Our Story
The Logterman Cattle story begins nearly 100 years ago, when Dwight and his brother LeRoy’s grandfather, Ed, moved to South Dakota with his new bride, Martina. Like most farmers at that time, he had a few milk cows, a few beef cows, a few hogs, a few chickens, and even fewer dollars. Hard times hit and most farmers in the area eventually left, including all six of his brothers and sisters. Later in life, Grandpa Ed joked that a person had to be awfully stubborn and stupid to stay. With a lot of work, perseverance, and God’s goodness and grace, his original homestead is still in the family.
Dwight’s Hereford herd began in 1984 when he was employed by the ABC ranch of Kilgore, Nebraska. At that time, two cows were purchased from ABC and six from Marvanne’s father, Marvin Feddes, of Manhattan, MT. The Angus herd was added about 15 years ago with the purchase of embryos and females from LeRoy.
Recently Dwight decided to cut back and sold 600+ bred heifers and cows in a dispersion sale. It was hard to say goodbye to our girls but we were happy to see them go to many established registered herds, young couples getting their start and commercial programs that will all benefit from excellent genetics built over a lifetime of careful selection. Parting with so many cows has also lightened the work load and allowed Dwight to step back just a bit. We kept the 2023 calf crop and we will have a sizable Production sale in 2024 & 2025. After that, Rob will taking more of the lead and the ranch will follow his direction.
LeRoy (mostly known as Duke) spent about 30 years in education, first as a high school math teacher and later as a guidance counselor. It has been said that you can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy, and this seems to be true in Duke’s case. In his retirement, Duke purchased some black Angus cows from the VanDyke Angus Ranch of Manhattan, MT and started to build his herd. Through embryo transplanting using high-quality cows and bulls, the herds have grown rapidly in the last 10 years. After the bull calves are weaned, Duke brings his bulls out to Dwight’s South Dakota ranch to be fed until the sale.
Rob (Dwight & Marvanne’s youngest) officially joined the ranch operation in the fall of 2009 after graduating from high school. He found himself at college for the spring semester that year but his heart had never left the ranch and so he returned to his first love – ranching. Rob had begun his herd prior to graduating from high school when he purchased one Hereford cow from Baker Herefords. He purchased six Angus cows from his Uncle Duke a year later and continued to add a handful of cows each year after that for about five years. These cows, their daughters, granddaughters, etc. make up Rob’s herd today. However, Rob’s best addition to the ranch has been his lovely bride, Andee & their two beautiful children, Ryder & Madison.
George and Jodi (Logterman) Arnold are full-time teachers and once in awhile cowhands. In 2020, when covid put an abrupt end to the in-person school year, they began helping out more on the ranch and earned two bred heifers for their efforts. From those two heifers they have begun to build a small herd and sold their first two-year old bull in our 2023 Bull Sale. Now officially the “Rafter AL,” George and Jodi are proud to be the newest branch of Logterman Family Cattle.
Our first goal in building the Angus herd has been to select sires that will leave behind efficient, long-lasting daughters while also siring thick, meaty bull calves. The Hereford portion of our program allows cattlemen to capitalize on the heterosis vigor and efficiency of the Angus-Hereford black baldy. We raise our cattle the ranchers way – no special treatment, just high expectations. Our cattle are managed like a commercial herd that just so happens to be registered. We believe in quality cattle that are built to last!