About Us | finke-cattle

The History of the Finke farm near Berthold, ND dates back to 1900 when Christian Finke and Hilda Melin came to Passport township in Ward county independently and each homesteaded. After they married, their farm grew along with their family. One of their sons, Richard, and his wife Verna purchased the family's land over time and settled in a yard nearby which is now the present day farmyard. With each generation the farm changed with it. Richard and Verna's son Roger and his wife Susan worked into the operation growing it yet again and added more cows to diversify the farm. Roger and Susan enjoyed running the cows and had a special appreciation for the Simmental breed from the beginning of it's presence in the United States in the early 70's. They joined the American Simmental Association in 1974 and received member number #4586. Roger and Susan with their four children operated SRF Simmentals raising Simmental seedstock.

Roger served on both the ND Simmental Association Board and the American Simmental Association Board of Trustees. Today Roger and Susan still own a small group of red simmental cows with their son Todd and his wife Kelly.

Todd purchased his first Simmental heifer in 1990 beginning his own herd. Growing up Todd was heavily involved in the farm and had a special appreciation for the cattle. He was involved in the NDJSA, NDSA, and ASA, was part of the NDSU judging team, and had the privilege to work for the American Simmental Association Register Magazine for 5 years after graduating from NDSU before returning home to work on the farm. Kelly comes from a small grains, dairy and beef cattle background of her own and has an Ag Ed degree from NDSU. Today they farm and operate SRF Simmentals under the SRF brand. Todd and Kelly have expanded the operation to what it is currently today. Multi-generational farms are extremely difficult to keep operational and Todd and Kelly continually work very hard hoping their children Carter, Abby, Anna, and Casen will have an opportunity to be the 5th generation to be proudly run the Finke Farm if they so choose.

Times are definitely different even in since Todd and Kelly have taken over in the last 20 years, SRF Simmentals feels its imperative to stay on the forefront of cattle industry needs and issues. Knowing this Todd and Kelly never loose focus that hard working maternal cows are priority. Feet, udders, milk, mothering, fleshing, disposition, profitability, etc are all considered...always first! The environment these cows are expected to thrive in, is tough and full of extremes, problems are not tolerated. Along with a common sense cow SRF ultrasounds for calving dates, collects DNA for genomic enhanced data for breeding and management decisions, cattle were tested Johnes free, utilize mineral programs, and raise and test all forage for quality. Using all the tools available is important. SRF

markets animals with live auction production sale and incoporates the use of DVAuction making internet bidding and buying available. They market individually and with Edge of the West Sale with sale partners. Most recently SRF added Allied Genetic Resources for sale management and customer service resources. SRF wants to provide the highest level of customer service by continually learning and making improvements and utilizing tools available to better know and produce cattle that work to move the beef industry forward to meet the large demand for delicious beef. You can find out more current events by checking out the SRF Simmentals Facebook page and updates on our website.