Richard Spanton Jr
dreamweaver1974 posted on Jan 27, 2008
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anonymous said on Feb 04, 2008....
Golden Bear Monarchs Elk Farm was established in the year 2003. Our elk reside on 180 acres of lush pasture in beautiful, Southern Wisconsin. Since 2003, we have grown from 9 to 90 elk, adding several world class genetics to our herd. As a result, GBM Elk Farm has won from 1st to 5th place in several hard antler classes at the annual NAEBA international antler competition. Our farming heritage spans several generations consisting of raising pigs, cattle and grain. Richard Spanton Sr. and Saundra Spanton along with our son, Richard Spanton Jr. and his wife Chrissie, own and operate GBM Elk Farm. Richard Sr.'s father Dave, helps with the farm on a daily basis and Matt Spanton, our youngest son, lends a hand with seasonal projects such as, cutting antler, calving, and building fence. We are a family driven and motivated farm. Our goals are to continue the process of creating greater genetics in our herd, and to encourage and promote the farmed elk industry. -Richard Spanton Jr. www.gbmelk.com 2007 Tri-Star scores SCI unofficial score 529" -
anonymous said on Feb 04, 2008....
September 2005
Message From WCDEFA President Joel EspeLike many of you, I've been up to my elbows in work lately. Robbie Marr and his sister Dawn were gracious enough to introduce me to the use of the shoulder length glove in AIing elk. Dawn demonstrated and then talked me through inserting and removing CIDR's. I believe one of the pictures Robbie took of me will be Christmas card material. Their open house at Wildlife Acres near Mineral Point will be September 17th and 18th. Last year they AIed 300 head of elk; their herd currently is around 800.
Speaking of open houses, the Arvold Brothers at Elk Rock Ranch near Exeland are also having theirs the 17th also. I rode with Richard Spanton from his Golden Bear Monarch elk farm in Beloit to the Arvold's hunting preserve last Sunday. Richard had donated a very nice bull for a hunt by a disabled GI who was injured severely in Iraq. The hunt at Elk Rock Ranch is scheduled for mid-October. Dwayne and Don took the time to give us a guided tour of their hunting preserves. If anyone ever uses the phrase "Canned Hunt," send them to Exeland for a truly wilderness adventure. The new log cabin is almost complete and gorgeous. Hunters can also stay in a wall tent spike camp, right in the 540 acre hunting preserve.
On October 16th, Gary Goyke and I will be leading a Summit Meeting on CWD in Washington DC. We will be joined by members of WOW, NADeFA and other cervid organizations. Senator Russ Feingold has organized this meeting for us with USDA, APHIS and US Fish and Game to finalize rules and try to bring equity to what our livestock industry has been enduring compared to other livestock with animal health issues more serious than CWD. We appreciate Senator Feingold's concern for the rules and regulations that are unnecessarily crippling our industry. If you have information or ideas of areas you would like addressed in DC, please make sure I have them. Our group will meet in Washington on Sunday night and come to agreement on which issues are our top priorities.
At the NAEBA convention, I listened to Frank Keeton from Indiana tell of his experience and misfortune putting big dangle tags in calves. I have normally used a smaller sheep tag and later replaced it with the dangle (in addition to the WLIC tag.) Frank explained that the bigger tags move around more and can irritate the ear which then attracts flys and screwworms. The infected ear will noticably droop and eventually cause the death of the calf. Upon returning to Wisconsin we inspected all the calves and were relieved to see they were all fine. A week later, the drooping ear was obvious in one of the calves. Fortunately, Frank had also said that removing the tag, spraying the area with Catron, and giving 3 cc's of LA200 would take care of it if you caught it early enough. Thanks to his advice, we saved the calf and learned another lesson in what not to do in the future.
Some of the semen we will be AIing with is from the Keeton's; his two year old son of King Kong called CrackerJack which scored over 400 unofficially this year.
Sincerely,
Joel Espe
WCDEFA President
June 2005
Message From WCDEFA President Joel Espe"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." H.G. Wells
The International CWD Symposium planned at Monona Terrace in Madison this July includes a charter bus trip to our elk ranch in Monticello to see a working cervid facility and hear of the problems we have all faced and especially the emotional and financial stress put on those who have been quarantined through no fault of their own. Past President Dave Gilbertson is tentatively scheduled to present their situation as well as Dr. Bourie from DATCP on how CWD has affected his department. There will be a social titled "Deer and Beer" at the Capital Brewery in Middleton for all attendees which is co-sponsored by WCDEFA, WOW and possibly NADeFA. At the last symposium of this kind in Colorado, elk ranchers needed the Governor's intervention to even be allowed in. We are now a part of the presentation. If anyone is available to come down ahead of time to tidy up or just be there to help explain our industry to others, it would be greatly appreciated.
