put together.

Lunch was at Bread of Life Restaurant, Liberty, Kentucky. The Amish owners, Jerry and Sandy Tucker were the founders and directors of the Galilean Childrens Home. President and Mrs H.W. Bush presented them with one of 21 Points of Light Foundation Volunteer Service Awards of which there were more than 4,500 nominees. Thanks to Melanie Fowle Nelson for posting the information about the Bread of Life Restaurant on Facebook, and I copied. It was a buffet, and many choices to be made. There was also a gift shop.

Branch View Angus, Hustonville was our afternoon stop. The herd was started in 1940 by J.L. and Evelyn Hoskins. A creek ran the length of their first farm, and farm was named Branch View because of the creek.

All corn, alfalfa and hay raised is fed to the herd. Primary grass is KY-31 fescue, with red clover to dilute the endophyte effect of the fescue. Fifty acres of alfalfa for 500 round bales of hay. Derby Day is first cutting and will cut six times during year. One thousand round bales of fescue hay. Usually cows graze till first of January, and winter feed till mid April. This farm gets 50 inches of rain per year. Managing the fescue is a challenge, so they creep feed using red clover. They cut the pastures when ten inches tall.

Four-hundred-fifty registered Angus cows and 350 natural, embryo transplant and commercial heifers. Buy around 250 commercial heifers from their bull customers. They feed steers in Kansas and Nebraska and share the carcass data with the sellers. In December they buy the spring calves from customers, but didn’t note when they buy the fall calves.

The flyer we were given mentioned the annual sale to be held April 8, 2023, and it would be largest Angus Sale in Kentucky since there were thirty-eight thousand producers in Kentucky, but 27 -28 head was average herd size. They will sell 100 bulls, 250 commercial females and 60 registered females.

My group got on 2 hay wagons and had a tour but half of our group never had the opportunity since we ran out of time. We saw the alfalfa was about 12 inches tall. Corn was planted with the fescue, and about 6 inches tall. They will cut 1,200 ton of corn silage getting 30 ton to the acre.

The old black tobacco barn was used to store hay, and because of the heavy rain the mud is terrible. Therefore they had concrete pads for feeding the cattle on. Rained every three days for three months.

Rode past a two story brick house we were told was built in 1789 according to the land map. The road we were on was an original horse path. No windows on one side, but with no sun since it was cloudy, I don’t know which direction the house was built.

The top soil was 15 inches here, over limestone. Sometimes it is 6 inches, and further south it is red clay.

We expected to see some bulls or heifers up close, but the corrals and nearby fields were bare. Were told there was 80 heifers in field south of us, and 40 pairs in another field but too far away for a picture.

Jean Barton has been writing her column in the Daily News since the early 1990s. She can be reached by e-mail at jbarton2013@gmail.com.

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