Spann Ranches named commercial producer of the year

The North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) recognized Spann Ranches, Inc. of Gunnison at the 2025 Ken Holloway Genetics on Ice Benefit Auction in Oklahoma City in January.

“We are deeply honored and humbled to be selected for the Commercial Producer of the Year by the North American Limousin Foundation,” the Spann family wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 6. “We are always striving to be better for our ranch, our communities, and our industry. It means the world to us to be recognized by our peers.”

Spann Ranches is a fifth generation cow-calf and feeder cattle producer headquartered in the high mountain valley of Gunnison, Colorado. The ranches are owned and operated by the Spann and Washburn families, the descendants of the ranch founders, Lang, Virgil and Lee Spann. With supporting ranches in Crested Butte, Almont, and Olathe, and a farm and 800 head calf backgrounding feedlot in Delta, the Spann family runs up to 900 mother cows. It also raises high-quality feeder cattle, including 400 outstanding bred yearling heifers a year.

The Spann cattle move with the seasons. Calving takes place in April on the headquarters ranch in Gunnison. They are then moved to the high country in Crested Butte in the summer, and return to the Uncompahgre Valley at Olathe and Delta for the winter.

Nearly three-fourths of the cow herd are black-white faced F1 Hereford-Angus, or 25% Lim-Flex cross cows. They are bred annually to Lim-Flex bulls to generate true terminal cross steer and heifer calves. Lim-Flex cattle are a hybrid composition of Limousin and Angus or Red Angus genetics. The Lim-Flex calves have proven to consistently perform at some of the highest levels in the industry.

Spann Ranches operates a sophisticated cattle record-keeping system the family has developed over the past three decades using Excel spreadsheets. Beginning within 12 hours of a calf’s birth, animals are tagged, tracked and evaluated throughout their life.

Jan Washburn operates computer inputs at the chutes during processing, pregnancy checking and weaning. This provides timely and objective production information, and allows for efficient real-time decision-making and longer-term marketing and management planning. The entire ranch crews are trained to assist in that process.

(The North American Limousin Foundation is in the business of customer service and genetic evaluation while providing tools to enhance its members’ profitability and maintaining integrity of the herdbook.)