Those of us who have earned money while working on the WLIC Pilot Project have donated it all back to WCDEFA. The initial purchase from those funds was a "Sodbuster" offset disc and harrow from Antler King. Todd Stittleburg made us a very nice deal on this piece of equipment which we will be picking up shortly. Those who attended our convention saw Todd's video of the sodbuster being used in putting in food plots. This machinery has high speed hubs and can be attached to any 2" ball hitch and pulled on the highway behind your vehicle. We hope this is something our members will use, and will be one more advantage of belonging to WCDEFA. We are also looking at an enclosed trailer to house and move our two displays as another purchase.
Indiana is in serious trouble right now. The DNR there is making an all out move to put all hunting preserves out of business. Take the time to send an e-mail to the address fencedhunting@dnr.in.gov and let them know you support hunting preserves. This battle will spread to other states if Indiana pushes this through. You can send one e-mail for every member of your family. Look for the Indiana articles elsewhere in this newsletter for details on this atrocious action taken by a government agency.
In the midst of the excitement of new calves hitting the ground, concern over lack of rain, and preparing for this CWD farm visit in July, we are busy preparing a variety of food plots for your inspection and our research. Midwestern Bio-Ag from Blue Mounds, WI completed soil analysis and will be bringing a fertilizer blend this week-end to adjust our soil appropriately after which I will be putting in 1 acre food plots of different blends from Purina Mills, Antler King and Bucks and Does Wildlife Products. I will be keeping records on growth and palatability of the different varieties with my animals over the next couple of years if any of you are interested.
Please go out and sell those raffle tickets, the more we sell, the more money for our Association. My personal goal was $1,000.00; I'm 80% there.
Joel
March 2005
Message From WCDEFA President Joel EspeI would like to thank all of you for your overwhelming support in my election as your President; I tried to run a clean campaign. Congratulations to your new Vice-President, Dr. Sam Vainisi, and Board Members Richard Spanton, John Gooch, Rob Marr and Bob Dahl.
For the past few years, Dave and Gwen Gilbertson have been targeted and endured a great deal with quarantines for CWD and more lately suspected TB. During that time, both have gone above and beyond the call in supporting our industry and association. We are all indebted to their help, determination and loyalty. Congratulations are also in order to Bob and Janet Dahl for organizing an excellent convention, website and newsletter. Pictures from the convention are already available on the WCDEFA website - www.wcdefa.org.
Our bulls are dropping antlers and in a couple of months, our cows will be dropping calves. As this incredible cycle of life unfolds again in all of it's glory, so is our fight to raise these majestic animals continuing. It doesn't matter whether we have reindeer, fallow deer, red deer, sika or elk, we are all involved in the attempt to survive the increasing regulations, closed markets, one-sided press and the ever-popular manufactured crisis of CWD and it's expanding eradication zone. It seems we have given up a lot of ground in this fight the last few years due to these issues, but that is about to change.
The Federal Government has heard our arguments and have officially listed our cervidae as livestock. The Farm Bureau organization is willing to use their power and influence on our behalf with DATCP. Our pilot project with WLIC has aligned WCDEFA with all livestock associations in the state. The various beef, dairy, equine etc. groups have heard what we have been subjected to, and I have reminded them that we are the test cases and they can be next. The Winchester Corporation had a website covering CWD and game farmers were once again unfairly blamed. After some calls to their corporate headquarters, they apologized and removed all of the information.
Next month, Dave Gilbertson, Rich Spanton and myself will join members of WOW, lobbyists and game farmers from other states in Washington D.C. to meet with Congressmen/women and federal agencies to address needed changes and equality. The statistics should be clear by this time that the CWD scare was very beneficial to the DNR who have the problem and catastrophic to our members who don't have the problem. 8066 of our animals have tested negative for CWD, out of 8067. According to their own definition, the one alleged positive was probably a false positive.
I would appreciate feedback from all members on major issues you would like discussed with our federal legislators in April and with our state legislators on March 23. We need every member available in Madison on that date to make sure our message is heard and understood.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, or ideas you may have. I can be reached at:
Work 608-437-2400 ext 3206
espejoel@mhasd.k12.wi.us
Home 608-938-1137
Cell 608-558-8445
espe@tds.netThank you again for your support in my election. I look forward to working for you and with you.
Sincerely,
Joel K. Espe WCDEFA President
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anonymous said on Feb 04, 2008....
Welcome to Rich Spanton, Jr.'s & Chrissie's Website!
