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Tag: feeding Angus cattle

Straightforward success

GG Genetics awarded 2009 CAB Small Feedlot of the Year

 

by Laura Nelson

A couple of empty semi-trailer trucks and a signed, blank check arrived at a southwest Montana ranch late one fall. The rancher helped load some of his best calves, and then watched the trucks head back to GG Genetics feedyard in Ida Grove, Iowa. The check stayed in Montana; the value returned to Iowa.

That’s the kind of businessman Mason Fleenor is.

“He’d just tell me to fill in the numbers on the check,” recalls Ron Benson, Dillon, Mont., one of the Iowan’s early feedlot customers. “That’s just how honest he is.”

Fleenor sure doesn’t skate around the truth when it comes to the kind of cattle he likes to feed, either. “They’re all pretty purely Angus. I won’t buy anything else – I don’t even want them. I guess I’m kind of prejudiced,” he laughs.

Not just any black cattle will do for the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand’s 2009 Small Feedlot of the Year. “I think it has to be CAB or USDA Prime to have a good carcass. That’s my opinion – that’s what quality is.”

Fleenor refuses to raise or feed anything short of the best at GG Genetics, where he has combined a successful registered Angus bull business with a small feedyard. He fills the 500-head yard with home-raised cattle and calves from bull customers. It’s stock-full of genetics he and wife Diane have been perfecting for two decades. The couple accepted their Feedlot of the Year award this September at the brand’s Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Fleenors started in the feeding business in the 1980s. Once they realized the overall influence of genetics in the feeding process, they decided the bull business was next. Last year, their 413 CAB-enrolled cattle averaged 81.1% Choice, 16.7% Prime and 74.6% CAB, including CAB Prime.

“One of the main reasons our cattle grade so good is that they’re all out of our genetics,” Mason says. “We don’t buy commodity cattle. We want to know what we’re getting when we buy cattle to feed.” What they get is a return on the genetic package so painstakingly guided toward perfection. They’ve kept carcass data on every animal in the feedlot for more than a decade.

Although he owns full interest in all cattle fed, Mason still makes a point to share that information with the previous owners. Taking a further step, he tries to help ranchers make decisions in their cow herds that will complement the bulls he sells to produce the best calves.

Then it’s up to Mason’s feedlot management to bring home the real value. They use minimal implants and feed a high-energy, high-roughage ration. Close proximity to three ethanol plants allows the judicious use of distillers grains as well.

“We don’t push our cattle like a lot of the feedlots do,” Mason explains. “If you start with the right genetics, you don’t have to.” Mason then relies on a skilled eye and rigorous sorting to make up consistently uniform loads. 

While their cattle look uniform, the Fleenors put little stock in aesthetics. “To me, the biggest issue with the cattle industry is looks,” Mason says. “A lot of guys want to use bulls because they look good. But you’ve got to have a commitment to use the right genetics. If a bull doesn’t meet the trait, forget about it. Just because he looks good – why use him? You get the hide off of ’em and looks don’t matter much.”

What does matter, Diane says, is focusing on the final product. “Everybody says, well, if all the cattle in the market were Prime, then the market for quality would go away. I say if every calf was Prime, our consumption would increase so much it wouldn’t matter, because overall cattle prices would rise,” Mason says. “Nobody is going to complain about an extra 50 cents for a good steak. But you know they’ll complain about getting a bad steak.”

Complaints are few and far between when it comes to GG Genetics – from the bulls the Fleenors breed to the calves they feed to the steak they put on the table. Customers from every end of Mason and Diane’s varied enterprises will tell you, that’s the honest truth.

Garden City feed yard joins CAB team

 

by Jackie Eager

A big feedlot can stand out for personalized custom cattle feeding, if it has the right people. Consider Garden City (Kan.) Feed Yard, LLC, where employees stay on for 20 years or more because the programs they manage work so well.

“The stability of our staff is a great thing,” says manager Mark Boos. “You know if anyone stays for that long, they are people who care about their jobs and the quality of care given to the animals. They just take a lot of pride in what they do.”

Both customers and their cattle take comfort in that.

The feedlot, operated by AzTx Cattle Company since 1994, covers an expanse of sandy soil that is well suited to drainage and dry pen conditions. That’s important for any yard, and certainly for this one with 88,000-head capacity.

Despite that size, or perhaps because of it, Boos and his staff don’t operate as if one generic program should fit all customers. They get to know each customer and customize to fit their needs and build working relationships.  

