Commercial Focused Seedstock

The beef business still pays by the pound. Lone Oak Cattle produces genetics built for the commercial cattleman by prioritizing performance and phenotype, not simply EPD values.

Hello! We’re Eric and Heather Ehresman, owners of Lone Oak Cattle. Since 1993, our cattle have grazed the hills in southern Jones county, along the Wapsipinicon River in east central Iowa. The heart of our cow herd consists of Angus and Gelbvieh and our experience has taught us these Balancer cows will consistently out-perform their purebred contemporaries, both in fertility and longevity!

We are blessed to be a part of a family that loves the Lord and the cattle business. Beyond our seedstock cow calf operation we generally have around 2500 head of cattle on feed at any given time throughout the year. This allows us to witness first-hand the value in quality genetics and the results our customers can come to expect from Lone Oak Cattle.

Economically Relevant Traits.

While EPDs are the industry standard, and a useful tool, we feel that ERTs, or Economically Relevant Traits are even more important. Things like structure, base width, hoof shape, teat and udder attachment, body capacity, muzzle width, and most of all, fertility! No other single trait comes anywhere close in importance to fertility! While many of the breed associations are beginning to address some of these, it seems they have been ignored for years! As a rule, a female doesn't start paying her way until she is around 6 years old. Cows that drop out early are a huge expense and a hurdle that sometimes cannot be jumped over and EPDs are only as good as those reporting them. Actual data within a contemporary group is a very useful tool. Performance, phenotype, and ERTs drive every mating decision made here. Great cattle create great data, great data does NOT create great cattle.