Town Creek Farm Since 1993
FALL 2018
Volume 6, Issue 3 • Published by Town Creek Farm, West Point, Mississippi • Brangus and Ultrablack
Breeding Principles BY JOY REZNICEK
OCTOBER 20TH SALE INCLUDES 50 FULL 2-YEAR OLDS.
The Grit welcomes your inquiries and feedback. The Grit is published by Town Creek Farm, West Point, Mississippi.
Town Creek Farm Milton Sundbeck, Owner Office: 32476 Hwy. 50 East West Point, Mississippi 39773-5207 662.494.5944 www.TownCreekFarm.com Joy Reznicek, President 205.399.0221 Joy@TownCreekFarm.com Clint Ladner 662.812.8370 CLadner@TownCreekFarm.com South American Representative Ing. Agr. Federico Maisonnave (011) 595 981 362 898 Skype: federico.maisonnave Maisonnave.Federico@gmail.com TOTAL COMMITMENT
25TH ANNIVERSARY
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Lot 131. TCF Rapid Reward 145Z3 son.
The cornerstone of our breeding principles is three decades of continuous improvement and concentration of maternal development. FERTILITY Fertility is our single most important breeding principle and first priority. It is our obligation to our customers to prove fertility in genetics. Our foundation-weaned heifers are developed on grass with minimal supplementation. At 14 to 16 months of age, heifers are A.I.’d and then pasture bred for total exposure of 55 days. Heifers not conceiving are culled. From there forward, open cows and cows who do not bring a calf to weaning pens are culled. Cows with udders that do not meet standards are also culled. Seventy percent of cow fertility is accounted for by her age at her first and second calving dates. The most fertile cows give birth to their first and second calves earliest in calving seasons. These females stay in our herd longer and have longer lifetime productions. Cowherds built with females that deliver their second calves at three-years of age provide 20% more annual gross income than cowherds developed with females that bear their second calf one year later. Disciplined culling and tight no exception breeding seasons ensures that we are maintaining the most profitable cows who produce fertile bulls with superior scrotal circumferences and strong libido. ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTABILITY Environmental pressure helps prove cattle that adapt, perform and deliver a consistent product. Our cowherd is environmentally adapted to our management system and produces three to five calves more than the average set of cows. Cowherds in the South, Southeast and Southwest need Brangus genetics (Brahman influence) for heat resilience. Brahman cattle have remarkable adaptations for survival and sweat more freely than their Bos Tarus counterparts. Breeds of cattle that are not heat tolerant or do not carry enough Brahman influence cannot perform at optimum levels in hot and humid climates. Longevity and fertility are sacrificed if daughters are retained from those breedings. LONGEVITY Longevity has been a key principle in our breeding system for 30 years. We feel strongly that longevity evolves from disciplined fertility selection and environmental adaptation. Longevity is determined by fertility, and fertility is determined by how well a cow fits her environment. Cow longevity can mean differences in positive and negative margins in commercial cattle operations. For example, by extending the productive life
of a cow three years with 95 percent calf crop, she’ll raise an additional 2.85 calves. On a 100head cowherd that totals 28.5 calves; 14 additional replacement heifers or 14 heifers more to market at a premium as opens or breds. Plus an extra 14 steer calves. Town Creek Farm Brangus, Ultrablack and VigorMax™ Half-Blood bulls are environmentally adapted and were selected through a multi-trait selection process. Use of proven environmentally adapted bulls provides our customers with an opportunity to produce longer-lasting fertile females, feedlot steers that excel in feed efficiency, and carcasses that will provide consumers with a high quality product. FORAGE CATTLE Our cowherd has performed in simple forage environments for many generations. Genetics are proven on both native and improved pasture with minimal delivered winter supplement. Cows that don’t shed hair, breed back or maintain body condition are culled from the herd. Forage efficiency and cow maintenance are essential principles to our breeding systems. Both express themselves under normal conditions, but when stress from cold, wet winters or hot, dry summers occurs, the value of our genetics comes through. Same principles apply to our bull sale offering. Our sale bulls are developed at a slow pace in a forage-based environment on a foragebased haylage ration. They mature in 40 to 50 acre traps so grazing habits are never broken. The forage environment promotes rumen function, long-term feet and leg soundness, longevity, and slower and permanent weight gain. GROWTH AND CARCASS Key to our breeding principles is balance in selection for all traits that affect profitability. Growth and carcass traits are no exceptions. We use and embrace DNA, genomics and other relevant technology available to advance our genetic program. We extract as much growth as our environment allows without negative effects on maternal traits and calving ease. We never want to be at war with nature and we’re certain our customers don’t either. Nearly every customer who buys our bulls does so with the intent of retaining replacement heifers or to market as open or bred heifers at a premium to the market. TRUSTED SOURCES It took years of precise work and selection pressure to develop the Town Creek Farm cowherd. Our driving force is not necessarily to be the largest bull supplier, rather one in which cattlemen can believe in and trust, and with whom they have similar objectives and understanding of purpose.