LAKE BENTON, Minn. — Joe Weber watched as bus after bus unloaded visitors at the Weber Land & Cattle operation on Tuesday, July 15. It was a day to share a look into a way of cattle production that works well for this family.
It was largely the labor of love of his son, Jesse, who has been building the herd and the market for his bulls for the last 25 years.
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“I’m so happy to sit back and watch it grow,” Joe Weber said as visitors walked through the buildings to see how they operate. “I’m very proud of what he’s accomplished.”
The farm, near Lake Benton, Minnesota, was part of the nine stops of the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Summer Beef Tour. This particular stop featured Red Angus.
Jesse Weber said the ranch focuses on purebred Red Angus and is recognized for attention to phenotype, structure and diversity. That has paid off as Weber Land & Cattle received the National Red Angus Breeder of the Year award in Loveland, Colorado, in 2025. Even more than awards, the family has gained trust with customers far and wide.
“We had a lot of luck,” Jesse Weber said. Others looking in would say there was a lot of work involved.
Jesse got started in cattle by showing a Hereford calf in 4-H. That humble start grew into the showing of cattle across the country. As he won competitions, including national grand and reserve champion titles, he gradually got the attention of buyers. He built up a reputation as a breeder of champion stock.
“Yeah, I’ve always had a passion for really good cattle and couple that with production and you’ve got yourself a factory,” he said.
Weber said he may have become the poster child for the Weber operation, but it would not be possible without his family behind him. His wife, Michelle, takes on the social media side of the business that has helped them move away from selling a few cattle at a time out west to making sales from their home operation with their annual sale. She’s also very active in the calving operation that runs January through March each year. Aside from that, she runs her own business, Michelle Weber Studio, where she creates, sells and displays her art that also focuses heavily on cattle and the Western way of life.
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His parents, Joe and Jodi, are also active in the operation, seeing it be successful.
“It’s an awesome time to be in the beef industry right now, and be a part of it and exciting times and guys are getting paid for their efforts,” Jesse Weber said.
Jesse Weber said the move from traveling to major stock shows to working with an online presence was not an easy shift for him.
“When we started, Facebook wasn't a thing,” he said.
His wife got him to recognize that social media was going to be a part of the business, even when he saw it as a joke. In fact, it was a Facebook message from an 85-year-old requesting a bull sale catalog that helped him realize that there may be something to that online opportunity.
This is the first of several stories to come from the Minnesota State Cattlemen's Summer Beef Tour that took place on Tuesday, July 14, near Marshall, Minnesota.
“That’s when it soaked in that social media is the real deal,” he said. “I always thought to get your cattle in front of people because they were never gonna come here.”
But as it turns out, they don't have to put on all those miles anymore after building trust among so many others in the industry.
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The family sells about 50 bulls a year at a live sale on the second Tuesday of March (the next is March 9, 2027). In 2026, they sold to about 15 states and Canada.
Now that they have a winning strategy, they are finding ways to get their five children involved in the operation so that they too can get excited about cattle just as he did at the age of 10 or 11 as a first-generation cattle rancher.
Just as Joe Weber can now look on with pride in the way his son grew something big out of such a small start, Jesse and Michelle are looking forward to their children growing in the operation and beyond.
“Yeah, we’re trying to get the kids involved, and the cow-calf is an easy way to get kids involved,” Jesse Weber said. “There’s a lot of chores involved.”
He looks forward to operating it with his children someday to help take the Weber name and the cattle even further.