Pride & Precision

A hardware salesman and a hand surgeon walk into a pasture…

For Phillip Smith and Dr. David Taylor, there’s no need for a punch line. What might sound like the start of a tall tale is a typical Tuesday afternoon.

Cattle have always been in the cards for these cousins from Ozark, Ark. Their grandfather, John Jacob Taylor, settled there in the Cecil community after the Civil War and brought cows soon after.

“Back then this was row cropped in cotton,” Smith says. He tells of ancestors with orchards who sold fruit “—whatever they could sell off the land—” but cattle soon took root and provided a smarter harvest.

“Any kind of cropping just doesn’t work well here,” Smith pronounces.

“The soil is silicone based,” Taylor adds. “It’s thin and retains little water, but we grow grass really well so cattle are the best way to approach it.”

Then the corner of his mouth starts to shift.

“It’s just a giant solar panel that takes oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to produce grass,” he says. “Grass doesn’t have a lot of value, but we have these great machines out here, these black machines,” he laughs, “that take that grass and make something of high value.”

It’s true, evidenced by a recent closeout of the cousins’ cattle that says 73% achieved Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) and Prime.

“Having pride in what you are producing is very important,” Taylor says. That’s why he and Smith raise cattle with a specific purpose and why CAB honored them with the 2018 Commercial Commitment to Excellence Award.

Their partnership, STP Cattle, is built on what the brand stands for, and those “machines” are top of the line.

“We want to grow something Phillip and I wouldn’t hesitate to eat ourselves,” Taylor says.

So in 2009 they purchased a tract of land and combined resources. From there they researched their options, analyzed every possible avenue and reached a conclusion: there are economic opportunities and additional profit to be made for those willing to produce high-quality cattle.

“I mean, we have the grid system in place now that reflects that,” Taylor says.

They background calves, sort off replacement heifers and then finish the rest to see those dollars. But how can we see why the unlikely duo committed to The Business Breed?

“I guess, to bring to life The Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it has been,” Taylor says.

In the six years since, STP cattle have improved in marbling, cutability and performance, “now being the top or one of the top,” Williams says. “And we feed the good ones.

“I just believe there’s likely no one else in America that puts the detail into selection that he [Taylor] does,” Williams says. The doctor visits the feedyard twice a year, in the meantime sending the manager new research he’s found, or inquiring about how to get better.

“Being a hand surgeon, somebody told me, ‘he’s going to be a detail guy.’ Well, he is, and you know, it shows up in his cattle too.”

Details

What’s behind the improving performance and uniformity?

“My guess is he’s got a frame score on every cow, probably down to the hundredth,” Williams says. On top of that, ribeye area [REA] and marbling are improving in tandem. An average of four groups show 14.6-inch REA actual on a 14.4 REA required for the carcass weight in yield grade calculations; the most recent had a 14.2-inch REA actual on a 13.6 required as more proof of continuous improvement.

“Not many people can do that,” Williams says. “That’s on 400 or 500 a year I’m feeding.”

For Taylor and Smith, that’s merely par for the course to compete with the best. To do that, they utilize available resources to their advantage.

Technologies such as reproductive tract scoring have eliminated cystic ovaries or other abnormalities that can exist in the uterus. Indexing for return on investment from retained ownership helps them eliminate the bottom end of future calf crops. Then there’s DNA-based evaluation.

“Genomic testing is a game changer,” Taylor says. “It’s revolutionary.”

With 40% of heifers in the mix, Williams says he’s not even getting the best STP has to offer. Even so, they are always above average. While gaining nearly 700 lb. in the yard, they’ll boast an average daily gain of 3.9 lb. and convert at a ratio of 6.4 to 1. Yield grade 4s are held to 5% while, on average, 66% qualify for the CAB brand and its CAB Prime extension.

“We feed a lot of northern cattle here, obviously more than southern,” Williams says. “When I drive by them in the lot, I’ll tell people, ‘These cattle are from Arkansas,’ and they just give me this ‘What?’ face like they can’t believe it.”

For that part of the world, it may be easier to raise something that’s less straight Angus, Williams says. “But phenotypically, these cattle are stout, their frame size fits their muscle package and they marble. He’s striving for 100% CAB.”

Striving—perhaps that’s the best way to describe the cousins, rather than driving through their herd on a sunny afternoon. They’re on a good trajectory that keeps getting better.