Lucky 7 Angus | The American Rancher

[Music] coming up the goals that jim and jamie chase are for real not only are his claims of feed efficiency extremely accurate their carcass quality would rank right up there with the top five percent of what we get to feed in a given year these cattle are feed efficient we won't buy another bull unless it comes from lucky seven lucky seven angus is setting new standards in beef cattle feed efficiency next on the american rancher [Music] hello and welcome to the american rancher i'm pam minnick years ago jim jensen at lucky 7 angus set out to develop feed efficient beef cattle that thrive in high elevations their work research and data have resulted in up to 30 percent increases in documented feed efficiency along with other emerging benefits that are making ranchers more profitable nationwide on today's show we'll meet some of those producers and see how lucky seven angus genetics are setting new standards in the beef cattle industry we're at boulder wyoming about 7 200 feet this is called the nation's ice box because of the coldest daily temperature in the united states and you add that along with big pastures that we have we have some pastures don't even have a fence line that probably into the several hundred thousand if not millions of acres right now we're in some grassy areas but if you can see we have a lot of very arid ground where the cattle have to graze pretty fast in order to get something to eat so just a real tough place to make a living here it's really tough on the animals and the ranchers [Music] we're sitting in a valley that's mainly used to be a mainly hereford valley our program was 100 hertfords for years and probably well as 12 or 13 years old my dad and i we went together on a real high dollar hartford bowl he was real fat and pretty when we bought him by that fall you couldn't tell the bull he looked like an anorexic milk cow and he basically ruined every cow that we got a few years later i ended up having the opportunity to buy some cows and a registered set of cows was selling so i went and bought about 10 or 15 head of those cattle and before i even had the calves on the ground people were buying the bull so that kind of got me into the business but i go back to my roots of the friends and family and neighbors and all the fellow ranchers around here i always wanted to make them the most money possible so going back to the bulls that wouldn't work here we wanted to make bulls that could work here so we had to run those bulls in tougher conditions than any commercial kalman would and that was part of the program that we started here it worked extremely well people were in you know they were having a good luck with the bulls and the bulls were holding up cattle were holding up better from there being above 7 000 feet we decided that we would go into the pap testing which would make sense for my high elevation customers and all the friends and neighbors around me and we got into that setting a lot of benchmarks we set the the first ever standards in the industry for pap testing and uh we then went on to become probably the leader in the industry in high elevation and pap testing pulmonary arterial pressure testing is pap testing and at high elevations there's a lot less oxygen in the air so in order to get all of the oxygen out it has to push it deeper into the lungs this can cause thickening of the artery walls coming from the heart into the lungs which will cause a pressure problem the heart will have to pump way too hard in order to accomplish this on certain animals and certain genetics we're putting a catheter all the way through the heart going to the lungs and we're taking pressure tests so that we can actually scientifically prove which cattle can make it at that elevation which ones can't there we go perfect today we are pap testing 16 to 18 month old bulls we've brought them up here to this higher elevation and they've been here all summer long so at least three months or so 90 days which puts the altitude stress on them and makes our tests highly accurate at this elevation we've noticed as we were chasing the brisket disease and trying to eliminate it that we had a lot less sickness and death loss in our animals and we also have noticed that there's a lot less of the animals in lower elevation feedlots that are dying due to right heart failure because of the work we've done from there we started to work on feed efficiency the only way you can prove out feed efficiency is to have some sort of scientific data that will absolutely prove how many pounds of of a nutrient that these animals eat versus how many pounds they gain or what it takes to maintain we have proof of that we purchased a grow safe feed efficient system and we started doing a lot of feed efficiency work with vertical mixers and all sorts of other things trying to create a feed efficient animal and we did that because if you look at like kansas state university did a study and they figure at least 70 percent of your cost of doing business is feed associated costs either the feed that you're feeding or the equipment stuff that it takes to feed it's a low hanging fruit and it would make the most money for any rancher in the industry number one number two nobody was doing it so we hung our hat on that where feed efficiencies really helped our operation is the older cows we know for a fact that we're running 35 to 40 percent more cows per acre than we used to yes we have created some better management offset part of that but they're easily 25 to 30 percent more efficient and we thought at that point in time