Hometown: Wheatland
Family: Wife Michelle Nichols, daughter Madalyn (8) and son Thatcher (6)
In Town: Cody Nichols has been in real estate for five years and is currently a sales associate with Lincoln Reality in Lincoln, Mo.
“I do a little of everything,” Cody said of his sales. “When I first started, I worked for Mosey Oak Properties and mostly sold cattle and hunting properties. Now, I do a little of everything.”
In the Country: Cody and his family own Arrow N Ranch near Wheatland. They background around 70 to 120 calves annually.
“We background mostly heifers,” Cody said of their 91-acre ranch. “We background through the late summer and into fall, and into the next spring. Depending on the market, we breed or sell them when they get to 700 to 800 pounds. It gives you a couple of outlets for those heifers.”
For those replacements, bulls are put in with select heifers in early June, then again in the fall.
“I want the heifers to be a certain size when they are bred,” Cody said. “I want them to be very mature. We also pelvic measure heifers to make sure they aren’t going to have many problems calving.”
Heifers not passing the pelvic measurement criteria or having other health concerns are sold as feeders. Feeder heifers are at Arrow N Ranch for about six months, and bred heifers remain for about a year.
Heifers are purchased regionally and at special cattle sales to get higher-quality cattle.
“I hit pre-vac sales and buy cattle we think will gain,” Cody explained. “We have some producers we have bought from before and know their cattle.”
In addition to backgrounding cattle, the family also has a horse endeavor.
“I have a lot of friends in the horse industry, so I have a lot of ins and outs where I can buy horses,” Cody said. “I know I can get good enough horses for us to use the day they get here. I don’t have time to raise and break them anymore. A horse will be at my house for 60, 90 days before I ever try to market him; I want to know what he knows and his quarks. I’ve had horses around here for two years before I marketed them; it just depends on the horse. We don’t turn them too fast because I need them, and they can be hard to replace.
Future plans: “We started with nothing and moved to the 90 acres,” Cody said. “Eventually, the goal is to expand and not have the town job anymore. I’ll just put it in God’s hands so that he can figure out the timeline. I’ll just keep working hard, and I will eventually get there.”
