A NEW ERA FOR CAVENDER RANCHES
Joe Cavender, Cavender Ranches, Tyler, Texas recently announced the decision to become an independent Brangus and Charolais cattle producer. “I have made a lot of close friends and have enjoyed working with and respect our partners in both Genetrust and Cavender-Draggin’ M and Partners. However, I feel like the time has come for Cavender Ranches to be on our own,” says Joe.
“As our operation continues to grow both numerically and in quality, we feel being independent gives us more long-term flexibility in marketing bulls, females, semen and embryos and the utilization of the realworld carcass data we are able to glean. It helps us better address the needs of our customers and cooperators in terms of providing greater market access and premium marketing opportunities both at the registered and commercial level,” added Joe Cavender.
Cavender Ranches have been involved in the Brangus breed for over 30 years and made a commitment to feed all their commercial steers and non-replacement quality females over 25 years ago. The feed lot data gained through this endeavor has
been an important factor in our decision- making process and breeding program. Cavender Ranches remains both a seedstock producer and an end user of their product through their commercial herds and feedlot programs.
The Cavender management team remains intact with Justin Matejka continuing to serve as General Manager of Cavender Ranches and Dustin Kennedy remaining the Purebred Cattle Manager. Also assisting in customer service and marketing are Mark Cowan and Todd Harvey.
Cavender Ranches will continue to host their annual bull and female sale the third weekend in November, their Spring Bull Sale the second weekend in March and their Spring Female Production Sale the fourth weekend in April.
Cavender Ranches will remain focused on providing genetically superior, performance driven, registered and commercial cattle. Our commercially focused operation will continue to feed our own steers and assist our customers in their marketing efforts, both commercially and in the registered seedstock sectors of the industry.
“[Being independant] helps us better address the needs of our customers and cooperators in terms of providing greater market access and premium marketing opportunities both at the registered and commercial level”
‒ Joe Cavender
IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE PROVIDING GENETICS FOR THE REAL-WORLD
At Cavender Ranches, we’ve been involved in the Brangus breed for over 30 years and made a commitment to start feeding all of our cattle 25 years ago. We are consumers of our own genetics. We continue to run our commercial operation marketing replacement females at our two annual sales, feeding and harvesting our steers and nonreplacement quality females. We are not a boutique registered outfit but rather a performance oriented, commercially driven seedstock supplier. Our goal is not to sell a few high dollar bulls and females each year but to have a lot of successful cattlemen that count on us year after year to continually improve our seedstock to ultimately improve their cowherds and bottom lines.
In the beginning, we knew nothing about our carcass value, but felt we were leaving money on the table by not feeding our cattle based on the size of our herd. We happened to go with a feed yard that sold cattle on a grid which allowed us to see our carcass results from the start. When we first began, we immediately picked up an additional $50 in value per animal by simply getting them to the feed yard and retaining ownership. Over time, the additional value has grown significantly as both calf prices and our emphasis on meeting the demands of our commercial and feedlot customers have increased.
The knowledge we have gained, and the resulting data, has continued to drive our pursuit of excellence in our seedstock operation. We are dedicated to producing functional cattle with eye appeal, carcass value and
genetics to perform at a superior level. We want enough ear and phenotype in our bulls to produce high demand commercial Brangus females, environmentally suited for a wide cross section of our country. We are aware there is variation in needs across herds and regions. Some herds need a little less ear while others may need to reduce frame and add thickness, for example. We aspire to have a variety of type and kind while maintaining consistency and uniformity in performance and quality throughout our bull offering.
Consistency and uniformity are paramount at Cavender Ranches. This requires a disciplined approach over many years to accomplish. We believe our vision will help drive better Brangus genetics and accelerate the progress the breed is making. We realize as a breed we will have to compete with other carcass and feedlot-oriented breeds to be relevant in the future. We look forward to the challenge.