Richard Spanton, Jr. and Chrissie Ray were married on 1/27/2007. The wedding was held in Beloit, WI. It was beautiful. Rich Spanton, Jr. was born and raised in Rockton, IL. Chrissie was raised in Columbus, Ohio.
Rich Spanton, Jr.'s family raise elk in the wisconsin area. Richard Spanton, Sr. and Saundra Spanton work daily on the elk farm.
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anonymous said on Feb 04, 2008....
A Luxury Bed and BreakfastGrand Opening: Summer of 2008Owner: Richard Spanton Jr. and Chrissie Spanton -
dreamweaver1974 said on Feb 05, 2008....
Rich Spanton Jr. -
RichardSpantonJr.com said on Feb 13, 2008....
Golden Bear Monarchs Elk Farm Inc. (GBM Elk) sells it's products including Ultimate Elk Velvet Antler and Premium Quality Meats at the Beloit, WI Farmers Market. Please come and see us during the Spring, Summer and Fall months and try some delicious Elk Snak Sticks! Our recipe won the 2007 International Elk Stick competition. Jalepeno and Chedder.- Richard Spanton Jr.Farmers market offers fresh treats
Posted: Monday, Jun 04, 2007 - 11:06:56 am CDT
By Julie Becker
Daily News staff writerStaff photo by Kyle R. Morris
Jimmy Paulson is almost literally up to his eyes in fresh produce as he carefully weighs bushels of rubarb and radishes, while helping to run his grandfather’s vegetable booth during Saturday morning’s Farmers Market in Downtown Beloit.As the rain dissipated and the sun peaked through the clouds early Saturday morning, the weather seemed to be on the side of the Downtown Beloit Association's first Farmers Market of the season, and dozens came out to enjoy the early summer ritual.
A downtown tradition for more than 30 years, Beloit's Farmers Market has grown gradually since its early beginnings, and coordinators say that trend is continuing already this season.
“We've expanded down Grand Avenue quite a bit more. We have at least a 20 percent increase over last year in the number of stalls, as well as a more diverse product selection,” DBA Executive Director Kathleen Braatz said.
From elk meat to organic fruits and veggies, homemade dog treats or cat-shaped soap, the market certainly seemed to offer products catering to any market-goer's needs.
Two live performances from the Beloit Turner High School band and fresh breakfasts served up by some of the vendors didn't hurt either, said Jeffrey Hohn, who works with the DBA to coordinate the farmers market.
“The music helps,” he said. “It's not typical, but we'd love it to be. Music like this is just perfect.”
Dozens of customers gathering around for the band's first performance around 9 a.m. seemed to agree.
“It's just nice when you come down that you have a choice of listening to the music. I think it's more relaxing,” said Joanne Magnuson, adding that with or without the music, she enjoys attending the market throughout the season.
“I think it's gotten to be really great,” she said. “It's really added a lot of different products in the past few years, and it's a good drawing card for downtown Beloit.”
Longtime vendor Earl Paulson, who has been selling mostly small vegetables and flowers for more than 30 years in Beloit, agrees the event has successfully brought him many repeat customers over the years.
“It's a very good market. The people in Beloit really make use of it and they come down here to buy. I sell in Rockford on Wednesdays and here on Saturdays and, over time, I average about twice as much sales here as I do in Rockford,” Paulson said.
Newcomers to the market were equally impressed Saturday as well.
Leesa Underhill, of Durand, Ill., came to the market for the first time to see some friends and said the selection, prices and atmosphere will definitely bring her back in the future.
Don and Marilyn Dralle, who sell ranch-raised Angus beef, first began participating in the market late last summer and hope to keep selling to the friendly faces in Beloit.
“They're just really hospitable here, and we're pleased to be a part of it,” Marilyn Dralle said. “We've had several repeats this year, so that's exciting - seeing familiar faces is great.”
That positive response seems to indicate a healthy future for the farmers market, Hohn said, and he expects to see continued growth even this summer.
“Last year on opening day we didn't have nearly as many vendors or customers. By July or August we should be pushing maximum density,” he said. “And if all things remain equal, next year we'll probably fill up Grand, too.”
For more information on the farmers market, visit the Downtown Beloit Association's Web site at www.downtownbeloit.com.Richard Spanton Jr. and his wife Chrissie Spanton also operate the Copperstone Inn Luxury Bed and Breakfast set to open summer of 2008.
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anonymous said on May 19, 2008....
COPPERSTONE INN
A Luxury Bed & Breakfast in Illinois
Copperstone Inn is nearing it's final stages. "We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel". -Richard Spanton Jr
The expected opening date is August of 2008...
www.copperstoneinn.com
http://richardspantonjr.com