Breeder’s Connection 2025 | Running Creek Ranch
The Running Creek Ranch fills its niche in the cattle world.
Joey and Colleen Freund, along with their family, operate the purebred Limousin ranch, located near Elizabeth, Colorado.
Started by Joey’s parents, Joe and Judy Freund in 1970, Joey is the second generation to raise Limousin cattle.
The family knows the traits their customer wants, he said, which include docility and calving ease.
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The Freund family: Joey and Colleen and sons Ethan and Soren and daughter Grace. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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The Freund family, including patriarch and matriarch Joe and Judy Freund, and their children and grandchildren. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Red and black Limousin cattle at Running Creek Ranch near Elizabeth, Colo. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Cattle graze at Running Creek Ranch, home of the Freund family. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Limousin cattle graze on the high plains of eastern Colorado. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Joey Freund and his family raise Limousin cattle at the Running Creek Ranch. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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All of the cattle work is done on horseback at the Running Creek Ranch. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Friends and family of the Freunds prepare to gather cattle. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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The Freunds feed cattle in the winter time with a team of draft horses. They’ve done that since Joe bought the ranch in 1970. In the summertime, they enjoy pulling contests with the horses. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Running Creek Ranch, Elizabeth, Colo., is home to the Freunds and their herd of Limousin cattle. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
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Running Creek Ranch, Elizabeth, Colo., is home to the Freunds and their herd of Limousin cattle. Photo courtesy Mallory Blunier, North American Limousin Foundation.
“Docility is the biggest improvement we’ve made to the breed. Our bulls are so calm and easy to be around.” Customers also want a low birthweight, “a calf that is born light and puts on the pounds.”
The ease in calving is inherent in the Limousin breed, he said.
“When dad bought his first herd of Limousin cows in 1980, he saw how the calving ease was there, and the growth behind them, and the real heavy-muscled calves.”
Many of Running Creek Ranch’s customers graze cattle in high-altitude areas, and the Limousin breed, which originated in the mountainous areas of France, is a good fit, because the breed is less apt to have high altitude disease. The Freunds are happy to run PAP tests on the bulls, if the customer requests it. But the ranch guarantees its bulls; if one dies of high altitude disease, they will replace him at no cost.
The Freunds sell bulls as two-year-olds, which they believe adds value to the customer.
“The old adage is, a bull will breed as many cows as months he is old,” Joey said, “so a sixteen-month-old bull will cover sixteen to eighteen cows. A two-year-old bull will cover 24 to 25 cows.”
Two-year-olds are also a little more mature, which is an advantage in high country. “They’re more hardy and they aren’t trying to keep themselves in shape,” Joey said. “They can take the high-country terrain and go out and do the job.”
Running Creek Ranch bulls are sold by private treaty; by the first of February, a list of bulls for sale has been sent out. Customers can come to the ranch to choose a bull.
It’s a chance for customers to talk to Joey and his crew about which bull fits their program best.
“It would be nice to have them all sell on one day,” he said, “but I’ve always liked having private treaty, where you can be one on one with the customer, and find out what kind of bull he’s looking for, and try to set him up with a bull he prefers.
“Sometimes what a guy thinks he wants is one thing, and what he needs is another.” Sometimes Joey is able to suggest bulls that are a better fit for a cattleman’s operation.
Private treaty also allows for ranchers who fall calve to buy bulls in the fall, when they need them.
The Freunds AI about eighty percent of their cows and don’t bring in any outside cows. With a closed herd, they cut down on the diseases introduced to the herd. They spring calve, and cull hard, considering EPDs and disposition among the determining factors.
Running Creek Ranch cattle graze from May 1 to Jan. 1. They buy all of their hay and weaned calves are sent to a custom feedyard.
They feed out 400 head of cattle a year, with most of them processed at the Elizabeth Locker Plant, and sold there. A few truckloads get sent to JBS or Cargill. They also lease cattle to a rancher in Nebraska.
“Finding different niches is the name of the game,” Joey said.
In the winter, Running Creek Ranch feeds cattle with a team of draft horses. Two teams of horses are used, feeding about 18 tons of big square bales daily, 3 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet long.
Once the hay is loaded, four bales to a wagon, it’s a one-man operation. The cowboy drives the team to the pasture, ties the lines off, and flakes hay while the team goes. They go in a straight line, and if they meet an obstacle, they either hesitate, go around it, or stop. The horses work on voice commands.
Feeding with a team “is really efficient,” Joey said, “and it’s handy and enjoyable…. except when it’s 20 degrees below zero.” He has a neighbor who asks, “how’s the heater working on that hay rack?” Joey laughs.
The team improves efficiency, because feeding requires only one person, where a tractor or truck would take two. And horses “don’t get stuck in the mud,” he laughed.
Joey’s dad and a friend reintroduced the draft horse show at the National Western Stock Show in the early 1980s. Now it’s the second largest draft horse show in the nation, and some of the competitors spend time at Running Creek Ranch before the show starts.
“We get a lot of guys that want to come out and soak up some Colorado sunshine in January,” he said.
Some of the teams stay at the ranch, because there isn’t enough room for all the horses in Denver for the show.
In the summer, the teams compete in pulling contests. “We have fun in the summer,” Joey said.
Joey and Colleen’s children, daughter Grace and sons Ethan and Soren grew up in the business. Grace is a speech therapist who helps out with her grandmothers, who both live on the ranch; Ethan works fulltime on the ranch, and Soren is in college, considering a career in the medical field.
Joey’s nephew, Neil Pasion, is head cowboy, and Joey’s brothers-in-law, Pat Kelly and Casey Kelly, (Colleen’s brothers) are also involved; Casey takes care of record keeping. Pat is now retired.
Raising good cattle is important to the Freunds.
“We feel like we’ve tried to help out the producers who are looking for what we have to offer. We try to raise the right kind of cattle for the beef industry.
“We sure have a great place and a great family,” he said. “We’re truly blessed.”
