About Ulupalakua
Ranch
Ulupalakua Ranch is located on the
southwestern slopes of the Haleakala volcano on the island of Maui,
Hawaii. The ranch runs 2,300 brood cows of Brangus and Angus
breeding. Most of the calves are marketed locally on Maui, and the
majority of those calves are sold to Maui Cattle Company, LLC. which
Ulupalakua Ranch owns and operates in conjunction with six other
Hawaii ranches. The calves are born in winter, spring and summer
breeding programs to coincide with the different ecosystems on the
ranch. All of the calves that are marketed locally are grown out on
Maui and custom fed in a local feedlot. The majority of the
remaining calves are shipped to the 2,800 acre White Deer Ranch in
Crook County, Oregon, owned by Ulupalakua Ranch. Those calves are
grown out with other purchased stockers and then custom fed in the
Northwest before being sold to a packing operation.
In recent years Sumner Erdman has increased the ranches efforts to
improve the genetic base of its cowherd. The ranch is constantly
trying to find that perfect cow that produces a good market calf and
is well suited to the environmental conditions of the operation. The
results of these efforts have increased the ranches carcass weights
by almost 50 pounds, thereby increasing revenues. Furthermore the
ranch has been able to decrease individual cow expenses by producing
cows that are able to maintain ideal condition during dry years.
Thus, while the goal of genetic improvement is a never-ending
battle, the ranch has seen success in its efforts.
In the late 1960's, Pard Erdman began the tradition of Ulupalakua
Ranch partnering with organizations that also wanted to help and
preserve the native flora on the ranches property. This tradition
has grown steadily of the decades and today the ranch is actively
partnered with eight different organizations (The United States
Department of Fish and Wildlife Service {USF&WS}, The United States
Department of Geological Services {USGS} Biological Resource
Division, The United States Department of Agriculture Natural
Resource Conservation Service {NRCS}, The State of Hawaii Department
of Land and Natural Resources {DLNR}, Ducks Unlimited {DU}, The
Nature Conservancy {NC}, The Native Hawaiian Plant Society{NHPS},
and the Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership{LHWRP})
in its efforts to protect and enhance the native habitat on
Ulupalakua Ranch.
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