Dixson Farms, Inc. raises Simmental seedstock in southwest Rawlins County near Atwood in far Northwest Kansas. It is owned and operated by Kevin, Carol, and Lyle Dixson. We started breeding up from commercial cows and bought a few cows along the way. We started using AI in 1999, and now we have an extensive AI program. We started selling commercial bulls in 2001 through our private treaty sale. We held our first female sale in Oct of 2010.

Northwest Kansas has some of the roughest terrain in all of Kansas. There's nothing flat about our pastures. Our cows have to be sound enough to travel over the extremely rough and rocky terrain of our pastures. We experience four true seasons with very fast climatic changes and an average rainfall of 18" a year. Our cows have to be able to do their job in sub-zero weather, as well as, 110 degree days.

   From 2000-2007 our cowherd had to deal with severe drought. We experienced an average annual rainfall of only 12" or less. This provided selection pressure to to further improve our fleshing ability and fertility.

Our operation currently is comprised of 150 head of red and black mostly high percentage to purebred Simmentals and a few Red Angus. We have a nucleus herd of 70-80 cows that calve in February and March. This nucleus herd raises the bulls we sell as yearlings, the heifers we market as yearlings, and the very best of our replacement heifers.

The rest of the cows start calving about May 20th and continue through July 4. Our summer calving herd is handled as a true low input herd. After years of increasing selection pressure on these cows, we have developed a unique set of Simmentals that we believe can thrive in any environment.

 Although too young to be sold as yearlings, bulls born to the summer calving herd are sold as two year olds. A large percentage of replacement heifers from this part of the herd are bred to calve at 20 months. By calving early, these heifers earn an opportunity to be included in the nucleus herd.

We believe that rising input costs will be the biggest road block to profitability in the future.The systems and genetics that we are developing are designed specifically to combat this.

Carol lives in Oberlin where she teaches 6th grade. Kevin and his wife, Abbi, live on the farm. Both are retired teachers and Kevin is now a full time Minister in Bird City. They have 3 grown daughters Kinsey, Kylie, and Kaedra. Lyle and his wife Alisha, also live at the farm now. Lyle owns and operates Tri-State Vet Service in Atwood, and is a part time Pharmacist. They have 5 children: Brenan, Braxton, Beckett, Brecklyn, and Bennett.