“If I can understand their ration, I can better start their animal onto our ration,” Boos says. “If I understand their health program, I can adapt our health program to fit, so we complement each other.”

Locally grown feeds support area crop farmers and help keep ration prices relatively low for feeding customers, he adds.  Attention to detail at Garden City Feed Yard means making sure the proper amount of the right feed is delivered on time for each pen, and producing the highest quality beef for each customer.

Late this summer, after a year of changing economic conditions, Boos decided to build on the stability his feedyard could offer by signing on with the world’s leading beef brand, as a Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) partner. The CAB Feedlot Licensing Program includes 64 partners in 15 states.

Over the years, Boos saw that CAB had developed market opportunities to sell the better quality cattle for a premium price.

“We need to focus on meeting consumer needs,” he says. “The day the animal is born, it’s all for the consumer, but Certified Angus Beef is the only marketing group that approaches it that way.”

“I think we are on the right path with the CAB program,” he says. “Combining that brand’s 31-year history with our own long-term base brings even more stability to our relationships with Angus producers.”

Best on a quest

Buffalo Feeders wins 2009 CAB Large Feedlot of the Year

 

by Laura Nelson

At Buffalo Feeders LLC, military precision brings in the feeding day, sure as reveille.

Trucks trundle out at 0600 hours, filled with ration that has been weighed and measured within a 1% accuracy margin. Every load of corn has been sampled, and the flake is tested every hour. Pen after pen of uniform, black cattle line the bunks, ready for chow.

The Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand’s 2009 Large Feedlot of the Year, located near Buffalo, Okla., marches to meticulous order. “It’s got to have something to do with my army background. I like things to be just so…” says manager Tom Fanning, who accepted the award at the brand’s Annual Conference this September in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Contrary to common military thinking, however, the 40-member crew at Buffalo is focused on individuality. Animal induction procedures rely heavily on technology and information from producers. There’s an electronic identification (EID) tag reader on each scale and a scale under each chute to enter each animal into Buffalo’s database. As often as possible, Fanning works with producers who retain ownership to track individual birth, weaning and yearling weights. The database links ranch tags to yard tags to help producers make herd decisions based on feeding and carcass results.

Cattle manager Caleb Nelson works to help customers understand the “intel” that comes back to them. “Whether they are using our information to buy bulls or sell their cows, we want to help them enhance their program back home,” he says. “We’re trying to help customers that are trying to put together something from their genetics to consumption, from pasture to plate.”

Sorting for uniformity is the key to capturing more value. “To me, sorting is the best thing we can do for a customer,” Fanning says. “The cattle that are uniform are easier to sell because they go through the packing plant easier.”

Cattle are frequently re-evaluated, re-sorted and grouped with others at the same target feed-intake levels. Intake goals are set for each pen based on a mathematical equation. “When we’re challenging those cattle to increase their intakes, we have to know where they’re at according to their goal,” Fanning says.

But crunching numbers in an equation is only part of the precision. Cattle are ultrasound scanned at re-implant to monitor progress, a kind of hard information that carries immediate orders. “We try to sort those cattle that day according to what the scan projection was,” Nelson says. Cattle expected to finish at the same quality level are grouped to optimize uniformity.

Fanning relies on his background as an agriculture economics major in college to optimize value in the balance between producing and marketing quality cattle. “It’s all about managing details, not only on your production, but on your marketing, too,” he says, “from risk management, to where you’re selling your cattle, or what programs they’re selling into.” With a calculator seemingly never out of reach, Fanning constantly puts dollars and cents to his feeding practices. 

 “The risk management side of the cattle business is so key,” Fanning says. “Our business has changed and the price volatility has increased. So what we try to offer are some risk management tools for our customers.

 When a feedyard operates with the precision of a combat mission, it’s a lot easier to find time to focus on customers. “We want to manage the details every day – the small things, down to the individual animal, whether that’s through animal health or feed delivery or through visiting with customers. If you manage the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves.” That’s not just a battle plan; it’s a proven path to victory for Angus producers.

A cut above

Osborn Farms partners with CAB

 

by Miranda Reiman

Just being average doesn’t cut it in the feeding industry.

That’s a lesson Savannah, Mo., cattleman John Osborn learned quickly. He marketed his first set of fed cattle on a value-based grid 11 years ago with disappointing results. “We found out we weren’t any better than anybody else,” he recalls.

Business partner and neighbor Pete Mitts recollects coming to the same realization. “We were enough for average,” he says. “We were 60% Choice, which means 40% Select. And you just don’t put 40% Select animals on the grid.”