With this challenge in mind, over the last 12 years we have built a foundation Angus herd with the intent of creating new bloodlines to add more carcass value into the Brangus purebred population. We like to start with a UB1 that has a Brangus look and chose to use some of what we thought were the best Brangus bulls in the breed and sires that were looser made. As we progressed, we tried to choose Brangus sires that were complimentary to our UB1 females to continue a path toward UB2 and Brangus. We focused on EPDs, underlines and breed character as we made future mating choices. Our end product goal and vision has been to have “best of breed” EPDs and multitrait leading genetics in a balanced package. We have seen tremendous uniformity and consistency in our new Brangus breed up cattle. In combination with great EPDs, we also want eye appealing cattle with enough ear and adequate, but not excessive, underlines that are often discounted in both the purebred and commercial marketplace. We strive to produce moderate framed, functional cattle that can maintain their flesh in real-world situations while gaining in the feedyard and grading well at harvest. We want cattle from our program to excel when compared to other breeds, regardless of the yardstick used to measure them.
We believe our vision will help drive better Brangus genetics and accelerate the progress the breed is making.
We believe EPDs are not always perfect, but they do matter. Our involvement in the Angus and Charolais world validated our belief in EPDs as we continue to witness producers pushing the envelope on breeding balanced performance cattle while observing cattle without top EPDs and data are being sold at lesser values. We believe the same will be true in the Brangus World as we move forward and that it will drive value in the herd bulls and elite females that lead our breed.
Our traditional Brangus cowherd features many of the breed’s leading cow families including 541, 415, 468, 75, 117, 2, 63, 99, 406, 561, 803 and 924. We have infused many of our new Brangus herd sires into our traditional cow families providing a punch in their EPD profile where needed – either growth, carcass or birthweight. Sometimes, one cross totally changes an EPD profile and will allow much greater flexibility in the subsequent matings, allowing the incorporation of fresh new herd sires. Through this disciplined approach we will continue our pursuit of better cattle.
At Cavender Ranches we are proud of our ranch staff including Justin Matejka as General Manager, Dustin Kennedy, Registered Cattle Manager, Johnnie Rivera, Bull Station Manager along with Josh Massey, his son Halton, Aubrey McClure and Dane Bennett on the cow herd side. In addition, we have Mark Cowan and Todd Harvey working in customer service and marketing. Together these cattlemen provide a wealth of knowledge, experience and resources for our customers, to help with their programs and achieve their goals in competing in today’s beef industry.
One of our top goals in the purebred sector is to assist our customers and help make them genetically competitive and successful by providing value-oriented cattle that meet the demands of the real-world cattlemen. If we can help make our customer’s programs successful, then our success is assured.
JUSTIN MATEJKA GENERAL MANAGER, CAVENDER RANCHES
Justin Matejka is the General Manager of Cavender Ranches, a position he has held for six years. He was operations manager for Cavender Ranches for the previous ten years and the manager of Neches River Ranch prior to that.
Justin has spent a lifetime in the commercial cattle industry gaining experience at each stop along the way from livestock auction markets to a stint in the dairy industry to heifer development and marketing beginning in 1998.
He currently oversees commercial and Charolais cattle on Neches River Ranch and several other owned and leased ranches, as well as the registered Brangus herd at New
Summerfield where he is assisted by cattle manager Dustin Kennedy. In addition to the breeding and production of the commercial cattle, Justin oversees the development of the commercial replacement females marketed twice annually at the Cavender Spring and Fall production sales.
Like the commitment to artificial insemination in the registered program, the majority of the commercial heifers marketed are AI’d to calving ease Cavender herd sires and marketed as value added females.
“I enjoy what I do here at Cavender Ranches in the production of seedstock and particularly enjoy the ongoing relationships with long-time customers as well as meeting and making new acquaintances,” says Justin.