when we reached that goal we wouldn't be able to take major steps after that but i can tell you in this pasture right here we have a bunch of first calf heifers that we stick in some wash conditions and just before we wean them in order to wean the calves off right these cows usually run 25 to 28 days in these pastures we've been doing this for 10 to 12 years and this year right now we're at 25 to 28 days and we still have 10 10 days of pasture so we're pretty conservative in thinking that we're another 10 to 15 percent more feed efficient just in the last three years on these young genetics up next not very many people has ever seen animals that can go to the rail at 1400 pounds at 13 months compared to other proteins the beef industry is decades behind in the development of feed efficiency but lucky seven angus is already there their investments into feed intake research are not just proving out feed efficiency but showing other economic benefits as well find out more after the break here on the american rancher [Music] introducing vitalix feedlot starter tubs formulated for beef calves before and after weaning to help decrease pull rates and stress while increasing saliva feedlot starter tubs contain diamond v nature safe which supports immune strength antibiotic stewardship and gut health they're also packed with a veil of four a nutrient containing organic zinc manganese copper and cobalt vitalx stretch your profits with every lick visit vitalix.com to find out more 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 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 join superior livestock auction for our monthly holstein steer and dairy influenced video auction with the largest number of registered and active buyers in the nation competing for your cattle sellers enjoy proven price discovery that pays top dollar buyers get high volumes and steady supplies of quality cattle backed by superior's trusted experience in national livestock marketing superior is your source for dairy influenced calves click superiorlivestock.com to find out more [Music] welcome back to the american rancher lucky seven angus in western wyoming raises production cattle bred with exceptional feed efficiency but their scientifically proven feed efficiency created other unexpected but impressive benefits one thing that happened when we started the feed efficiency thing is uh we started having customers come to us and say that they had 75 to 100 pounds heavier calves than they used to have and that's hard to believe when you're not producing an animal that's a a big overgrown performance type animal we produce mother cows and so that was one thing that happened kind of makes sense that if the cows are more efficient they don't change their grazing practices the calves going to get bigger and that's all we can attest to it from there we decided to go ahead and feed out a lot of our cows if i'm going to tell everybody i got the most feed efficient cattle in the world i'm going to have to go out there and do a little more proof other than just what i can do on my ranch and so we started feeding out a lot of our own animals and yeah we definitely hit a home run with the feed efficiency uh which is 10 to 15 percent higher than than the feedlot averages but the interesting thing was is our carcass numbers was off the charts it is very seldom that we don't have a set of cattle that go 100 choice in better in the last two years we've had several sets that went up to 59 prime and so that's an advantage that we never even thought we had another thing that happened we have two producers that went all in with our genetics and these two producers in the last two years have had animals that weighed 1400 pounds and were marketed at 13 months 100 percent choice and better this is a huge economic advantage because instead of hitting the june july august market now you're hitting the april may market which is about a 220 advantage not very many people has ever seen animals that can go to the rail at 1400 pounds at 13 months and we weren't even trying to get it feed efficiency just give us that advantage we feed a lot of our cattle at tiffany cattle company in harrington kansas dealing mostly with shane tiffany done a great job for us and we've had some excellent results when we first got into the feed efficiency part with them they kind of had a little bit of doubts that maybe it wasn't true being in the custom feedlot business like we are of course you know i get calls on a daily basis that from someone that's pretty proud of their genetics and all the work they've done over the years and they make some pretty bold claims about i've got the best this or i've got the best that and so when jim and i first talked and he talked about that his primary focus had been on feed efficiency in his genetic decisions uh in the past i was uh curious to see if he could back that up with real-time data and uh what we have seen is exactly that i mean uh to put it in context i just want to be clear that we do get to feed uh some of the best cattle in the in the country the thing that's been interesting to see over the years and as more and more data has come in is is that not only are his claims of feed efficiency extremely accurate but their carcass quality would rank right up there with the top five percent of what we get to feed in a given year too i had a set of uh of yearly heifers that went to the feedlot gained 4.8 pounds 131 days on feed and graded 100 choice and better last year i fed out our calf fed steers we did it at our place at home we harvested those those steer calves average 13 