About Longview Farms
THE FAMILY AND FARM LIFE
Longview Farms is celebrating 20 years of farm life and raising cattle; purchased Black Herefords in late 2009 - 12 years ago. The Hardin family (w/ 4 kids) are pioneers who left the city life in 2002 and built our farm from nothing (open pastures and crop ground). We learned and paid for many farm lessons through the school of “hard knocks”. We built miles of fencing; trenched and laid thousands of feet of water pipeline (for intensive grazing) and learned how to survive winter’s frozen water issues with the cattle. All our kids have PHD’s (professional post hold diggers).
Established in 2002 we operate an “intensive grazing” cattle farm on 225 acres of rolling hills in south-central Iowa. The farm is divided into various pads with a water source for each. The science of “intensive grazing” is easy; it’s the uncontrollable environmental changes that drives the challenge of managing a grazing operation.
THE DAIRY BOOT CAMP - SEEDSTOCK BREEDER
Initially we began as a grass-based dairy (first 4 years), which was our boot camp! We experienced milk fever, cows stuck in the ditch, hypothermia, torn teats, saving bloated cows and much more. Moved to beef cattle (Shorthorns 2008 and Black Herefords 2010) and worked through the discovery of MSUD (9-year journey). We pushed forward with AI, IVF and flushing our best “genetically clean” cows. With the kids now grown and through college we have now moved to solely raising Black Herefords.
THE HERD
We target a tight calving season (60 days or less), meaning fertility is an important trait for staying at Longview Farms. We ask the bulls to do their breeding in July and August, the hottest most humid times in Iowa. Cows must learn to survive on our summer fescue / clover mixed pastures, with only hay for the winter. There is no grain once heifers get past 12 months of age. As the kids grew up and started to leave home, we settled on an optimal herd size of 45-50 cows. It’s surprising; once the herd size is set there is a big surge in herd quality – culling is harsh and happens for the smallest of reasons. However, progress is being made; the cow herd gave us a 205 WW avg. of 615lbs (no creep feed) last year (2021); 2020 calf group was also over 600lbs – not bad for Iowa.
COME VISIT THE FARM
As you look for a new herd bull, we welcome anyone to our farm and a special walk through the herd. Farm visits are educational and recommended, if possible. Please contact us to discuss your bulls needs and we will work to align your bull interest accordingly. We hold bulls through the yearling stage (late April / May) so we can gather yearling data and conduct a full Breeding Soundness Exam. Once tests are completed, we will work with you to schedule transportation.