Rempe Farms: The future of the cattle industry

Sam Rempe was born into the cattle industry, helping his dad out much like his own little boy is starting to do now. Rempe Farms sells bulls and heifers, along with embryos that are shipped all over the world. Rempe Farms was established in 1955, and has expanded with each generation. Currently Sam and his father, Jim Rempe, handle the cattle while his uncle ,Ron Rempe, and cousin, Matt Rempe, handle the farming side of business. The goal of the cattle business is to create hybrid seed stock cattle.

Sam explained growing up on the farm gave him the training he needed, but at the same time, he knew there was more to learn elsewhere. So after graduating high school in 2006, Sam attended Beatrice South East Community College studying animal science. He later transferred to Fort Hays State University earning his bachelor's degree in beef cattle management. Most of his training came from helping his father and learning at Fort Hays, but said interning at Leachman Cattle after college is where he learned about artificial insemination (AI). Sam's main job is helping at Rempe Farms, but also working for Leachman Cattle in Colorado as a sales representative, visiting about 5 to 6 times a year. Most of the bulls born from AI are sold through that farm.

Sam is a member of both the Kansas Livestock Association (KSA) and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). In 2015, Sam was a part of the KLA Young Stockmen's Academy (YSA), a program targeted for young adults to develop industry exposure, education and association communication. While being involved with that, he learned about the Kansas legislature, saw and learned about different cattle operations and advocated for ranchers. To Sam, the KLA's YSA was a nice experience. It got him into the industry, introducing him to fresh ideas and kept him involved.

Now, Sam specializes in working an extensive embryo program on the family farm, with the help of Trans Ova Genetics out of Iowa. When asked why he chooses to do embryo transfers, he explained the genetic progress allows him to process more bulls, 70 percent of which are now making sales. The ET process basically pays for itself because Sam will keep the heifers born to repeat the process and sell the bulls after collecting a semen sample and determining if their genetics are up to parr. Trans Ova Genetics (TOG) specializes in dairy, beef, small ruminant, swine, and cloning. With beef, they offer IVF, ET, exporting, sexed semen, a fresh ship program, recipient options, cloning and genetic preservation, donor housing and bovine gestation calculator services.

Since Rempe is making the most profit off of his bulls, he has more recently turned towards reverse sort and sexed semen. With the help of a lab, the semen collected from his bulls can be sorted by sex and Rempe will inject the male bearing sperm into a recipient. All of the embryos used also come from his cattle, with the help of AI. The cattle are separated into two main herds, A and B. A herd consists of bulls and heifers they decide to keep, and the B herd are the cattle receiving the embryos, they are not exposed to bulls at first. If the embryo doesn't stick, Rempe will introduce them to bulls and send them off to be sold commercially. Instead of creating a commercial or purebred herd, Rempe chooses this method of breeding to create a hybrid herd.

Rempe Farms puts a value on each genetic trait and indexes it. With each AI, they try to out do the index by creating better genetics. In the long run they and the buyer profit off of those high quality genes. The index system is a registered data base at the Leachman farm. They get the genetic makeup of a cow by an implanted ear tag. This ear tag resembles something like 23 & Me or Ancestory.com, allowing Sam to see both the genetics of mom and dad and see how much of each was passed down to the calf.

March 17, Sam, TOG, and other family members transferred embryos into recipient cattle. In a week they will check to see if they settled and those cows are pregnant. If they are, the hybrid calves will be born in late December or early next year. Soon, Rempe Farms hope to expand with a strictly commercial herd, calving in May.