About Us

Thorstenson Gelbvieh & Angus, also known as Lazy TV Ranch, focuses on raising trouble-free, performance seedstock on the family ranch near Selby, South Dakota. Current operators of the ranch are Vaughn Thorstenson, Gina Goetz and Jana Thorstenson.

The Thorstenson Family started raising cattle in north-central Walworth County with Vaughn’s great grandfather in 1885.  In the early 1900s, the ranch had registered Shorthorn cattle, but was predominately a commercial cow-calf operation until the mid 1970s.  At that time, Vaughn’s father, Ken, purchased a group of registered Charolais, Limousin, and Gelbvieh cows.  The Gelbvieh cattle quickly moved to the top of the herd as the most functional cattle with the best disposition.  Ken was also one of the first breeders in the United States to use the imported Gelbvieh semen and seedstock to expand the cowherd.

 

By 1975, they had become a full-fledged registered Gelbvieh operation selling hybrid bulls and a few purebred Gelbvieh bulls privately each spring.  In 1982, their first annual production sale was held at St. Onge Livestock.  In 1984, their third annual production sale was held the first Saturday in March at Mobridge, SD, which was continued until 2013 when the sale was moved to the Ranch.

AI breeding has been an extensive part of their breeding program since the early 1970s.  They continue to AI nearly three-fourths of the cowherd annually.  They have been blessed to own and breed some of the greatest herd sires in the breed through the years.  The first well-known sire was Minnesota Double, a breed performance trait leader for more than 15 years.  Other well-known resident herd sires have included:  WAC Fullback, Bennett Horizon, BNC Black Power, DDF Otis, DAR National, Lazy TV Beethoven, Lazy TV Second Class, Lazy TV Sam U451, Lazy TV Watchman, Lazy TV Tank, Lazy TV Choice Cut and many others.

 

In 1993, they purchased some large groups of Angus cows from several well-known breeders in an effort to diversify the operation’s offering to include Angus and Balancer Bulls.  That original group of cows has been culled hard and AI’ed extensively to build a powerful set of Angus Females.  Well known Angus sires that have run in the pastures of Lazy TV Ranch include:  Future Direction, MOGCK Frontman 1141, Conneally Revelation, Woodhill Daybreak, Conneally Big Money and others.

In 2009, a GrowSafe feed efficiency system was installed to monitor the residual feed intake of the animals on test to determine which genetics are the most feed efficient.  Between 350 to 400 bulls and heifers have been tested annually with most of the bulls offered for sale having feed efficiency test data.

In 2020, they incorporated Simmental genetics to produce SimAngus and offer more hybrid opportunities to their customers, believing that Gelbvieh and Simmental offer the best two crossbreeding options in the industry for use on Angus cattle.

Maternal traits are stressed in the operation with close attention to fertility (a no second chance policy for open females in a 25-day breeding period for heifers and 55 days for cows), feet and udder quality and disposition. This attention to maternal traits has moved them to number one herd in the nation for number of distinguished Dams of Merit/Distinction in the Gelbvieh breed in 2019, 2021 and 2022!

Lazy TV Ranch has been producing seedstock for 40+ years and has sold cattle to more than 25 states and 3 foreign countries, making them one of the premier breeders in North America.