The Simonson Cattle Company thinks of regenerative agriculture as the overall restoration of soil health through an integrated approach with ruminant grazing and feeding of the soil with plant diversity in the hopes of building good tilth and organic matter, ultimately restoring and nurturing the soil structure.

At the Simonson Cattle Company, in 1996, we began integrating regenerative agriculture practices into our daily operations. Today, we practice techniques such as no-till farming, rotational grazing, planting cover crops, limiting our use of harsh fertilizers and chemical sprays, and composting manure. We manage our lands through a holistic approach that is aimed at getting back to our roots.

Our line of cattle goes back to the herd that William Simonson gathered throughout his homesteading days in the early 1800’s. At the Simonson Cattle Company, we predominantly raise Black Angus cattle. We have chosen to raise this breed of cattle because of their efficiency in our environment which endures a lot of extremes where conditions range from hot, dry summers to cold, long winters.

Our cattle are raised on the prairie where they feed on native prairie hay grasses such as alfalfa, buffalo grass, blue grama grass, and western wheat grasses in the late Spring and throughout the Summer months. During the Fall and Winter months, when the cattle can no longer sustain themselves on the prairie, we feed the native prairie hay that we made throughout the Summer from our hay fields, as well as a mixed ration of oat and barley straw, alfalfa and barley hayledge, and grains such as barley, wheat, and oats, sometimes including peas and lentils to add protein and to balance the feed ration.

Put simply, no. Our cattle are not given any hormones, labeling our beef as hormone-free. We also do not give our cattle antibiotics, labeling our beef as being antibiotic-free. However, with the health and safety of our cattle at the forefront of our operations, we will use antibiotics in the rare instance of having a sick cow. When this happens, we pull the sick cow from the main herd and nurse it back to health using any medications and antibiotics to do so. From that point forward, any cattle that have been sick and recorded as being treated with antibiotics will then be sold separately from the main herd.