AROUND THE CLOCK THE DETAILS IN RAISING SEEDSTOCK by Managing Editor Stevie Ipsen Early mornings, late nights, cold winters and relentless summers. Anyone who has experienced ranching, even on the most miniscule of levels, knows it’s work. But for those who have done it for a substantial amount of time recognize it as a labor of love. It’s a job that doesn’t always pay, let alone pay well. It can be harsh, unforgiving and humbling. Never the less, It’s one of those jobs that reflects the cliché saying, “If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life.” Not only do cattle producers work. They work hard. Each sector of production is labor intensive and even more love intensive. And, like cogs in a wheel, no sector of the beef production chain is more valuable. Without one cog, the wheel doesn’t work the way it should. For commercial producers, a sector that helps them build a better calf crop generation after generation is the seedstock sector. Purebred cowherds aren’t just fancier forms of the same old beef. They are the genetic base that propel the commercial industry forward. Seedstock operations are genetic suppliers, and continuous genetic improvement is a paramount focus of a seedstock business. Seedstock operators, often have the same breeding, calving, feeding routines that commercial producers have but the data that is tracked and carefully managed can be much more intensive. For Angus breeder Bryce Borror, Gerber, seedstock production is second nature. As a third generation manager of Tehama Angus Ranch, and the fourth generation to live on the family farm and ranch operation, tracking data and chasing emerging technology is something he has always known. As a kid, his father Kevin Borror was the manager of Tehama Angus Ranch and showed Bryce the ropes. “I grew up seeing how cows were bred, how new calves were measured and managed, how bulls could be better fed to reach their maximum potential,” Borror said. “I am really fortunate that 36 California Cattleman August 2023
I was able to be taught that from a young age.” Borror comes from a long line of cattle production. His mother’s family raised Hereford cattle and commercial cattle and his paternal grandfather, Bill Borror, is credited with having one of the most innovative approaches to Angus production in his generation. “My grandpa was one of the first people to really keep data and track it,” Bryce said. “He grew up in the dairy business and saw how milk production was measured and correlated to progeny testing so he kept the same kind of records on this own Angus cattle.” Bryce said since expected progeny differences (EPDs) are something he has always known, it has just been since he took over management of the operation that he realizes just how revolutionary his grandpa’s methods were. “It makes me very proud to help carry on his family business,” Bryce said. When Bryce was growing up he said there were always reasons to bring the bulls in and track some sort of data but today a lot of the reasons his family needs to work cows has changed. “Growing up it seems like we always had to bring
Kevin, Bryce and Bill Borror at the Tehama Angus bull sale.