It’s a lesson both men took to heart.

Little more than a decade later, you’d be hard-pressed to find 4% of cattle grading Select from Osborn Farms. The first 236 head harvested at National Beef since joining the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand’s Feedlot Licensing Program this spring went 78% CAB brand or CAB Prime. That’s more than four times the national average.

Those are results that reflect Osborn and Mitts’ immediate action after “taking some pretty good hits” in the market on their first go-round. The two first focused on the genetics of the cattle they were feeding.

“Eleven years ago there was very little carcass information available to us,” Mitts says. “We started buying bulls and we started to amass some information as it was becoming available.”

The 600-head Osborn Farms feedlot is now filled with local producers’ cattle, including those from Mitts and Osborn, who also background 300 replacement heifers there. They sell some of the heifers and older cows to feedlot customers, so area herds keep improving. Each generation bred in the past decade has produced progeny with increasingly impressive carcass data.

As Osborn reached that higher quality level, he started looking for more ways to add value. That’s when he began to enroll all his calves in the AngusSource® program. Osborn requires all cattle he purchases and feeds to be AngusSource® enrolled as well. His next step was to partner with CAB, where Osborn Farms joins a network of nearly 70 feedlots across the nation that rely on CAB for information feedback, quality assurance training and marketing support.

With the added support, both men say they hope to continue to improve their herds and add value to the cattle being fed at Osborn Farms. “We’ve got a lot more information to work with than we did 20 years ago,” Mitts says. “I used to think I had pretty good cattle, but then there wasn’t that vast amount of information.”

The two track that information meticulously. Mitts keeps the books at the feedlot, monitoring individual cattle weights and performance lineage in the cattle. That’s all part of capturing the extra value they knew they needed from the get-go – because average never suited their ideas of feeding.

“If you’re going to raise something, raise the best quality you can raise. We’re getting paid for that quality now,” Mitts says.

ASCC brings out the best

Second quarter winners zero in on quality through AngusSource®

 

by Laura Nelson

Mason Fleenor may squint a little when checking pens, but he certainly sees 20/20 when it comes to selecting top-quality cattle.

The Iowa seedstock producer and manager of GG Genetics feedlot picked out 41 of his own steers to win the northeast region’s AngusSource® Carcass Challenge (ASCC) second quarter title for 2009, with 90.2% qualifying for the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand or USDA Prime.

But he’s not the only one with a vision for great AngusSource genetic- age- and source- verified cattle. Mike Kasten, Millersville, Mo.; Jimmy Thomas, Homedale, Idaho; and Jack and June Zimmerman, Checotah, Okla., also took top honors in their regions for the April-June quarter.

This was the first ASCC entry for Fleenor and his wife Diane, but for more than 20 years they have focused on producing Angus bulls that enhance carcass quality. From 2003 to ’06, their cattle set the pace in the National Angus Carcass Challenge as well, winning two championships.

“We’ve always tried to breed for carcass traits, and you just have to keep breeding them – you have to have those traits on the cow and the sire sides.” says Fleenor. “We’ve been using high-marbling, high-carcass bulls for a long time, and now it’s finally getting into the cowherd, too.”

Besides feeding their own calves, the Fleenors buy calves from their bull customers to feed in their CAB-licensed feedlot. There, they get a high-energy, high-roughage ration but minimal implants. This recent ASCC-winning pen, comprised of steers culled from bull prospects, entered the contest implant-free.

The feedlot pens are stock-full of cattle that consistently grade above the curve. “All of our cattle grade good, because they’re all out of our genetics,” Fleenor says, while admitting, “I guess I’m kind of prejudiced.”

He doesn’t use ultrasound to sort, relying on focused information and a practiced visual focus, an eye for quality: “When I know the genetics and have the data behind me, I can pick ’em every time.”

To the southwest, the crew at Irsik & Doll Feed Yard (IDFY), Garden City, Kan., maintains sharp sights as well. Missourian Mike Kasten repeated his first quarter ASCC victory in the central region with the help of feedlot manager Mark Sebranek and CAB quality assurance officer Jerry Jackson. IDFY also foregoes the use of ultrasound technology for a trained eye and historical data on animals from a herd they have worked with for more than 10 years.

“We have enough data and pedigrees from the past on our cows, we’ve got a good handle on estimating which ones are going to do well,” says Kasten. He and wife Priscilla have kept carcass data for more than 20 years. The couple work to closely match proven bulls to cows with a history of top-quality carcass progeny.

