As we anticipate the arrival of fall, we at Cavender Ranches are implementing some important changes. First and foremost, I would like to express our gratitude to Justin Matejka for his dedicated service over the past 20 years. His contributions have been instrumental in our success, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Dustin Kennedy to Cattle Operations Manager. In his new role, Dustin will oversee both our purebred and commercial operations, ensuring the continued excellence of our programs.
We are particularly enthusiastic about the current crop of spring calves. This season features calves from several young bulls, including our top-selling bull from last fall, True Balance, alongside promising sires such as Dialed In, Ledger, Never Before, Unleashed, Ace of Spades, Longmire, and Stock Fund. Additionally, we are utilizing proven bulls like New Standard and Express. Our calf crops exhibit superior genetics, boasting exceptional EPDs and consistent thickness, adequate bone with lots of capacity making them ideal for the most progressive commercial cattlemen.
We are also excited and looking forward to the fall weaned calf crops from both our heifers and bulls. From this group, we will be selecting approximately 20 elite heifers for our upcoming fall sale. Furthermore, we have an exciting lineup of fall yearling bulls that have recently started on gain test at impressive starting weights. To facilitate the handling of our spring and fall bulls, we have decided to feed all yearlings at our ranch bull test. We anticipate a larger, more robust group of yearlings this season, with a particularly strong top-end selection that will be bigger, stouter and long aged.
The spring 2024 calves and this year’s Coming Two class of bulls are expected to match the outstanding quality of last year’s cohort, which was a significant achievement. Leading this group is a young Modelo son out of an exceptional Angus cow of the 9750 family and Capital Gain, whom we have named Force Field 9750M15. He was collected and has been heavily utilized in our spring breeding program and stands out not only for his type and build, but also as a rare trait leader, ranking in the top 3% for WW, YW, and IMF, with a -.5 BW—an uncommon combination that showcases versatility and in a class of his own among UB2 and Brangus herd sires. We think he will have a special place as a breeding sire in the breed.
Several other noteworthy coming two-year-old bulls are positioned to be highlights for both purebred and commercial programs. We are expanding our offering to 240 head of Brangus bulls and another 45 Charolais Bulls this fall, significantly more than last year, ensuring a diverse selection of bulls to accommodate various budgets. We plan to have a similar number to last year Registered Female portion of the two day event at around 100 to 110 females including all of our remaining Spring G Model 3 in 1 spring calving herd, plus we will offer several proven donor cows in this Mature Cow portion of the sale, followed by a good selection of Spring Bred Heifers , along with a lot of Fall Open and will repeat the Deadly Dozen featuring some of our best spring heifers as the first to sell out of some of the newest young herd sires that have been sold out of our program.
Look forward to the upcoming fall season and seeing new faces as well as our friends and existing customers.
Sincerely,
Joe Cavender, Cavender Brangus
MORE EXCITING GENETICS ON THE HORIZON
What a spring we have had! Most everyone I have talked to has finally gotten rain. As an industry we are enjoying record setting feeder calf and finished steer prices. At Cavender Ranches we are grateful for both the rains and high prices, but we are especially grateful for the acceptance and demand you have expressed for our product including commercial females, registered females and both range bulls and herd sire prospects. Thank You!
We are excited about the spring born calves on the ground here at Cavenders and at some of our customers. We have the first True Balance calves on the ground and they are nice. We also have calves by Never Before, Dialed In, Hondo, Longmire and Payweight, and Stock Fund calves in numbers. They are all pretty exciting and we love watching them grow and develop.
In this newsletter Joe Cavender and Dustin Kennedy discuss what they have seen in mating these fresh young sires and how best to utilize their massive talents. They also discuss what we are expecting out of some of
the young up and coming bulls here at Cavenders and the ways they feel to best harness their potential. It is never too early to start planning your fall breeding.
We are excited about the great young September and October calves we weighed on gain test the first part of June. They are big boys and averaged 847 lbs. on test. They are sired by Ledger, Dialed In, New Standard, Express, Paramount, Longmire, Hugo, Ace and Unleashed. They are maybe the thickest and cleanest group we have started with, and there are 245 of them, candidates to sell as yearlings in the fall sale. This group will easily match the 182 spring born bulls that are candidates to sell as coming 2’s this fall here at Neches River or at Briggs Ranch.
