American Rancher | February 2021

[Music] coming up what makes this breed shine is not when times are good it's when times are hard these cattle will perform if you get them bred once the first time they're going to bring back and stay in a hurt we just don't have cattle dropped out of the herd see how gelby and balancer are the profitable choice for cattlemen nationwide next on the american rancher [Music] hello and welcome to the american rancher i'm pam minich docility is one of the most appreciated gelby traits among commercial cattle producers who also value cattle that will breed back and produce a calf year after year gelby cattle exhibits strong maternal strengths such as fertility and quiet temperament according to a u.s meat animal research center study they also rank number one for moderate mature cow size and are the earliest to mature of the seven major beef breeds on our virgin heifers we'll run a 95 to 98 conception rate on our virgin heifers and then but the phenomenal thing is the breedback rate on those first calf heifers getting them bred back to go back in for the for the next year we'll run a 99 98 to a 99 calvin rate or pregnancy rate back on those first calf heifers and through time a first calf heifer is the hardest thing that it is to get bred back and these these cattle will perform if you get them bred once the first time they're going to bring back and stay in the herd we just don't have cattle drop out of the herd you know they milk good their dociles are gentle and i think they didn't sure wean a little bigger calves than some of the other breeds out there we really like the galvi cattle we looked at some other breeds over the years we added some black cows to our herd and we've ran some black angus bulls and some red angus bulls we even had over the years we had a couple of horned hereford bulls but we always came back to the galvey and the balancer genetics we just loved we liked the way that the cattle act we love the way that they grow we just really like the breed for kind of their well-rounded everything that they have to offer you know a lot of breeds have a lot of great things but we really feel like the galvin balancers give us a complete animal what we're looking for we are really interested in our cows being good mothers staying in or hurt a long time and breeding back so that's kind of what we have focused on is really the maternal side of our cow herd we put a tremendous emphasis on disposition to be able to handle these cattle and and handle and move them and handle them a lot without having to people get hurt or have to deal with a lot of fencing issues or a lot issues we don't have to have much of a lot to be able to catch and move these cattle and and to be able to work and vaccinate them or take care of calves or weaning calves being able to keep these calves healthy because the disposition they're not crazy and stupid they're not bouncing off the fences and hurting themselves what makes this breed shine is not when times are good it's when times are hard across the five breeds that we work with there's no question in my mind even though it's antidotal evidence that a healthy cow can be a full body condition score less than her other breed contemporaries and still breed up at the top of the pack and it's that innate ability to turn what resources are available into fertility it's just the way their bodies happen to work that sets them apart from other breeds that we've worked with so i would say that the reason that we continue to use galvey is is because we know what a strong maternal breed they are and we want to make our own cows we don't want to really have to go out and buy a cow herd so we want to produce our own but at the same time have a product on the stair on the male side on the steer side that is very comparable in the marketplace so galvey has done that over and over for us and and it's been a great fit for this environment commercial producers really seem to appreciate the maternal power the maternal superiority of galvin balance or influence females i think it all starts with the reproductivity and the fertility that these females have as far as reaching puberty and early age they breed up well they re-breed on time it's really important for these cows to be calvin on a regular annual calving interval and then that they stay in the herd for a long time [Music] coming up the most overlooked trait in my opinion in the commercial industry that the gelfi cattle in our database so blow away the other breeds is longevity learn why ranchers value longevity in their cow herd next on the american rancher if you're marketing feeder calves sired by galvin balancer bulls give your cattle the balancer edge balancer edge is the new source and age verification program from the american ghelby association for calves sired by registered galvin balancer bulls and is backed by the industry's leading verification company imi global if you market feeder cattle then you know that value-added programs can put more money in your pocket give your calves the balancer edge for more information visit galvey.org [Music] balance or influence feeder calves add the pounds make the grade and deliver the value feeder finder is a free email listing to source balance or influence feeder caps if you are looking to buy or sell truckloads of balance or influence feeder cabs subscribe to the free email listing or fill out the form with the cattle's information at gelby.org feeder finder your source for balance or influence feeder calves that add the pounds make the grade and deliver the value hi i'm bob mclaren with 44 farms we have a new program with walmart called prime pursuits which brings together great angus producers from around the united states together to provide great beef for the consumer producers all around the country we would love for you to join us in this great pursuit so please give us a call we would love to talk to you about the specifics of this great new program thank you looking for a proven maternal outcross for your cow herd join us at the gathering wakaru farms bull sale on march 20th 2021 in rensselaer indiana selling 70 authentic beefy herd bulls and 25 elite headlining females built on more than a century of commitment to quality performance shorthorn cattle online bidding is also available on smartauctions.com serious cattle for serious cattlemen to request a catalog visit wakaru.net [Applause] welcome back to the american rancher when it comes to choosing quality females producers value cattle that will stay in the cow herd a long time and raise a calf year after year regardless of climate these producers recognize that gelby and balancer females excel in both longevity and the ability to adapt to different environments [Music] stability and longevity is really a strength of the galvey breed and you know when these cows can remain in the herd 10 years or thereabouts they return a lot of dollars to their producers [Music] the most overlooked trait in my opinion in the commercial industry that the gelthy cattle in our database so blow away the other breeds is longevity it