 |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
An interview with Don Heniman, by Bob Strong Don Hineman, a Kansas cow/calf producer relates how working with improved genetics has benefited his operation. Don has a cowherd of 180 Gelbvieh cows. He farms and ranches on 4400 acres south of Dighton, Kansas. He is the 2001 past president of the Kansas Livestock Association. For the past five years he has been associated with Leachman Cattle Co. of Billings, Montana in their cooperator program. The cooperator program is a cooperative effort using Leachmans genetics. It involves purchasing bulls or semen to breed his Gelbvieh cows. Here's what Don had to say. How do you work with the Leachmans? I first became a cooperator in 1994. The number of calves that I have sent up to Leachmans has been growing every year. It's a cooperative effort, where they make a selection out of our calf crop. Basically, we take the top half of the bull calves, after we get them weaned we ship them up to Montana. I don't have another nickel of expense from that point on. It's Leachmans job to feed them and develop them for breeding condition and size, by the next spring. They market the cattle, either through their three-day auction, or by private treaty sales throughout the year. After the cattle are sold, we split the proceeds. That takes care of one half of your bull calves, what about the heifers? They also take some heifer calves if the cooperator wants to send them up, and I've done that the last two years. Not as much price premium on heifers, as on the bulls, so the agreement is a little different. With the heifers I'm reimbursed the value of the heifer and Leachmans is reimbursed for the value of their feed, and then we split the proceeds above what we have in them. What about feeding the other calves - the ones that don't go to Leachmans? The half of my bull crop that doesn't go to Leachman is steered and I background them through the fall. I put them on feed at Lane County Feeders sometime during the winter. This is the fourth calf crop that I've fed out at Lane County Feeders. Up until this year they went through the Electronic Cattle Management (ECM) system and sold on the grid to Excel. This year the calves will go through Future Beef. What are some of the ways this has benefited you? We have achieved a premium over the commercial market, but we've also gained the value of the carcass and performance information we get back on each individual. And in a situation like mine where every calf is of a known sire, we're getting very valuable information on the sires we are using. What about the closeout on the cattle? It's been good, one thing about sending them through ECM you are maximizing the performance of each animal - not under-feeding or over-feeding. You are sending each animal at their, theoretical, optimum harvest date. And that really does help. We can see the difference you would expect to see; the Angus and the Red Angus Gelbvieh crop will be ready for harvest earlier than the straight Gelbvieh calves. Also we have seen cases with tremendous gains on the Continental blood calves. But ECM lets us get them to market before they get too big. If they were in a commodity pen they would get too big and be discounted. The purebred Gelbvieh gets pretty good sized. For a lot of the beef programs out there today, a 50/50 mix of British and Continental blood is where they want to be. And that's what I've learned feeding out my own calves the last four years. That's really about the optimum, a 50/50 mix. Overall, are you happy with how it's working out for you, the Leachman program, the genetics and the closeouts? Yes I am! And I'm excited about the opportunities we'll have in the future - if the Farm Bill doesn't mess up the possibilities for us by eliminating the options. I think retained ownership and vertical coordinated systems like Future Beef and Rancher's Renaissance have a lot of promise, and can create an additional demand for beef. You see this working for the future with other cattle producers? Well it looks to me like the industry is stratifying into segments. By that I mean there will be different markets for different kinds of cattle. Straight British Cross cattle going into programs that will concentrate on Choice and CAB product. Rancher's Renaissance and Future Beef are aiming for maximizing red meat yield and that's a different target; a course that takes a different kind of animal. I think we are going to see more of that kind of stratifying of the market. That means there will be more alternatives for the producer and for the feeder cattle buyer. But the important thing is to know the source of the cattle and the genetics and the history of those cattle so we can manage them appropriately from that point on. Leachman Cattle Company, located in Billings, Montana has been a leading source of genetics specifically designed for crossbreeding-Optimum Mainstream Crossbreeding. Their customers have built highly fertile and productive cowherds by combining selected British and Continental purebreds, hybrids and composites. With these combinations, producers have optimized production, captured the benefits of hybrid vigor, and are realizing advantages in the market. They also have a terminal cross component to produce Better Beef(TM) their branded beef program. This involves Piedmontese cattle as their terminal cross line. Leachmans' research shows the Piedmontese breed produces a lean, tender beef and a very high yielding carcass. The 29th Annual Cattleman's Congress sale is April 20-25th and is held at the Leachman ranch. According to Leachman this sale is the "World's Largest and Most Prestigious Bull Sale". It for sure is a very large sale with many buyers from other countries and the Leachman family does their best to make it an event to remember. This year in four days they will sell 500 cows, 800 heifers, 600 Red bulls and 600 Black bulls. For more information, call 406-254-2666 or visit www.Leachman.com. ©
These bulls are in a gain test at Leachman Feedyard near Billings, Montana. |
||||
|
|
||||
|
||||
|
All information is copywrited by Feed Lot magazine and cannot be printed or re-printed
without the publishers express consent. Please contact
Feed Lot Magazine for reprint and copy authorization.
|
||||