This will easily be the most powerful bull offering we have presented. They are both statistically superior and powerfully constructed.
We know everyone gets really busy in the summer but we also want you to know you are always welcome to stop by and preview our fall bull sale offering and to ride through some of the exciting young spring calves at the side of their dams. We always love to show off the latest edition of our program and to show off the jobs their dams are doing.
Again, thank you for your support over the past year and please let us know if we can be of any assistance.
JOHNNIE RIVERA BULL DEVELOPMENT CENTER MANAGER
JOHNNIE RIVERA BULL DEVELOPMENT
Johnnie Rivera is the Bull Development Center Manager in charge of gain testing and developing bulls. For the past several years he has also had the responsibility of getting the females prepped for the annual Fall and Spring sales.
Johnnie is married to wife Autumn since 2008 and has one son currently serving in the Air Force.
He has been involved in agriculture his entire life and out of high school he worked for Dekalb Animal Hospital in Dekalb, Texas for 6 years. Beginning in 2010 he managed James Cavender’s East Texas Ranches in Mount Pleasant and Pittsburg where he oversaw approximately 800 commercial Brangus and crossbred cows.
On the side from age 17 to 23, Johnnie rode and fought bucking bulls professionally as well as having a small herd of cows producing bucking bulls.
In 2014 he joined CSX Railroad and worked in St Louis, MO, Toledo OH and Missoula MT. However, the draw to agriculture remained strong and in 2017 he rejoined Cavender Ranches in his current position.
Johnnie described a typical week in the life of a Bull Development Center Manager. “On Monday, get through all the bulls and clean feeders, noting consumption and what feeders to fill first. On Tuesday and Wednesday, fill feeders and put out hay. On Thursday, walk through all the bulls and clean water troughs. On Fridays get through the bulls all day on foot. As needed through the week fix fence and make repairs on what else they have torn up, treat any sick bulls and handle any Private Treaty Sales that arise.”
“I enjoy the work and watching the bulls develop,” adds Johnnie.
Thank You
We appreciate each of our customers, friends and cooperators who entrusted us with the products of their program and who purchased Cavender Seedstock both commercial females and registered bulls and females. We will continue to earn your business and build more profitable beef cattle.
4.6
Plan Your Fall Matings
We have an exciting group of Fall born bulls on test and replacement heifers being developed at Cavender Ranches and an equally exciting set of spring calves getting ready to wean. We thought it would be helpful to share the observations we have gleaned in mating bulls in our lineup, many of them sires of the weaned calves and bulls being developed.
These herd sires are able to fulfill a number of breeding options and are capable of making true genetic progress. In this article Joe Cavender and Dustin Kennedy share breeding tips when mating various Cavender Herd Bulls in our own herd. These recommendations are based on our observations. In planning your matings, make the numbers match and choose the herd sire that best fits your needs. With these herd sires available, there are few excuses for bad numbered cattle.
CB TRUE BALANCE 60L30
$50/UNIT
This unique breeding Big Town son should be used on looser made cattle. He adds muscle, big tops and butts while cleaning up underlines while not adding frame. He stamps his calves with a long hip, square pins and exceptional birthweight.
CB
SILENCER 60K48
$50/UNIT
Adds length of spine, power and stature. Calves are super attractive and we are most pleased with his calves out of moderate cows.
CB LEDGER 117K19
$50/UNIT
This Masterpiece son is moderating frame and controlling underlines while boosting performance. We are using on a wide variety of females and like them best out of bigger boned, higher volumed females like Never Surrender or Stonewall daughters.
CB NEW STANDARD 817J3
$50/UNIT
They are bigger and powerful in their phenotype. Superior eye appeal and capable of making Superstars. Highly marketable offspring. Two of the heaviest fall bulls weighed on test for the fall, are New Standard sons.
CB PAYWEIGHT 60L3
$50/UNIT
Full brother to True Balance, he is adding bone, looseness and muscle and we are pleased when using him on more moderate cows.