Cavender’s Neches River Ranch Sale Facility
63K4 CED -1.3 BW 2.2 WW 42 YW 69 M 8 TM 29 CEM 3.27 SC 0.41 REA 0.48 IMF 0 FT 0.005 TERM INDEX 2.99 FERT INDEX 1.67 LANDMARK X ICON 75K7 CED 4.7 BW 0.0 WW 39 YW 67 M 7 TM 27 CEM 3.44 SC 0.93 REA 0.52 IMF 0.15 FT 0.021 TERM INDEX 3.44 FERT INDEX 2.77 MASTERPIECE X THREE D 103K8 CED 7.2 BW -0.7 WW 42 YW 67 M 5 TM 27 CEM 2.25 SC 1.15 REA 0.38 IMF 0.23 FT 0.026 TERM INDEX 3.60 FERT INDEX 2.97 BLOUNT X TRADITION 111K CED 2.7 BW 0.8 WW 48 YW 76 M 4 TM 29 CEM 5.08 SC 1.08 REA 0.65 IMF 0.2 FT 0.010 TERM INDEX 3.99 FERT INDEX 2.06 BRICKHOUSE X THREE D 222K3 CED 7.7 BW -1.3 WW 47 YW 72 M 7 TM 31 CEM 4.63 SC 1.25 REA 0.55 IMF 0.13 FT 0.014 TERM INDEX 3.83 FERT INDEX 2.87 MASTERPIECE X CORNERSTONE 468K9 CED 5.4 BW -0.6 WW 38 YW 73 M 5 TM 24 CEM 3.02 SC 1.12 REA 0.52 IMF 0.09 FT 0.010 TERM INDEX 3.65 FERT INDEX 2.92 LAND LINE X THREE D SCAN QR TO REQUEST A CATALOG OR VISIT CAVENDERRANCHES.COM SALE CONTACTS: MARK COWAN 903-495-4522 TODD HARVEY 386-288-8059 JOE CAVENDER 903-571-1209 JUSTIN MATEJKA 903-521-1070 19TH ANNUAL FALL PRODUCTION SALE NOVEMBER 17-18, 2023 CAVENDER’S NECHES RIVER RANCH || JACKSONVILLE, TX 270 REGISTERED BULLS – BRANGUS, ULTRABLACK AND CHAROLAIS 80 REGISTERED FEMALES – BRANGUS AND ULTRABLACK 600 COMMERCIAL FEMALES – OPENS, BREDS AND PAIRS
NOVEMBER 17-18, 2023 || JACKSONVILLE, TX
A TRADITION OF QUALITY
At Cavender Ranches, we’ve been involved in the Brangus breed for over 30 years and made a commitment to start feeding all of our cattle 25 years ago. We are both a seedstock producer and a consumer of our own genetics.
803K2 CED 3.5 BW 0.2 WW 44 YW 75 M 8 TM 30 CEM 2.55 SC 1.05 REA 0.65 IMF 0.19 FT 0.038 TERM INDEX 3.94 FERT INDEX 1.47 ORACLE X THREE D 817K18 CED 3.4 BW 1 WW 41 YW 66 M 4 TM 25 CEM 4.06 SC 0.51 REA 0.52 IMF 0.24 FT 0.028 TERM INDEX 3.48 FERT INDEX 2.65 BLOUNT X THREE D 1373K4 CED 2.7 BW 0.6 WW 45 YW 75 M 7 TM 30 CEM 4.23 SC 0.99 REA 0.47 IMF 0.29 FT 0.008 TERM INDEX 4.12 FERT INDEX 2.18 BRICKHOUSE X THREE D 468K10 CED 5.7 BW -0.7 WW 37 YW 67 M 5 TM 23 CEM 3.03 SC 0.99 REA 0.39 IMF 0.13 FT 0.023 TERM INDEX 3.35 FERT INDEX 2.64 LAND LINE X THREE D 817K8 CED 3 BW 1.1 WW 41 YW 67 M 4 TM 25 CEM 4.05 SC 0.65 REA 0.37 IMF 0.22 FT 0.021 TERM INDEX 3.40 FERT INDEX 2.83 BLOUNT X THREE D 1373K10 CED 6.3 BW 0.5 WW 45 YW 88 M 5 TM 27 CEM 3.83 SC 0.79 REA 0.64 IMF 0.13 FT 0.020 TERM INDEX 4.34 FERT INDEX 3.09 NEVER SURRENDER X THREE D 2051K7 CED 5.5 BW -0.8 WW 47 YW 79 M 8 TM 31 CEM 2.91 SC 0.55 REA 