Using timed artificial insemination (AI), Kasten attributes much of his carcass contest success to one bull. “His calves have been averaging 42% Prime,” he says. “We work hard to get those cattle bred with the best proven genetics, and getting in there with AI gives us more consistency and quality in our cattle.”

Nearly 90% of Kasten’s 39-head pen of steers made CAB or Prime in the second quarter, consistent with the 90.5% pen that won first quarter. Both were heavily influenced by the same bull, which Kasten has spent 20 years stacking pedigrees to produce.  

In the north-central region, Jimmy Thomas similarly relies on proven genetics. He and wife Sarah have sourced bulls from Rancho Casino and Dal Porto Livestock in California for nearly 15 years. “They’re good people with good cattle, and we are good friends,” Thomas says. “That makes it pretty easy to do good work.

“All the bulls we buy are performance tested,” Thomas says. “We don’t just go by the EPDs (expected progeny differences); they give us the actual marbling scores and ribeye measurements. We put quite a bit of emphasis on that.” A tight genetic focus paid off with 85% of his 40-head pen achieving CAB acceptance or Prime.

Thomas puts those genetics to use at Beller Feedlot in Lindsey, Neb. He and feedlot manager Terry Beller share a competitive spirit. Beller says, “We love challenges. Our goal is always to produce as many Prime and CAB carcasses as we can without getting too big and too fat.”

Thomas is right on cue. “I guess you could say I’m kind of competitive,” he says. “CAB is the most noted branded beef program there is, and over the years I’ve been able to finish above the national average on CAB acceptance rates.”

Thomas and Beller are no strangers to success. They met in 2003 when Thomas was accepting the CAB Commercial Commitment to Excellence award and Beller was being honored as the brand’s Small Feedlot Partner of the Year. Both have frequented the winner’s circle in Angus carcass contests.

But it’s not always a focus on attaining the best cattle that matters. Sometimes, success is found in getting rid of the poorer ones. Jack and June Zimmerman won the ASCC southeast region for the quarter with 48.8% CAB acceptance or Prime, and no grading discounts. The couple feed their cattle with Buffalo (Okla.) Feeders.

Buffalo manager Tom Fanning says that perfect record is a key to profitability: “Look at this – it’s zero discounts!” he says, pointing to the data sheets. “What we’ve learned is, the premiums are great, but it’s not always how many premiums you have; it’s how many discounts you don’t have.”

The Zimmermans started keeping detailed ranch records in 1979 when they purchased JZ6 Ranch. Thirty years later, they still meticulously track herd records and carcass data.

“June and Jack know every cow on their place. They know their bloodlines – they know everything about everything in their herd,” says Fanning.

All ASCC contestants will be in the know by the end of the calendar year when the overall annual winner is announced. All regional winners from each quarter will be eligible for the $500 cash award. The completion will stiffen as the year goes on – entries nearly quadrupled from the first quarter to second quarter. “We would really like to encourage more feedyards to enter the contest,” says Sara Snider, director of AngusSource. “It is so exciting to see this contest grow. The carcass results we’re getting back are a real tribute to what quality Angus genetics can do.”

For more information on AngusSource or the ASCC, call 816-383-5100 or visit www.AngusSource.com.         

Winners named in AngusSource contest

 

by Miranda Reiman

Unwavering, resolute, committed—pick one, because they’re all accurate descriptions of winners in the first quarter AngusSource® Carcass Challenge (ASCC).

The top producers and feeders share a steady focus on raising and feeding superior cattle.

Beginning last year, the ASCC highlights those enrolled in the AngusSource genetic-, source- and age-verified program. Eligible groups of at least 38 head must be fed at a Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) partner yard.

For 10 years, Mike and Priscilla Kasten, Millersville, Mo., have been sending cattle to Irsik and Doll Feed Yard (IDFY), near Garden City, Kan. A 42-head group reached 90.5% Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) and Prime this year, earning them the top spot in the ASCC for the Central region and overall honors during the first quarter (January thru March).

Beller Corporation, Lindsay, Neb., owned and fed the North Central regional winners. Doug, Dennis and Duane Beller purchased 46 heifers from Ken Pelster, of Bartlett, Neb., that went 32.6% CAB and Prime.

IDFY looks forward to getting Kasten’s cattle and seeing progress each year.

“They are the ideal feeding cattle,” says Jerry Jackson, quality assurance officer at IDFY. “He works so hard at producing the animal for the rail.”

