Ranch History

We cannot claim to be the biggest or best of anything, but we strive to do our best.

The following is a little history on how our ranch has been in generations for years and continues to be the only source of income we rely on. To the best of my knowledge (Terry), my great grandfather, Joseph Duppong purchased the ranch we call home in 1906.  This was not his original homestead as he decided to move the family to Idaho after my great-grandmother had died. Conceding to the pressure of my uncles and grandfather, the family moved back to Glen Ullin, North Dakota as many of the uncles had girlfriends back home in the Glen Ullin area and wanted to come back, marry and raise families of their own. Most of them homesteaded on quarters close to where our ranch sits today.

My grandfather was the youngest of the sons and too young to qualify to homestead, so my great grandfather purchased the land on the ranch we reside today. My grandfather and great grandfather started ranching by raising milking shorthorn cattle. My grandparents, Anton and Anna Duppong, like many others in their time worked diligently raising 11 children and were able to expand modestly and make structural improvements.

My father, Albert Duppong, upon graduating from high school would have liked to pursue his educational career, but because of the age difference of his brothers, he would have to stay on the ranch so his older brother could go on to college and he would have to wait to pursue his college career until one of his younger brothers could take his place.  Taking all this into consideration, my father decided he would for-go his college education and take over the ranch.

In 1950, my father and grandfather introduced registered shorthorn cattle to the ranch to generate income.  After my father married my mother, Charleen, the decision was made to raise strictly beef cattle as quickly as economics would let them. This would be the beginning of  Duppong’sWillow Creek, named after all the willow trees growing along the Haycreek where the ranch currently resides.

 Because of my parents commitment to raising beef cattle, they felt a need to try and answer the question of which breed of cattle had the potential of earning them the most profit. So after 20 years of raising reputable Registered shorthorn cattle they decided in the late l960s to have their own test project on the ranch to determine which breed of cattle would offer the most advantages to maximize the ranches profits.  A lot of information was gathered over a 9 year period on 6 different breeds of registered cattle with all progeny being performance tested.  All breeds had some good characteristics to offer, but in the end it was decided the Angus cattle had the most potential to maximize profits under the conditions we are accustomed to in this area.  In 1973, the commitment to raising quality purebred Angus cattle was made and my wife, Patty and I have continued to raise registered Angus cattle ever since.  We have strived to improve the quality and genetics of our herd over the last 50 years by not only Artificial Insemination, calving and backgrounding, but also by raising the feed to finish the animals on our ranch.  From the late 90’s to the early 2000’s we were able to identify cattle that had nothing to offer our breed as far as carcass quality by using actual carcass data and eliminated them from our herd which enabled us to be guaranteed a harvest date at a time when other finished cattle waited weeks to be harvested. I personally believe one of the biggest accomplishments Patty and I received was when a packer would call and ask if we had a load of cattle finished yet.

Along with advice received from our parents as we have pursued this ranch life, we have also received some worthwhile advice from others.  One occasion in particular was with the late Wayne Stevenson.  When Patty and I pulled into his yard and were visiting with him, I had made the comment to him that it seemed the cattle business was moving in a direction I was unsure of and was wondering if we should pursue it; his comment to me was “don’t try to chase it, just do your own thing and let it find you”. I’m pretty certain the business hasn’t found us, but these were great words for us to use everyday through questionable circumstances.

Patty and I have enjoyed representing the 4th generation on the ranch and now it will be up to our two sons, Ty and Casey as to how the ranch will proceed moving into the 5th generation.