Three families combined their cattle herds across Idaho and Nevada without giving up individual ownership of their cows or calves. Their arrangement grew from a pasture rental into joint marketing and purchasing, relying on clear calf-allocation practices, complementary roles, and trust built over time. It is one operation’s experience—not proof that combining herds will work for every ranch.
How the three-family arrangement began
Bill and Laurie Lickley ran a cow herd near Jerome, Idaho, where irrigated crops were squeezing out pastureland. Through an acquaintance, they learned that Squaw Valley Ranch in central Nevada had rangeland and wanted more cows. The Lickleys moved their cattle about 300 miles to Nevada, joining Jesse and Ricarda Braatz and Ricarda’s parents, Dick and Mary Bradbury.
When Bill Lickley spoke with Gene Johnston for Successful Farming on April 21, 2022, the relationship had lasted 11 years. It began as a pasture rental and expanded as the owners built trust: they began marketing cattle together, buying replacement cattle for one another, and considering other opportunities.
How ownership works inside the combined herd
The owners kept cows and calves individually owned. Bill Lickley put the distinction simply: “The cows are owned individually, and calves are, too.” At branding, calves were branded according to the owners’ percentage shares based on cow ownership. A calf could nurse a cow owned by someone else, but the owners still received their exact share of the calf crop at year-end.
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The profile says accumulated trust helped the system work. It does not describe a formal record-keeping method, written partnership agreement, voting rules, or legal structure. For another group considering a similar setup, the practical questions include how to document cow ownership, calculate calf shares, record branding, and reconcile the year-end allocation.
How the owners divided the work
Day-to-day responsibility followed the operation’s geography and the owners’ strengths. Jesse managed the cows on leased Nevada rangeland. Bill continued to run a few yearlings on the Idaho farm and traveled to Nevada several times a year to help with branding or pregnancy checking and to see the cattle before marketing. Dick and Mary contributed years of cattle experience and advice.
Bill focused on marketing and relationships. He looked for calf marketing opportunities, feedlot retained-ownership options, and markets for open heifers. Jesse was described as using grazing to improve the landscape. The profile presents these complementary roles, along with trust, as elements of the arrangement—not as a prescribed division of labor for other ranches.
How they approached shared decisions
The owners reached consensus on genetics, aiming for a consistent cow herd with heifers raised on the ranch. Bill said they sometimes deliberately tested a decision by disagreeing. They were willing to accept a choice one person did not prefer and treated failures as learning experiences.
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The account does not specify a dispute-resolution procedure. A group adapting the idea would need to decide how routine and major decisions are made, who has authority over daily management, how disagreements are handled, and what happens if consensus is not possible. Those are planning questions, not rules documented for the Lickley, Braatz, and Bradbury operation.
What scale and joint marketing brought them
Bill reported that the combined herd exceeded 2,000 cows, compared with about 200 cows in his former herd. He said the larger scale improved input purchasing and labor efficiency. In his words, “Purchasing inputs on scale is definitely a benefit.” These are his reported observations about this operation, not independently measured industry results.
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Pooling cattle also let the owners assemble full loads from animals that might previously have been sorted out for being larger or smaller than the rest. Bill said the fuller loads drew more buyer interest. That experience suggests a potential marketing advantage when separate groups can be combined into a more attractive load; the profile does not quantify any price premium.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the profile says about calf-sale timing
Bill said the operation’s feeder-cattle market peaked in August and that they contracted about 70% of calf sales then. This describes his market observation and the group’s practice at the time of the 2022 interview. It should not be read as a current market forecast or a recommended timing strategy for cattle producers elsewhere.
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Questions to settle before combining herds
The profile records a specific arrangement, not a complete blueprint. Before combining cattle or marketing, owners would need to work through operational and financial details the article does not establish:
- Who manages the cattle day to day, and how are responsibilities divided across locations?
- How are shared expenses and bulk input purchases allocated among owners?
- How are individual cows, calf ownership percentages, branding, and year-end allocations recorded and reconciled?
- Who decides how and when cattle are marketed, and how are proceeds allocated?
- How are genetics decisions reached, and what is the process if owners disagree?
- What do the owners’ written agreements say about insurance, taxes, liability, and a partner’s exit?
These are issues to resolve with appropriate legal, tax, and insurance professionals; Johnston’s profile does not provide advice or terms for them. The reported benefits are specific to the owners’ circumstances and should not be treated as typical results or a guarantee that a combined herd will lower costs or improve sale outcomes.
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