0.56 IMF 0.38 FT 0.028 TERM INDEX 4.63 FERT INDEX 3.80 CAPITAL GAIN X CONSENSUS 2051K9 CED 5.5 BW -0.8 WW 47 YW 77 M 8 TM 31 CEM 2.91 SC 0.7 REA 0.52 IMF 0.36 FT 0.018 TERM INDEX 4.52 FERT INDEX 4.05 CAPITAL GAIN X CONSENSUS 2051K13 CED 2.1 BW 0.8 WW 57 YW 91 M 12 TM 41 CEM 2.45 SC 0.9 REA 0.72 IMF 0.41 FT 0.054 TERM INDEX 5.20 FERT INDEX 2.60 ORACLE X POWER PACK SCAN QR TO LEARN MORE OR VISIT CAVENDERRANCHES.COM
GENETICS FOR THE REAL-WORLD FEEDING CATTLE FOR 25 YEARS
As previously mentioned in this newsletter, we have been feeding our own steers for over 20 years. We are pleased with the results and have been documenting and collecting the carcass data on our steers and non-replacement heifers since 2020. The data below is all of the data we have. It is not a select group or groups, but literally all of it. It is real-world data on steers and heifers sired by Cavender Ranches’ bulls. We feel it is valuable to benchmark what our bulls can do on commercial cattle, just like those of our customers. The harvested cattle are out of a variety of genetics on the dam side varying from multigeneration commercial Brangus cows to true F1 Angus X Brahman and F1 Tiger Stripes and Brangus-sired Super Baldy dams.
CAVENDER RANCHES HARVEST DATA FOR 2020 - 2023
The average of the past 4 years is pretty impressive, we think. The progress we have been able to make comparing 2020 to 2023 is even more pleasing. Our overall numbers of commercial fed cattle have declined as we have continued to increase our registered cattle and our use of embryo transfer into our commercial cow herd. We see a
3% jump in the choice and prime combined percentage while the yield grade has improved by 9 tenths of a grade! At the same time, we were able to hold dressing percentage constant. That pretty much sums up our goals in producing real-world sires for our customers – greater quality values with less waste.
# Year # Harvested # PRM % PRM # CHO % CHO # SEL % SEL NRL/ Cut Avg. Yield Grade # CAB % CAB Dressing % Choice and Prime Combined Total 2020 738 54 7% 600 81% 81 11% 3 3.40 199 27% 63.9% 89% Total 2021 679 48 7% 510 75% 118 17% 3 2.99 195 38% 63.7% 82% Total 2022 351 34 10% 267 76% 50 14% 0 3.17 93 26% 63.6% 86% Total 2023 347 15 4% 304 88% 28 8% 2.50 82 32% 63.9% 72% Total All Years 2155 151 7% 1681 80% 277 13% 6 3.02 569 31% 63.8% 87%
Cavender Ranches steers close to harvest at NextGen Feedlot – Hugoton, KS
