The everyday moments in ranching and raising beef as a family are what we live for.
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Read on and browse the site to learn more about how we raise the beef available for order through this site.
Get a glimpse of our real ranch life moments. We are still writing this story of ours. We are honored to add so many amazing beef customers to it through your orders and feedback.
Our Story
Opposites attract. Or something like that.
That best describes Will and Nicole Derting. While Will sees the world in black and white, Nicole see things in shades of grey. It’s why Will & Nicole work well together in life and business.
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Will grew up in North Central Washington on a working ranch. Imagine for a moment living far from a tiny town with no phones, no internet, no TV. Nothing but cows, horses, crops, and your immediate and extended family. Will is the first to say he had the best childhood growing up on a large cow/calf ranch where he spent the majority of his time either trailing cows or playing sports.
It was here that Will was immersed in the daily workings of a cow/calf ranch, whether it was doctoring sick cattle, tagging new calves, or always being the one to open a wire gate. For Will there wasn’t much else to think about besides cows, horses, and sports. That is, until he was recruited to play football at WSU, where he went on to play in four bowl games, then on to the NFL combine.
But the extent of daily pain from injuries, the desire to be able to still walk when he's 40, and missing cows led him to move on. He moved on to Colorado for several years to learn and work at some of the largest feedlots in the nation. He came back to Washington as the cattle manager of another feedlot for five years.
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Will found his place in life taking care of cattle on a feedlot, not so much tackling quarterbacks or trailing cows.
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That was until he married a girl who started accumulating bottle calves, who was less so much excited about the feedlot than the fun of trailing cows. Nicole was "that girl". That girl who grew up in Central Washington and was so horse-crazy it consumed mind and spirit. All day. Every day.
Nicole grew up showing heifers and always had a few cows (along with horses, of course). But it wasn’t enough. She wanted the “buckaroo lifestyle” as some call it. After graduating WSU, meeting Will, and getting married, Nicole, who is also an organic inspector and consultant, started the slow process of growing what started as a herd of orphan calves, into what the Post 5 Cattle Co. cow herd is today.
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Over time, Will and Nicole have turned that herd of orphaned calves into a sound commercial cow herd by selecting for beef quality traits to produce consistently marbled and high-grading beef. We are proud to still have a small group of those orphaned calves, who are now big beautiful mommas themselves, and will retire when the time comes.
The Dertings' entire reason for this life is so that their children - Gus, Hank, and Margaret can grow up working alongside them.
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Gus has loved animals from day one and finds his happy place on horseback or on the rail of a fence shouting out orders at the feedlot. He has a hard time sitting still in the feed truck and prefers to be doing anything that keeps his body moving.
Hank on the other hand shows more interest in the feed truck and loader than being horseback. And sister Margaret is already great at staying in the mix no matter what's going on.
Will and Nicole take on leadership roles in the beef community, spending time around the best in the industry, learning new and innovative ideas in raising beef cattle. Will is a past president and current board member of the Washington Cattle Feeders Association and was honored as the 2016 Cattle Feeder of the Year. He is a current Washington State Beef Commission board member, nominated by peers and appointed by the Director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Nicole is a member of the Washington Cattlewomen's Association and past county president.
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Take a look at the FAQs to learn more about how we raise beef cattle. From what they eat, to how we take care of them, we share our practices and welcome questions. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little better. Please take our survey, so we may know more about what our customers want.
- Post 5 Cattle Co.