doesn't matter whether you're buying a car or putting together a factory that we're going to call a cow if you can amateurize that out over 14 or 15 years instead of eight years look at the return on investment and our guilty cattle are solid they're they're the oldest cow in our herds no matter how we use them in any composite and that's they're there because they hang in there they do their job right so we're on the eastern slope of the blue ridge mountain uh most a lot of folks think about the shenandoah valley as sort of being the ag corridor or virginia and while it is we're still close enough to the mountains that we benefit from similar temperatures but have a little bit longer growing season over here uh it's fescue country i mean fescue is our friend and our enemy at the same time we have to work with it some sometimes it's a it's a love affair and sometimes it's a wrestling match and we have to breathe bringing that calf into the pen in a calm way and being able to work with the sisters of that calf that we're sending to the feedlot in an early puberty female that's our that's what we're trying to achieve and that's that's that's our goal here on on the grass that we're working with we developed this cow herd by replacing those heifers 25 percent of those cows in our herd every year but when we develop this herd then when we stop that those cows have lasted we've got cows that are 16 years old that are in our operation and they that 16 year old cow is producing just as good a calf as that first calf heifer that or that four-year-old cow [Music] we just went out and looked at some cows and one of them you know there were several that were older in there but there was a 13 year old cow in there looked great she's getting ready to calve this fall she's going to raise another great calf and that's what it all boils down to is you want to have those cows in your herd for a long time and if you don't have the right building blocks in your seed stock and in your cow herd to start with you're not going to get that they just aren't going to hold up like that so i think that for us that that's you know that's where we're at you're always looking for the complete package [Music] but maternal in my world is modern ability it's the ability of that cow not only to have that calf un unassisted but to own that calf to stay right there with that calf to do whatever is necessary to get that calf going no matter what sometimes that in coyote country might be that she has to protect that calf sometimes in really hot [Music] humid conditions that means she has to stay with that calf even if it happens to be worn out in the sunlight sometimes in really harsh winter conditions that means she has to make sure that calf's up and moving and getting going nobody we work with does a better job of owning that calf and and making sure that she's going to take care of the guilty breed and we have to breed cattle that are prepared to adapt in in conditions on both extremes [Music] we are in what we call the sand hills region of nebraska it is basically a a desert and we get about 14 to 16 inches of annual rainfall this year was not typical we had a lot more of snow and rain this year but that's typically what we get and because of that we have to be pretty careful with our sandy sand hills and the environment that we run our cattle on so that we don't over graze or overdo something maternal is important to us because in a sandhills operation they've got to kind of fend for themselves a lot of times they've got to take care of that calf in some pretty unique conditions and they've got to be able to travel and they've got to be able to take care of themselves a little bit i mean obviously we supplement them and feed them in the wintertime to take care of them but the maternal sides they've got to be a good mother that's going to look out for that calf in all kinds of conditions in the sand hills region we're very blessed to be able to run cattle in the appalachian mountains that's along the blue ridge parkway we run in grayson county carroll county and allegheny county north carolina this area is high in elevation we get a lot of moisture and able to grow abundant amount of grass um because of that we can we can graze a cow calf pair per two acres per year we can produce enough feed off another acre to acre and a half to provide enough hay to feed these cattle through the winter some of the area that you've seen the feed conversion and efficiency of the balance or female to be able to take forage and turn it into pounds of beef production is really is really the efficiency of those cattle um but at the same time we don't have to have a lot of a lot of feed efficiency for these cattle to be productive i mean they're they're going to breed back and they're going to do their job but with this grass and with the environment we live in we can see a tremendous amount of growth and take advantage of that and not just put it in fat actually put it in growth if we get into dry season these cattle still breed back it doesn't take all that extra forage growth but when we have it these cattle can really utilize that forage growth and turn it into productive pounds to sail at the same time the cross breeding system and heterosis and the galvey influence these cattle have a tremendous longevity they breed back year after year after year after year so cow life is very important and it's nothing for us to have a cow that's bred back at 16 years of age and and still grow up a big healthy productive calf that'll go on and that allows us to to be able to pull from those genetics for a longer period of time if we have a if we have a set of cows that are that we really like the calves and the production of those dollars we don't just get caught with one or two calves and that cow's out of the herd we may get to keep three or four or five cows heifers back to make cows out of that go back to that same set of genetics i think the versatility and the adaptability of the crossbred females we've seen with these balancer females across the country and many harsher environments the cows continue to produce heavy calves and remain in the herd for a long time coming up that feed efficiency of those cattle when they have adequate feed or more than adequate feed they really express that growth potential learn the importance of efficient females next on the american rancher reproductive success is critical in every profitable cow-calf operation that's why you need effective easy breeding with vita firm concept aid high concentrations of organic trace minerals and vitamin e found in concept aid will ensure more of your cows breed back faster plus you'll be giving your herd the m a firm advantage leading to healthier heavier more uniform calves at weaning provide a firm concept aid effective easy breeding from the high country of eastern oregon harold herford ranch is your progressive genetic seed stock source from cowherd to carcass we test them all the way our breeding philosophy has been to produce cattle that work for all segments of the beef industry we take pride in having built a