ACE OF SPADES 406J
$50/UNIT
Very consistent. He is usable across a wide range of dams. He upgrades average dams and adds phenotype and numbers. He is superior in boosting numbers and style on his ET calves regardless of donor.
CB DIALED IN 2051K13
$50/UNIT
This Oracle son is consistently adding big tops, a powerful hip and thickness while moderating frame. His BW EPD dropped after his first calves arrived. He is a breed leading game changer in EPDs with 13 traits in the top 35%. powerful hip and big top. Mate him to cows carrying underline and bone. We have some great calves out of Dynamic daughters.
CB NEVER BEFORE 817K39
$50/UNIT
He will add underline and looseness as well as thickness, length and bone. He will add depth of body and flank.
CB DEADWOOD 60H41
$50/UNIT
He is a purveyor of power and IMF. He will add stature and depth of rib consistently. We love him on more moderate cows that need powering up.
CB MASTERPIECE 2051F
$50/UNIT
One of the most consistent breeding bulls we own. Proven calving ease and performance with over 860 progeny recorded. Curve bending statistics. He is an EPD fixer with 14 traits in the top 20%. He will add muscle and thickness. His daughters in production are impressive and unmatched.
CB UNLEASHED 817K8
$50/UNIT
He adds bone and power and stature. Phenotypically pleasing when bred to more moderate cows. Has some great sons that will sell as yearlings.
CB PARAMOUNT 7139H2
$50/UNIT
Pure power with big carcass and Indexes. He follows the cow on underline and consistently adds big tops and butts and volume in spring of rib and deep flanks. Can add frame because of his power.
CB HONDO 60J30
$50/UNIT
He is putting a big square hip, big top and a world of performance in his progeny. Like Deadwood, he is a purveyor of IMF.
CB STOCK FUND 2051K7
$50/UNIT
His dam is the A2051 Angus donor A Cross Rita who has been responsible for over $290,000 in progeny sales. He is a full brother to Growth Fund and a maternal brother to Masterpiece. He adds depth and thickness and bone with less hair than typical UB 1’s.
CB LONGMIRE 1062H12
$50/UNIT
Adds muscle and holds frame. You can use him on bigger cows and will add square pin placement and a big top. Capable of hitting a home run.
DMR EXPRESS 415J134
$50/UNIT
Consistent calving ease in a phenotypically pleasing package. He adds big top and muscle with super eye appeal. Will add some underline and works great on UB1’s.
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Plan your matings...
(Continued from page 7)
CB LINEMAN 1363L7
$50/UNIT
One of the thickest made bulls we have sold. He should add volume and we are expecting him to power cattle up, add bone and fast growth to yearling and level off. We anticipate based on his growth pattern he should hold frame.
CB BADGE 468L63
$50/UNIT
We are breeding him to add looseness, top and a straight top line. We think he will add style and sire super attractive progeny and eagerly anticipate his first calves.
The following is a list of young sires we are anticipating calves from in the fall. The following recommendations are how we anticipate they will breed and how we mated them based on our best estimate of what they will do.
CB NAME BRAND 63L35
$50/UNIT
He is by New Standard and out of a daughter of Masterpiece. We think he will breed phenotype with great numbers. We are using him on a little cleaner made cattle. He is the best New Standard son to date and we are highly anticipating his progeny.
CB FINISHED PRODUCT 63L10
$50/UNIT
He is one of the biggest boned, loosest made Big Lake sons in the breed. He should add bone, depth of rib, depth and muscle while holding frame. We are watching underline until we know more.
CB CAVALRY 468L66
$50/UNIT
He is a full brother to Badge. Should add style and muscle. We think he will breed a bit cleaner with more power and are keeping him on more moderate dams.
CB CASH POWER 1373L22
$50/UNIT
We thought that he was one of the most phenotypically pleasing yearling prospects in our 2024 Fall Sale. We are breeding him to add bone, thickness and muscle with square hip. He will probably add underline but should breed moderate in kind. Protect him on IMF and anticipate the impressive phenotype we look forward to.
