True Ranches: Pursuing sustainability, data traceability and partnership with True West Beef

It is said that “Big things are built one brick at a time.” For Wyoming-based True Ranches LLC that approach has established a solid foundation for their modern day, innovative beef production efforts.

The cornerstone was laid in June 1957 when Dave and Jean True, pioneers in Wyoming’s oil industry, purchased their first ranch – the scenic Double Four located beneath the shadow of Laramie Peak west of Wheatland, Wyo. The purchase of 35 Hereford cows and 1 Hereford bull named “Nugget” marked the beginning of the family’s entry into the cow-calf business.

Dave True with his first Hereford bull, Nugget.

Expansion came quickly adding cows and land. The Wheatland Farm and Feedlot was purchased in 1960, followed by the Rock River Ranch in 1961. ADA Ranch and LAK Ranch, which includes both farm ground and ranch pastures, were acquired in 1964.
Ashley True VanDeest is the granddaughter of H.A. “Dave” and Jean True, and she shares how her dad (Dave) tells stories from the family’s early ranch days and his parents’ intention of making sure a strong work ethic was instilled in their children. “He talks about working on the ranch in the summer, from the day school was out until the day it started again,” Ashley shares.

Today, True Ranches LLC is under the umbrella of the family owned, Casper, Wyoming-based True companies, which includes entities serving the energy, agriculture, real estate/development and financial industries. Two of Dave and Jean’s four children remain actively involved, as well as several third generation family members.

A growth mindset has been key to True companies’ success. Within their ranching enterprise, the addition of four more ranches – Chalk Bluffs and VR both purchased in 1983, the HU Ranch in 1988 and the Bixby Ranch in 2019 – has brought True Ranches to a total ownership of eight ranches, two farms, and one feedlot, employing approximately 90 people.

Eyes on the Future

More recently, True Ranches became an investment partner with Fort Supply Technologies in 2021 with a focus on advancement of tracking solutions for the beef supply chain from the ranch through finishing and to the packer. Additionally, with an eye toward traceability and vertical integration, True Ranches has become a co-owner in Jerome, Idaho-based packing company True West Beef which is up and running since June 2023.

Of these efforts, Robert Gill, Superintendent for True Ranches LLC, says both go hand-in-hand with meeting consumer beef demand for the future. “A lot of supply chains are seeking that link of pasture-to-plate traceability more and more for consumer assurances,” he notes.

Gill has been with True Ranches since March 2015, and brought a unique skill set to the ranch as a hydrologist who also had experience in the meat business. Working with the team of eight foreman, one at each ranch location, as well as a farm foreman and feedlot foreman, Gill communicates daily with crew members to achieve ranch and production goals. He attributes autonomy across all of their team for their success. Gill shares, “Nobody knows the ground better than our foremen, and we rely on that.”

“We have a very tenured team – with some 35 year employees. We have a low rate of turnover and that speaks a lot about the True family.” – Robert Gill, Superintendent for True Ranches LLC 

Likewise, he appreciates the commitments from True Ranches employees, and says, “We have a very tenured team – with some 35 year employees. We have a low rate of turnover and that speaks a lot about the True family.”

Gill acknowledges that having ranches spread across the eastern third of Wyoming, from the Black Hills border with South Dakota to south of Cheyenne, is one of True Ranches’ biggest challenges. “There’s tremendous variability with precipitation along with natural variability of the landscape,” he explains, and adds, “to manage that with consistency while producing a consistent beef product is our challenge.”

Management Efficiency

The operation is primarily Angus-based with spring calving herds bred to both Angus and Hereford sires to capitalize on terminal traits among calves destined for the beef supply. A fall calving herd is maintained on one of the True Ranches near Casper. Embryo transfer is utilized within this maternal herd to produce high quality bulls and females to utilize as future breeding stock. Additionally, artificial insemination is utilized on 2,000 to 2,500 heifers each year to produce more replacement females and sires for the herds.

Calving season begins in February with first-calf heifers and runs through May for the mature cow herd. Depending on pasture conditions, weaning begins in late August for young cows and may extend into late November for the mature cows.

In total, True Ranches produces about 7,500 calves annually for the beef supply and their own replacement needs. At birth, each calf receives a unique identification number (usually the dam’s number) and at weaning receives an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID ear tag that allows for data tracking – from birth and weaning weights to health and production information – through each animal’s life. Gill notes, “We have spent a lot of time and effort on traceability, and have now invested in Fort Supply Technologies. We know traceability is part of the future.” (Fort Supply Technologies products include Dual Tracker, Health Tracker, Asset Tracker and Value Tracker.)

With an eye toward traceability and vertical integration, True Ranches utilizes tracking solutions for the beef supply chain from the ranch through the packer.

True Ranches also collects DNA on 16 genomic traits via the Igenity Beef program offered by Neogen. “We use all of the data collected for ranch decisions. Our database is very robust,” Gill shares.

With their vertically integrated structure, weaned calves either go into the stocker program or to the Wheatland Feedlot for finishing and are fed feedstuffs raised on True Ranches’ farms. When extra feedstuffs allow, they also acquire feeders to feed-out. Finished calves have been marketed live or via the grid to JBS and Cargill. Now, with their True West Beef partnership in place, more finished calves will be processed there and will be marketed under AgriBeef’s Double R brand. Gill notes that True West, via its partnership with AgriBeef, has a strong market share throughout the Northwest and international markets.

Sustainable Practices

With each of the “bricks” in place for True Ranches LLC to offer pasture to plate beef products, their bottom-line remains focused on staying sustainable for the future. “Keeping our ranch operations sustainable is our continued focus,” says Gill. He points out “Drought years are our limiter.”

To that end, since his arrival in 2015, Gill and True Ranches have focused on enhancing water developments and grazing infrastructure across the ranch. This has included adding 40 miles of water pipeline, 100 stock tanks, and new fencing and processing facilities. “We see this infrastructure contributing to the ranches’ sustainability,” he says. As a result, grazing has been improved, which in turn will help to reduce reliance on feeding hay and other grain supplements to the cowherd.

Additionally, hosting a King Ranch® Institute for Ranch Management student during the winter and into spring of 2023 allowed for a detailed analysis of the range and harvest efficiency across the True Ranches properties. Gill tells that Tyler Woodland ’23 modeled the acreage looking at soils, precipitation, and vegetation and was able to determine optimum carrying capacity recommendations. Gill looks forward to implementing that data and management recommendations with the ranch foremen – and moving toward enhanced sustainability – in the years ahead.

As one of the largest, private ranchlands in Wyoming, True Ranches has demonstrated that ranching requires a balanced approach to land, water and wildlife resources. Recognizing their humble beginnings in the shadows of the Rocky Mountain West, VanDeest shares that True Ranches LLC, along with all of its sister companies, is proud of the heritage and lasting legacy established by Dave and Jean True, and welcomes the opportunities and challenges they have yet to face with determination, optimism and grit.

Wildlife also integral at True Ranches

As they work to provide beef products to people around the world, True Ranches also supports wildlife populations and allows hunting and fishing access while maintaining their working ranch heritage.
Examples of their efforts, include enrolling thousands of acres of their private lands in the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s AccessYes program for big game hunting. Additionally, True Ranches has worked with the Department to proactively manage their LAK property southeast of Newcastle in order to improve bighorn sheep habitat and provide hunting and viewing access to this isolated population of bighorns.

More recently, True Ranches has partnered with Infinite Outdoors, a web-based hunting reservation operation. This allows hunters as well as landowners to schedule specific hunt dates and hunt areas, facilitating better hunting experiences and more targeted wildlife management.