genetics and performance-based program built to serve the registered and commercial cow men harold mckinsey quarter horses will also be offering a select group of two-year-old ranch and arena horse prospects these horses are started right for the rancher and everyday cowboy join us march 1st for our annual spring bowl roundup and performance horse prospect sale in baker city oregon this is hard brand cattle family owned family run prime focused and home to the largest and best source for akushi genetics in the world us commercial cattlemen are buying our bulls because they work if you raise akushi cattle we have a buyback program our cattle grade 45 usda prime less than 2 select averaging a 2.8 yield grade it's time you earn premiums over commodity prices akushi provides beef customers with the best beef eating experience visit us at heartbrandcattle.com the superior country page is the leading online marketplace for buying and selling load lots of calves feeders and breeding stock the country page is an efficient easy to use and low-cost solution for selling cattle you set the price and move at your pace with flexible delivery options the country page matches the best buyers to the best sellers at the best price for both parties call or log on today to find out more about the superior country page [Music] welcome back to the american rancher maternal efficiency is an important trait in any cow calf operation and is one the galbi female excels in with a more moderate mature cow size gelby females consume less while weaning heavier calves galvey imbalance or maternal influence in a cross-breeding system offers more pounds of caffeine per cow exposed these heavier weaning weights combine with feed bunk efficiency as well as heavier faster gaining feeder cattle can increase profitability [Music] when we started to develop our cow herd and trying to figure out how that we could be successful in a beef cow operation most beef cow operations look at their steer calf as their premium product and their female as a commodity being lesser priced or lesser value i wanted to change that around and make my steer my commodity my lesser price lesser valued animal and my female to be my my higher valued animal would be my premium product sale and in by being able to go into the replacement commercial female business and breed these females to do that we've been able to accomplish that when we wean a heifer calf off our cow i value her 200 more than my very best steers and through very little development other than genetics just standard feeding practices very little supplement grain we can develop these heifers out get them bread and carry them through and make cows out of them without a lot of additional cost but at the same time have a superior female that we can pull out and put in a sale and and sell them and then turn around and take the remainder of those females and put back in our operation for replacements or to add numbers to our operation [Music] our customer base understands moderation in the cow herd understands functional traits understands that you can have a 1200 pound cow with a 600 pound calf and you don't have to have a 1600 pound cow to make that calf and our customers are the kind of customers that understand i'd rather have 35 calves in that particular pasture with one bull than than 25 calves because that's all that'll fit in there because of the size of the cows we're not we're not making huge cows we're making the functional cows the growth in these cattle is phenomenal the amount of inputs to get that growth is minimal the one of the things that the cross breed between the galvey ain't angus or balancer program is that that feed efficiency of those cattle when they have adequate feed or more than adequate feed they really express that growth potential but in the situation where that we don't have adequate feed or we have short grazing conditions and we can't maintain a great body score body condition score those cattle will breed right back they'll give they'll give their heart to feed that calf but then turn around and make the net and give us the next calf of next year [Music] your job is to produce pounds of beef so of course you have to have good calves that grow well that after you wean them they take off and are ready to go to market when you need to sell them so that galvey also gives us that so we feel like the galvey balancer breed is just really a perfect fit for what we want [Music] prior to going to a gap four pro natural program we were marking those calves direct to a feedlot and we were getting carcass data back on those calves we were running a 95 percent choice 5 select the they were having no yield grade fours at all and seeing some mule grade two calves on those steers and those calves were being harvested at 18 to 19 months of age and live weight of 1500 pounds [Music] the females that we have sold in these sales if we sell up if we sell a customer two or three females to go back in their operation when they need females again they come back and buy those females we have people that come to our to the production sale which is a a cooperative from our local cattlemen's association and there's multiple consignors and multiple breeds and the people that that come in and buy the cattle from our operation come back consistently and buy the cattle from our operation again they are very satisfied and very very impressed with the performance that these cows can do whether they actually go back and put a ballot put them back on a balancer program or they use a totally different sire back on these cows these cows work these cows work for them they work for me they work for them they work for and they go to all different environments they'll go to pure fescue based hot weather environments they'll go into rugged mountain environments they just they'd work in multiple places they'd work here in southwest virginia the galvey cattle have been a true asset to this operation the genetics that they've brought to the table the ability to utilize those genetics and to be able to set set up a little unique system a niche in a market that the galvin a balancer operation has brought to to this to this farm and operation and the opportunities that it's brought to us to to meet people and to and to help the beef industry [Music] gelby and balancer cattle offer maternal superiority and moderate mature weights quiet dispositions added fertility and greater longevity truly making them the mother breed of choice for more information about galbian balance cattle and the commercial programs offered by the american gelby association visit gelby.org that's all the time we have today thank you for joining us for more information about us visit our website the american theamericanrancher.com or connect with us on facebook i'm pam minich for our entire american rancher team thanks for joining us we'll see you next [Music] time [Music] that was superior

Channel: American Gelbvieh Association

Views: 1,935

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: hQ7XNx_LlZk

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 03 2021