barn
pasture cows
winter field
field
feeders

Symens Brothers Limousin

About Us
Symens Brothers is a fourth generation farm, ranch, and feedlot operation in northeast South Dakota. Harm Symens moved to South Dakota in 1910, and moved to the current site of Symens Brothers in 1917, where he built a big family house, a large granary, and one of the largest barns in the area. A son, Wilbert, began farming on the home place in 1942, where he utilized a 3-way cross in his cow herd. Symens Brothers began their partnership in 1966, with Irwin, Herman, Paul, and John Symens. A feedlot was built in 1970, where Paul began feeding cattle. This was also the first year Limousin genetics were utilized, and the first Limousin calves were born here in 1971. The brothers bought their first Limousin bull in 1973, and in 1976 they made their first trip to the National Western Stock Show in Denver with Limousin cattle. In 1981, the first of many annual Symens Brothers Limousin production sales was held at the farm in a brand new facility. After many years together, Herman and his family decided in 1993 to leave the partnership and begin his own operation. This year will mark the 32nd year of Symens Brothers Limousin production sales, all but one of which have been held at the farm. Many changes have occurred over the years at Symens Brothers. New facilities have been built to replace aging, out of date structures, enabling us to feed nearly 2500 head of mostly natural Limousin cattle each year. Irwin has retired, and the next generation, his son Brad, and Paul’s son Warren, have been farming and raising cattle with the brothers for well over a decade. Bigger equipment has allowed us to farm a few more acres, raising nearly 900 acres of corn, 400 acres of soybeans, and 250 acres of alfalfa. Most of the crop raised is utilized by the cowherd and feeder cattle, and the soybeans are marketed locally through the coop elevator. Paul, John, Brad, and Warren Symens work fulltime on the farm. They all work together, feeding cattle, planting and harvesting, calving, and raising Limousin cattle, as well as caring for and maintaining equipment, facilities, and buildings that allow us to work with the land in safe, environmentally responsible way.

Irwin

Paul

John

Warren

Brad

Owen, Warren & Erika Symens, Paul Symens, Brad Symens and John Symens

About Us

SYES Cattle

The Herd

The cow herd grazes pastures from late May to late October, when they are put out to corn stalks until deep snow, or January 1st, whichever is first. During winter months, they are left in the fields where they are bunk fed a tmr of silage, ground hay, ground straw, and corn syrup from ethanol plants. They are given a complete mineral tub while they are grazing, and fed mineral in the tmr.

Calving occurs from mid March

until mid May, and A.I. is used heavily

in the breeding season. Calves are

creep fed, and weaning takes place in

early fall, when the calves are brought

home and bunk broke on long stemmed

grass hay and a complete starter pellet

for a short period of time. They are

soon switched to a low calorie tmr, for

60 days, after which the bulls go on to

eventually consume a 54 mCal ration to prepare them for sale day in late February. The heifers continue be fed a lower calorie

ration until a.i. occurs in the lot, after

which they are turned out to a clean-up bull on pasture.

Herd Bulls

WULFS URBAN COWBOY 2149U

ROMN WALK THE WALK 101W

CHTT WORK TIME 4925W

WULFS URBAN COWBOY 2149U
ROMN WALK THE WALK 101W
CHTT WORK TIME 4925W
MR SYES TRACKER 923U
BAR JZ CRITIQUE 335W
SY TRUCK 372T

MR SYES TRACKER 923U

BAR JZ CRITIQUE 335W

SY TRUCK 372T

Sale Cattle

Symens Brothers Limousin 32nd Annual Production Sale

Thursday, February 23, 2012 1:00 pm at the farm

Bulls available for viewing anytime between now and sale time.

Click on the link you need below

MR BASY Stetson 606Y.jpg
WASY Y Chromosome 624Y.jpg
SYES Stetson112Y.jpg
SYES Urban 322Y.jpg
WASY YesMan 677Y.jpg
SYES Urban 101Y.jpg
SYES Goaline 191Y.jpg
SYES Goaline 191Y.jpg
SYES Criteria 820Y.jpg
SYES Urban 316Y.jpg
MR SYES FRIENDLY 177X.jpg
MR SYES SYSTEMATIC 638X.jpg

SymensPoster12.pdf

Symens Brothers Catalog

Videos of Symens Brothers

Sale Cattle

The Herd

Herd Bulls

Sale Cattle

SYES Cattle

Feedlot
Symens Brothers has been feeding cattle to finish for over 35 years. The feedlot has recently undergone the permitting procedure, which has forced us to make some changes. Where the old feedlot held 1200 head at full capacity, the new facility currently holds 1400 head under two 400’ X 70’ hoop structures. The outdoor pens, once renovated, will increase that capacity to 1700 head. The new facility allows us to feed two cycles of cattle each year. The first cycle begins in late December through February. The second begins in late August through early October. We try to put in 700#-800# cattle that have been backgrounded, and bring them to finisher ration quickly. Nearly all the cattle we custom feed or buy are natural, meaning they have no implants and have no antibiotics or ionophores. They are marketed mainly through Laura’s Lean Beef, as well as a few other smaller natural beef companies. Cattle are fed wet corn grown in our fields and stored on site. Distiller’s grains from area ethanol plants makes up the rest of the concentrate. Ground alfalfa hay, straw, and silage round out the ration. A complete balancer mineral is included in all rations, and a yeast product called MSE from Nature’s Way is also fed. This product increases consumption as well as efficiency naturally. Cattle are bedded in the hoop barns year round. They consume roughly one ton of bedding per 175 head weekly. Manure is cleaned from the edges of each pen during this time and spread on our cropland. The bed pack remains in each pen until that pen is closed out, at which time a new bed pack is started over. The efficiency of Limousin cattle, combined with the increased efficiency of indoor confinement feeding and products like MSE, have helped us remain profitable in cattle feeding for many years. Raising cattle for LLB and other natural companies allows us to earn more dollars according to their value, as well as discover the value of different bloodlines within the Limousin breed, as many of the cattle we feed are sired by SYES genetics.

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winterfeedlot

Feedlot

Symens Brothers Limousin

PO Box 155

Amherst, SD 57421

Tel: 605-448-2624

Fax: 605-448-5786

John Cell: 605-880-8061

Paul Cell: 605-880-0039

Warren Cell: 605-237-2127

Brad Cell: 605-880-9822

John Email:

jssymens_venturecomm.net

Paul Email:

pfsymens_venturecomm.net

Warren Email:

symens_venturecomm.net

Brad Email:

syes88_yahoo.com

Contact Us

Links

Here are seven reliable links from seven reliable, well respected organizations that we do business with.

American Cattle Services, with Ken Holloway, manages our annual bull sale.

Laura's Lean Beef buys the majority of feeders through our feedlot each year. Jeff Russo is procures cattle in the region.

LimiGene, with Herman Symens, provides the breed with reliable genetics.

Limousin Live, with Andy Peterson, provides current Limousin events on video and news releases.

Limousin HeartBeat, with Dean Summerbell, is the official periodical of the Heartland Limousin Association.

The North American Limousin Foundation manages the herdbook, as well as providing breeders with useful information.

The Limousin World is the monthly periodical of the breed, providing advertising, show and sale reports, as well as information pertinent to the cattle industry. Kiley McKinna is the field rep for the region.

LIMOUSIN LIVE

Links

Symens Brothers

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