MARK COWAN 903-495-4522 TODD HARVEY 386-288-8059 JOE CAVENDER 903-571-1209 JUSTIN MATEJKA 903-521-1070 PLEASE CONTACT ANY OF THE INDIVIDUALS BELOW TO PURCHASE SEMEN... VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO VIEW MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SEMEN AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. CAVENDERRANCHES.COM CED 0.9 BW 1.5 WW 42 YW 80 M 7 TM 29 CEM 2.81 SC 0.95 REA 0.56 IMF 0.14 FT 0.061 TERM INDEX 3.76 FERT INDEX 2.24 CB NEW STANDARD 817J3 OWNERS: CAVENDER BRANGUS, TTT, AND DH BRANGUS /UNIT$50 CED 7.2 BW -0.9 WW 35 YW 58 M 6 TM 24 CEM 1.8 SC 1.61 REA 0.34 IMF 0.23 FT 0.028 TERM INDEX 3.21 FERT INDEX 2.91 DMR EXPRESS 415J134 OWNERS: DRAGGIN’ M RANCH, CAVENDER BRANGUS AND DAVID BONDFIELD /UNIT$50 CED 8.2 BW -1.6 WW 55 YW 83 M 7 TM 34 CEM 3.66 SC 2.12 REA 0.78 IMF 0.63 FT 0.038 TERM INDEX 5.64 FERT INDEX 2.65 CB MASTERPIECE 2051F OWNERS: LAKE MAJESTIK, SCHMIDT FARMS, HARDEE FARMS AND CAVENDER BRANGUS /UNIT$50 CED 3.8 BW -0.8 WW 43 YW 79 M 6 TM 28 CEM 3.5 SC 0.8 REA 0.39 IMF 0.18 FT 0.006 TERM INDEX 4.09 FERT INDEX 4.15 CB GROWTH FUND 2051G11 OWNERS: CAVENDER BRANGUS AND DRAGGIN’ M RANCH /UNIT$50 CED 9.8 BW -1.0 WW 36 YW 75 M 6 TM 24 CEM 3.58 SC 0.90 REA 0.88 IMF 0.52 FT 0.027 TERM INDEX 5.01 FERT INDEX 2.97 ACE OF SPADES 406J OWNERS: CAVENDER RANCHES, FENCO FARMS AND AMERICAN CATTLE ENTERPRISE /UNIT$50 CED 5.2 BW 0.0 WW 50 YW 94 M 5 TM 31 CEM 1.69 SC 0.48 REA 0.54 IMF 0.29 FT 0.022 TERM INDEX 4.97 FERT INDEX 3.06 CB PARAMOUNT 7139H2 OWNERS: CUEVAS T3 BRANGUS AND CAVENDER BRANGUS /UNIT$50 TOP HERD SIRES FOR 2023
VIEW MORE SEMEN ON OUR WEBSITE CAVENDERRANCHES.COM
7820 S. Broadway Ave Tyler, TX 75703
CAVENDERRANCHES.COM
2023 SUMMER NEWSLETTER
SAVE THE DATE:
NOVEMBER 17-18, 2023
19TH ANNUAL FALL PRODUCTION SALE –CAVENDER’S NECHES RIVER RANCH
270 REGISTERED BULLS, 80 REGISTERED FEMALES 600 COMMERICAL FEMALES
2ND SATURDAY IN MARCH
CAVENDER’S NECHES RIVER RANCH - JACKSONVILLE, TX BRANGUS & ULTRABLACK BULLS
3RD TUESDAY IN MARCH
BRIGGS RANCHES - BLOOMINGTON, TX
TEXAS ALLIANCE SALE
BRANGUS, UB & SANTA GERTRUDIS BULLS COMMERCIAL FEMALES
4TH SATURDAY IN APRIL
CAVENDER’S NECHES RIVER RANCH - JACKSONVILLE, TX REGISTERED BRANGUS & ULTRABLACK FEMALES COMMERCIAL PAIRS, BRED AND OPEN HEIFERS
A TRADITION OF QUALITY FIVE SALES, ONE BRAND
4TH WEEKEND IN OCTOBER
BRIGGS RANCHES - BLOOMINGTON, TX
TRI-STAR BULL AND COMMERCIAL FEMALE SALE
BRANGUS, UB & SANTA GERTRUDIS BULLS
3RD WEEKEND IN NOVEMBER
CAVENDER’S NECHES RIVER RANCH - JACKSONVILLE, TX BRANGUS, UB & CHAROLAIS BULLS REGISTERED & COMMERCIAL FEMALES
