Despite that, Wheat always tried to follow his uncle's advice. If you have to ship them to a terminal market or a sale barn, you're broke before you start. Today he leases the yard and his son, Pete, manages it. For years, Wheat bought all the cattle off the Deseret Ranch in Florida. Most recently he's been getting most of his calves out of Wyoming and still a few out of New Mexico.
Wheat prefers a four-weight calf but admits that oftentimes that size is hard to come by.
The calves come the first of November. He figures to put on about 150 pounds over the winter, feeding a growing ration of ground hay, silage and four pounds of grain. They go to grass about the 15th of April. Good Flint Hills country, Wheat says, will run a calf to four acres. Generally, the stocker calves are sold to a Nebraska or Western Kansas feeder.