Who We Are

We are Charles, Heather, Lyle and Kennedy Maude; owners and operators of Maude Hog and Cattle, a diversified farm and ranch located in western South Dakota.

Charles is the fifth generation of his family to farm and ranch. He grew up 25 miles to the west. His first cow was gifted to him prior to his birth, and he’s been in the cattle business since. His grandfather, Walter, helped cultivate his lifelong love of farming in numerous ways, one being a wheat growing contest. Charles still chuckles as he tells the story of dragging a garden hose across the driveway to irrigate his wheat in hopes of beating his grandpa on yield. He lost.

In 1996, Charles’ father Marion gifted him a boar purchased from Chris Howie, and two gilts bought at the Western Junior Livestock Show. From that point on, Charles was in both the cattle and the hog business.

Charles was actively involved in FFA at the chapter and state levels for six years. He was the recipient of the Greenhand degree in 2000 and the SD State Star Farmer in 2003. In 2007, he received his American FFA Degree in addition to being a candidate for National Star Farmer. In 4-H, Charles received 63 project pins over the course of his nine years of involvement. He utilized his own livestock and crops for many of his projects, learning valuable farming, ranching and animal husbandry skills.

Charles purchased Maude Hog and Cattle between his senior year of high school and freshman year of college. He obtained his bachelors of animal science with minors in ag marketing, range and pasture management, and agronomy from South Dakota State University (SDSU) in 2007. He was involved in the 2007 livestock evaluation team and the 2007 junior livestock judging team at SDSU. Upon graduating, he returned to Maude Hog and Cattle fulltime and began putting both his formal and real-world educations to work.

Heather is also the fifth generation of her family to pursue production agriculture as an occupation. She was raised on an eastern Wyoming cattle and sheep ranch, located 56 miles from town, 20 of which was gravel, or “16 cattle guards off the highway,” as Charles once told her while they were dating. 

She has loved cattle from a young age, and purchased her first heifer from the family ranch at eight years old to show in 4-H. Over the course of her 11-year 4-H career, she showed several breeding and market beef projects as well as hogs and horses, and was active in junior leaders. She was involved in both livestock and wool judging at the county, state and national levels.

Heather obtained her associates degree in applied science with an emphasis in agriculture from Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo., where she was part of the livestock judging team. She then attended the University of Wyoming (UW), where she graduated with a bachelors degree in animal science with production and communication options in 2008. She worked at the UW college newspaper as a photographer and later as the photography editor, along with writing a column for one semester.

Following college, Heather was hired as the assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup newspaper. She eventually left the position to return to her family’s ranch, where she worked daily in addition to pursuing a freelance journalism and photography career. To-date her writing and photography have been published in more than two dozen publications worldwide.

Since the arrival of their children, Heather has significantly reduced her photography work, as well as limiting her writing to a by-weekly column in Tri-State Livestock News titled, “Day Writing.” 

Charles and Heather were set up on a blind date, and married in July, 2013. Two kids, one house and a major blizzard later, and even occasionally while working cattle together, they both feel blessed to have found one another.

History

Maude Hog and Cattle began in 1907 when Thomas Maude purchased land on the Cheyenne River in eastern Custer County, South Dakota. His two sisters had homesteaded a few miles south, and are likely who suggested he buy land in the area. He was an absentee landowner, living in Burbank, South Dakota. His son Bill arrived in the area in 1917 and homesteaded 160 acres within a mile of Thomas’s land. Bill was a jack of all trades, running cattle and hogs in addition to growing both livestock feed and a truck garden on the river bottom. He and wife Nellie also raised six kids. Bill designed and built an extensive irrigation system which rerouted the entire Cheyenne River channel, using the water multiple times before dumping it back into the river downstream

One of Bill’s sons, Walter, returned to Scenic, South Dakota in 1945 after WWI. He and wife Gen lived in Scenic until they purchased a place nine miles north of town, on the south side of the Cheyenne River, just west of Highway 44. In 1963, the couple purchased the original Maude place from Bill. Walter and Gen continued living on Hwy 44, where they raised four children, milked cows, had chickens, farmed and ran Hereford beef cows. Walter’s brother Ward purchased land adjoining Walter on Hwy 44, and the brothers traded labor and machinery.

In 2002, Walter sold the original Maude place owned by Thomas and Bill Maude to his grandson Charles, who was 17 years old at the time. Following Walter’s passing in 2003, Charles purchased the remainder of Walter’s operation with the help of his parents.

Maude Hog and Cattle Today

Today we remain headquartered on Hwy 44. Our farm and ranch consists of a commercial Simmental/Angus cowherd. Additionally, we grow irrigated and non-irrigated hay and small grain crops, and operate a farrow-to-finish hog operation. Charles began no-till farming in the fall of 2009, and custom no-till farming shortly thereafter. A feedlot was added in 2011, through which both owned and outside cattle are fed. 

Charles’ first sows arrived at the Hwy 44 location in 2010. The entire hog operation was relocated from his parent’s place following the Atlas Blizzard of 2013. At that time we decided to revamp our hog program and focus on raising premium quality meat hogs.

We believe we borrow the land from our children, and make decisions daily with the hope of creating the opportunity for them to have a life in agriculture, should they so choose. Agriculture has always been focused on sustainability, and we strive to build and improve upon what our forefathers started to ensure our place remains a viable, productive farm and ranch for another century.

To achieve this we utilize livestock grazing to enrich and maintain native landscapes where both our cattle and numerous wildlife species thrive, and implement the best in modern farming practices to reduce soil and wind erosion, improve water usage and generate a quality grain source for both human and livestock consumption. That’s the tip of the iceberg; please to contact us if you would like to know more.

We live where we work, and we love what we do. God Bless.

The Maudes