Kasten attributes his carcass quality to more than 30 years of stacking genetics for marbling.

“The cattle were fed real well—we didn’t have any sickness—and then it’s just simply good genetics,” he says.

Kasten works with neighbors in an alliance program, providing them with genetics and management expertise, in return for the option to buy back steer calves. A handful of the calves in this entry were progeny from alliance members.

“I’ve been working with those herds for a long time, so they’re practically the same cattle,” he says. With timed artificial insemination (AI), he’s able to use the best bulls over a large number of females, which increases quality and uniformity.

Since 1988, Kasten has tracked individual carcass and feeding data on each calf, so implementing AngusSource a few years ago was a natural fit.

“There certainly was no change in how we keep records,” he says, but AngusSource provides a framework that can help any producer. “You’re leaving a lot of money on the table if you don’t use it,” Kasten adds.

Tracking cattle is not foreign to IDFY either.

“We have a safety net; in case an animal happened to lose an eartag, we can absolutely trace it back,” Jackson says, noting they’re all cross-referenced to a feedlot tag. “Once they go through our processing barn for the first time, there is no excuse that we could not get that data back to people.”

Challenges occasionally crop up during harvest, but IDFY makes sure information gets to ranchers.

“Mike has really used the data he’s gotten back on individual animals,” Jackson says. “He knows exactly where his end goals are and is working very hard to meet those goals.”

Kasten is a 2004 CAB Commitment to Excellence honoree and a finalist in the National Angus Carcass Challenge (NACC) several times.

Pelster, who works with his wife Carol and brothers Dan and David, employs a similar level of detail to his ranch recordkeeping.

“I wouldn’t know how to run it without them. I want to know what I’ve got,” Pelster says.

He’s used AngusSource since 2004, and every year Beller Corporation has purchased at least some of his calf crop.

“If you can get that high of quality of cattle, why would you buy other cattle and sacrifice that?” Doug Beller says. “His cattle have been proven.”

Pelster calves won the steer division in the 2006 NACC with an 82% CAB acceptance rate. Beller says the quality has remained constant, but numbers were down this year because of marketing conditions.

Beller took a chance bidding on Pelster’s cattle 5 years ago. Now he knows what they’ll do, but must take similar risks each year when finding new calf suppliers. When possible, he looks to AngusSource.

“We try to find out information before we buy the cattle,” he says. Although lot size and location sometimes makes it hard to fully utilize the AngusSource listing e-mails, he says, “If I see some on there from Nebraska, I definitely take a look at them.”

For more information on AngusSource or the ASCC call 816-383-5100 or visit www.AngusSource.com.

Who’s who in Angus excellence?

Producer nominations wanted for national award

by Miranda Reiman

Most cattlemen are in business to make a profit. Many also think about how they fit into the total beef industry picture and can help grow beef demand.

But only a few build relationships and use teamwork to bring the best beef possible to consumers here and abroad. Of those elite producers, fewer still rise to national recognition from Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB).

Each year, the company’s supply development team solicits nominations for two Annual Conference awards. These aim to honor producers for an enduring commitment to finding and multiplying superior Angus genetics that enhance carcass traits within their herds.

“We celebrate those moments when producers excel and show the way for others,” says Larry Corah, CAB vice president. “So every year, we recognize one commercial and one seedstock producer who use every means in striving toward the ideal, from genetic selection to coordinated management and marketing. These shining examples do things the right way, not always the least expensive, easiest or fastest.”

Since 1992, only 34 producers have received the aptly named Commitment to Excellence Award.

Eligible candidates must have a record of measuring genetic and management criteria, and acting upon the information to better drive the supply of Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand product. Additional consideration is given to producers who have been directly involved with CAB in its various programs and licensed feedlots over the years.

“We’re encouraging cattlemen to nominate those they work with, be it their genetic suppliers or their bull-buying customers,” Corah says.

Nominations, due May 1, can include detail on anything deemed relevant. They should contain the producer name and contact information, type and size of operation, number of years postweaning data has been gathered, years linked to nominator’s operation, and years involved with any specified CAB projects.

Winners will be selected and contacted, along with nominators, by June 1. CAB will produce feature stories about the individuals, who will receive an expense-paid trip to the company’s annual conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., Sept. 17 to 19.

To see a list of past winners and submit nominations, visit https://cabcattle.com/producers/awards.php, contact Marilyn Conley at 800-225-2333 or email MConley@certifiedangusbeef.com.