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Predictable. Efficient. Yield. That’s the focus of operations
at Symens Brothers Limousin in Amherst, S.D.
With an unwavering goal of raising high-quality Limousin
genetics for commercial and seedstock producers, Symens
Brothers Limousin will celebrate a milestone in 2020
with their 40th Annual Production Sale, which is always
scheduled for the last Thursday in February at the ranch.
Even as the Symens family celebrates the 40th anniversary of
the operation’s annual production sale, the well-established and
reputable ranching enterprise dates back to more than a century ago.
In 1910, Harm Symens moved to South Dakota and finally
settled at the current site of Symens Brothers near Amherst in
1917. In 1942, Harms’ son, Wilbert, continued the family farming
tradi-tion and began running commercial crossbred cattle.
The third generation — Irwin, Herman, Paul and John Symens —
formed the Symens Brothers part-nership in 1966 and added the
feedlot in 1970. That same year, Limousin cattle were added to the
operation with the first calves born in 1971. In 1973, they purchased
a Canadian Fullblood Limou-sin bull, Nordic Dayan, and one year
later, the acquisition of a few Fullblood cows and 21 pregnant
recipient cows carrying these same genetics resulted in the high
dollar sale of three bulls, Master Charge, Meat Man and Slick.
“When we first heard about Limousin in the late 1960s, the
cattle were marketed as the ‘carcass breed,’” said John Symens.
“This caught our attention because we feed our cattle to
finish. We immediately saw the value that Limousin genetics
added to our commercial cattle, and today, Li-mousin genetics
still benefit the beef industry with feed efficiency and high
yield cutability to pro-vide beef to feed the masses.”
At that time, Symens Brothers were raising three-way cross
calves using Red Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn genetics.
They really started dialing into the Limousin genetics
after Herman went to artificial insemination school.
Over time, Symens Brothers built their reputation as dependable,
adaptable and innovative Limou-sin breeders who intuitively
understood what the commercial cattleman was looking for. And
popular, widely-used bulls like SYES User Friendly really put
Left: It’s a family affair at Symens Brothers. Pictured at the family’s sale facility
in Amherst is, from left to right, Irwin, Brad, John, Warren and Paul Symens.
(Photo by Lura Roti for SDFU)
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