WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE FOR  THE COBB CHAROLAIS RANCH OF AUGUSTA, MONTANA!

A PERFORMANCE LEGEND FOR 50-PLUS YEARS

Our herd has been closed and selectively linebred and culled for 50-plus years for a consistent and uniform balance of fertility, milk, docility, outstanding feedlot conversion gains, carcass traits, early maturity and sound conformation, all raised within a harsh, challenging mountain foothills environment.  Wintertime temperature swings of 70-100 degrees within 24-hour periods are not uncommon, due to the roll of  forceful warming chinook winds off the mountainsides.  The ranch ranges in elevation from 4500 feet to 6000 feet in the summer pastures. 

Our animals are not bred for the goals of the show ring, but rather to fit the demands of the beef business—from birth to slaughter in the quickest possible time with the greatest possible profit.  We have dehorned, scurred and polled animals in two calving herds, spring and fall, with only the top half of the bull calf crops offered for auction in yearly April and November sales.  Some females may be sold private treaty from time to time. 

WHAT IS THE COBB SECRET?  EFFICIENT LINEBRED ECONOMICS

Early in the 1960's, the Cobbs experimented.  Buddy built his own small feedlot, successfully fed out and marketed young Charolais bulls for a local Montana supermarket chain under the trade name of "Charmont--Red Yearling Beef"--one of the nation's first "branded beef" programs.  But after realizing the explosive potential of their purebred Charolais as top performance beef cattle, the Cobbs concentrated their efforts toward seedstock production.  From this valuable experiment, they learned data which enabled them early on to raise a specific "type" of Charolais, one that would grow and finish out to a top quality carcass more quickly and efficiently.

In 2003, 36 head of newly banded Cobb purebred Charolais feeder steers averaged 3.77 lbs. of gain per day, with a 3.83 lb/day dry matter conversion, no growth implants or hormones.  From this same group of steers averaged a dressing percentage of 63.7% off an average 693 lb. carcass, live weight of 1088 lbs., averaging 2.2 sq. inch ribeye per cwt.  And these superior feeder steers were CULLS from the 2002 spring crop of bull calves BEFORE the best were placed on performance test.  Their half-brothers and cousins were tested, then culled again, and 150 remaining bulls were offered in our April 2003 sale to our usual crowd of commercial and some purebred producers, with many repeat buyers.  A COBB BULL SALE OFFERS YOU ONLY THE BEST ON TEST, ONLY THE BEST FOR SALE--GUARANTEED.

The cows are studies of excellence in themselves.  The "stacking" of performance upon performance in the Cobb female pedigree has produced a cowherd unequalled in its genetic ability to produce and reproduce superior beef animals at a profit.  For 50-plus years, in one of the most demanding of environments, we have concentrated on reproductive efficiency, always selecting replacement females that possess the genetic prepotency for fertility, calving ease, milk production,  easy-fleshing phenotype and quiet, docile temperament to offer their own personal contributions towards their progeny's performance ability.  Sound, reality-based cattle.

 Replacement heifers with MT Nat'l Guards on Benchmark Rd., Ahorn Basin Fire of July 2007.

                                            Fifty-plus years of selection for calm dispositions and docility.