Town Creek Farm Since 1993
FALL 2019
Volume 7, Issue 3 • Published by Town Creek Farm, West Point, Mississippi • Brangus and Ultrablack
More Pounds on the Ground Over A Longer Period of Time BY JOY REZNICEK
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
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Lot 9 – TCF Rapid Reward 1749E4
THROUGHOUT YEARS OF CONVERSATIONS WITH COMMERCIAL CATTLEMEN, COW LONGEVITY ALWAYS SEEMS TO COME UP IN CONVERSATION. How long cows stay in herds has significant economic impact to cattle producers. Consider development time and costs, time from conception to first calving, and open heifers. Replacing a cow is a costly venture whether she’s home-raised or purchased. “For every cow I don’t have to replace, it’s one more heifer I get to sell,” says Cliff Coddington of Longino Ranch. “For me it’s not about cow age, it’s about when she quits producing. As long as she’ll live and have a calf that is marketable, she stays in the herd.” The past decade the beef industry has focused on pounds, EPDs, carcass traits and DNA when selecting bulls with little or no mention of optimums in these traits, only that larger is better. Understood, these traits carry value. Cattlemen are paid for calves on the basis of weight, but what is happening with replacement heifer calf mates these bulls leave behind? “Too many of my females are leaving the herd way too young because they are coming up open,” said one Florida producer. In many cases, heifer mates to high performing steers have simply gotten too big. They require more feed to develop and reach puberty at a later age. Nutrition is going to fuel an extended growth curve, so fat coverage needed for cycling lags behind. As cows, they require more forage, hay and supplement to maintain. “Look at your cowherd,” says Cliff. “The best cows in your herd are the ones that breed as yearlings, breed back for their second calf and stay in the herd. These are the best producing cows and they have the most longevity. I keep daughters out of these cows and their daughters stay in my herd longer.” We hear more and more stories of herds where conception rates have declined. A speaker at a beef cattle symposium shared one such story. He said that after years and years of selecting high carcass Angus bulls and retaining daughters by these bulls, he witnessed his conception rates drop from 90 to 95 percent down to 80 percent. He realized his move from Angus maternal bulls to Angus carcass bulls was the reason for the decline.
Pay attention to how your cattle work in your environment. Every environment is different and has different levels of nutrition underfoot. Cattle adapted to their environment do everything better and do it with much less trouble. Breeds of cattle that are not heat tolerant won’t make us much money in our hot and humid climate and we lose any chance of cow longevity if we keep daughters from those breeds. “The higher Brahman content in a cow, the longer she stays in our herd,” says Cliff whose ranch is located in southern tier of Florida. “Cows with more Brahman blood take pressure better and last longer. But, there is a happy medium and balance. If you get something you give something. I still have to think about marketing steer calves.” Town Creek Farm’s Clint Ladner returned home this summer from a customer herd visit. This customer has been using our genetics for nearly three decades. Clint showed me a picture of a cow-calf pair he took during his visit. He said she was his favorite cow in their herd. “Just look at her calf. That cow is 23years-old,” said Clint. “She still has a good udder and has really good calf at side. They have a lot more like her still producing at 20 to 22 years-old.” Longevity has been a major player in our genetics for more than 30 years. Our maternal cowherd fits and thrives in our hot, humid climate. We’ve stuck to the same cow-culling protocol for 30 years; opens, dries, bad dispositions, bad feet, cows that are too big, bad bags and poor quality calves. It’s extremely important that our females are in production at 24 months and get bred back with their second calf to calve at 36 months. The last two decades we’ve taken longevity a step farther by eliminating Johnes from our herd and now we are surveillance testing for Anaplasmosis. These are the kind of cows that should be mothers of bulls that breed your cows. Cow longevity is the easiest trait to add to a set of cows. Study your lessons and use bulls from genetic systems that put cow longevity at the top of the list. All you have to do is use genetics suited to your environment and that are developed in a disciplined genetic system. Our way of raising cattle gives you more pounds on the ground over a longer period of time. It’s like