Our Producers
Bruce and Sunshine Shanks own and reside on Sassafras Valley Ranch in Belle, MO where they graze livestock on 725 owned acres and 10 lease farms totaling 1,400 acres. Currently, they run 300 registered South Poll cows and have a flock of 200 commercial Katahdin hair sheep. They follow a simple recipe for cattle production and are TRULY a low-input operation. The only supplements cattle receive are mineral and dry hay. A heavy emphasis is placed on fertility and hardiness and cows that pregnancy check open are strictly culled; additionally, heifers are required to calve as two-year-olds. Bruce has been on the South Poll Grass Cattle Association board since the organization’s inception.
Holiday Ranch South Polls LLC, located in the Florida panhandle, was founded by Cliff and Kay White in 2004. We began by first purchasing Bent Tree Farms’ finest foundation South Polls with many others to follow. Our core principals are centered around regenerative agriculture and best management practices to ensure healthy soil and forages for our South Polls. Our goal is continuous herd improvement focusing on phenotype, maternal, and carcass traits. In our quest for excellence, advanced DNA technology has been employed since 2011. Now is your opportunity to obtain part of our commitment to the best that South Poll has to offer.
Harris Homeplace Farm is an ecologically minded operation raising South Poll Cattle seedstock and also selling beef direct to consumer. After implementing a managed intensive grazing system in 1998 we welcomed our first South Polls to the farm in 2006 and haven't looked back since. They are a great tool in our mission to steward our land responsibly while also building and maintaining a profitable business.
Bent Creek Farm is nestled in the rolling hills of south-central VA. After growing up on a
dairy farm in Lancaster PA, and several years in construction, my wife Sherri & I purchased
this VA farm in 1995. Within a few months we began grazing Angus, Herford and
Charolais cattle. Over the years our 7 children helped turn the low-quality pastures of the
farm into a beautiful, diverse landscape of grasses and forbs. We went from several years
of weekly pasture rotations to now daily moves of South Poll cattle.
Soil life is a very important aspect of healthy farming practices. Our cattle are selected for
natural resistance to parasites, and are able to gain well on a fescue-based forage with a
nice diversity of many other warm and cool season plants. Fresh clean water
and daily pasture moves help our cattle enjoy life and are very comfortable around people.
The base of our cattle enterprise is cow/calf pairs. We fence-line wean all of our calves and
finish out only the top females as replacements, the rest are sold as stockers or finished
and sold as grass finished beef. We prefer early maturing, small to medium framed cows at
around 1,100 lbs.
Here at O'Neal Cattle Company we are a small regenerative farm located in Bremen Ga. We usually have anywhere from 150-160 head of registered animals. We keep our cattle on the move depending on the time of year and and the forage they have available. We also sell grass fed beef off of the farm and to local restaurants in the area. You can check us out on Facebook at O'Neal Cattle Company and our website is http://www.onealcattlecompany.com .
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Smoky Mountain South Polls is a group of regenerative minded graziers in Northeast
Tennessee. We band together to share genetics and labor to care for our herds of top quality
South Poll cattle originating from Bent Tree Farms, Roberts Farm, Rock Creek, Holiday Ranch,
and Sassafras Valley Ranch.
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Stanley Sumners and Andy Sumners — We started in 2006 with 22 head of South Poll females from Teddy Gentry. We are charter members of the SPGCA, and Andy served on the board for 10 years. The South Poll community of breeders are some of the best around and always willing to help in any way possible to expand and improve your cattle farm. Here at Sumners Farm, we have around 70 head of fullblood registered females and currently 4 herd bulls. We plant summer and winter annuals and do strip and rotational grazing almost daily. We do have herd bulls available from year to year and some females usually also. If we can help with anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you.
Desoto Farms is a minimalist South Pole-based producer known for its exceptionally simple and low-effort approach to operation. With a focus on efficiency and sustainability, the farm relies solely on mineral inputs, avoiding complex machinery or extensive resource management. Our goal is to raise animals that could make it without us!!