A small world of happy surprises

January 7, 2011

Isn’t it fascinating how small the beef business is? 800,000 cattle ranchers in our country, and I guarantee every time you meet someone in this business, they are likely to know someone who knows you.

I just happened to be home in Wyoming this week on an extended holiday when the folks in St. Joe (home of the American Angus Association) announced the winners of the fourth quarter of the AngusSource Carcass Contest. The winner happened to also call Wyoming home. Now, Wyoming’s a large state, so it was even more ironic that the Vaughn family happened to live just an hour and a half down the windy road from where I grew up. To add a kicker, Dean and Ruth Vaughn happen to live just a mile down the road from the childhood home of the girlfriend whose wedding I am to be in this weekend.

You should know that I love nothing more than my home states (claiming both Wyoming and Nebraska), so I jumped at the chance to give up some vacation time to meet with the Vaughns and take pictures of cattle in our beautiful frozen landscape.

It was a happy surprise for me to get the chance to drive up I-25 and spend the afternoon chatting with these carcass contest winners. But it was an even happier surprise for them when they found out they had won that quarter with a pen of calves they fed at Beller Feedlot near Lindsay, Neb., this winter. An outstanding 66% of their calves graded USDA Prime or met CAB carcass specs.

Here are a few highlights of my chat with the Vaughn family:

1. Feed with someone you trust. Dean met Jim Beller in the 1990s, established a great relationship, and has been sending calves to the Beller Feedlot every year since then. They don’t retain ownership,but they have established a great working relationship with the Beller family. The feedlot knows the quality of cattle they consistently send,so the Vaughns get paid well above commodity market value.
2. Start with genetics. In the past five decades, the Vaughns have experimented with a lot of different cattle breeds. They grew up Hereford, gave Peidmontese a try, went to Char/Angus crosses then slowly started edging all other breeds but Angus out of the herd. They’ve AI’d their cows for the last 15 years, focusing on Angus genetics that produce a quality carcass, ribeye area and low birth weights. They know a solid genetic base will positively affect their herd’s performance response to proper nutrition and health programs.
3. Track as much data as possible. As we sat around the kitchen table, Dean and Ruth pulled out notebooks filled with data collected from their herds. They use carcass data from Beller to match what their calves did in the yard to how they were handled at home. They started AngusSource tagging calved three years ago, adding one more component to their data system. They’re able to track how those genetics they carefully selected for AI’ing perform throughout that calf”s life.

All these items contribute to the Vaughn ranch’s ability to focus on a carcass quality target and meet CAB brand specifications. When I pulled into their drive yesterday afternoon, the first thing Dean said was, what a nice surprise it was to hear from Terry Beller (owner/manager of the feedlot) earlier in the week with such good news. It’s one thing to make good money on the cattle he works hard to produce, but it’s the icing on the cake to be recognized for it.

To add another surprise to my day, Dean and Ruth drove me to the small backgrounding lot where they winter calves. Wouldn’t you know, it was the home of my soon-to-be-married friend’s soon-to-be father-in-law!

Now, while you admire all those data-filled white AngusSource tags, I’m off to decorate a church and get my friend into a love-filled white dress.

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