months of age 1400 pounds again 100 choice and better we run a lot of cattle down in oklahoma and we found bill and diane helms of quality care cattle company they're pretty close to no water oklahoma has done a great job for us and have been a real asset for us to grow these cattle out before we go to the finishing yard we've been working for mr jim jensen for lucky 7 angus since about 2015. our latest set of cattle that we had for him was really a nice set of steers those steers were here for about 80 days they gained 3.49 would cost again is 58.77 but the thing that's most amazing about those steers was their dry matter conversion both tears converted at 386 which is about thirty percent better than the traditional commercial calf we see through here you know we're really happy if that careful convert in the fives maybe sixes but mr jensen's cattle are doing this in the in the high threes low fours a heifer will even do it in the in the forest when we first started with this program we were trying to create animals that were designed for boulder wyoming one of the toughest places in the world high elevation extreme temperatures extreme tough conditions a lot of people would call us and say can those bulls work at my place at a lower elevation in a better condition or different condition and i would always say i don't know that they can we got to test them first at this point in time we've been to a lot of different places and the cattle are doing extremely well just had a guy from kansas calling me up and said it changed his life that the animals did so well he said you can tell people now that they'll work in kansas because they do right now we send a few bulls to texas oklahoma new mexico kansas nebraska so we're branching out to several states as the people are finding out that these cattle are not only working here but they're working everywhere else well first all our breed back rate on all of our cows just it went up because those bulls travel and yet we're in kansas but we still have rough country here and and they they both just have to travel to get cows covered and we've seen that with the lucky seven bulls and secondly our our weaning weight on our steers went up 150 to 200 pounds across the board and our heifers have have went up 75 to 125 coming up jim's unique approach of focusing on strictly uh the efficiency side uh is going to pay in dividends and it's a much needed focus for the industry the beef industry faces increasing challenges from all sides lucky seven angus genetics help beef cattle producers rise above those challenges that story is after the break here on the american rancher [Music] reproductive success is critical in every profitable cow-calf operation that's why you need effective easy breeding with vitafirm 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 established in 1987 superior livestock auction is the largest cattle marketing network in north america we sell forward contracted load lots of ranch fresh cattle on video and internet auctions last year almost 1.4 million head were sold by superior livestock auction and they brought top dollar world champion auctioneers present your cattle to buyers across the nation we have over 8 000 active and qualified buyers maximizing competitive bidding and true price discovery your cattle stay at the ranch until delivery and your superior rep writes you a check when it's done simple as that our job is getting you the best paycheck possible we know that most producers only get one paycheck a year for their cattle and more cattle men and women trust us to get the most out of every sale call us at 800-422-2117 or go online to learn more about how superior livestock action can work for you welcome back to the american rancher lucky seven angus develops cattle for feed efficiency and is raising environmentally friendly beef their proven feed efficiency combined with real-world cattle will help producers rise above the ever-increasing challenges we're all-time cattlemen by no means are we the tree hugger type of people out there but when we're trying to sell a product in a very competitive protein market we have to find out what the customer wants right now the customer's trying to talk about environmentally friendly and that's the catchword whether you like it or not the people that we're selling beef to the millennials and some of these other people that's a big issue to them these millennials are a huge consumer group and when we get to a point where there's enough cattlemen out there creating these animals that we can market it well it's going to create a paradigm shift in the industry lucky seven angus genetics absolutely get it done at the ranch they absolutely get it done in the feed yard they are second to none on the rail and i think that the feed efficiency that that comes forward and the ability to create more output with less input really opens the door to some claims that maybe no one else can make in the in the seed stock industry or or the beef industry for that matter i think we can start talking about low carbon beef i think we can start talking about environmentally friendly beef i think anytime you can produce more output with less input i think i think it opens a lot of doors well i think in agriculture in general uh the general trend is is we're being asked to do more with less every single year and that's going to continue to bleed over into the cattle side in an even greater way getting your cost per gain down as much as you can and you know we've done that in large part over the last 20 years in increasing the growth potential of our cattle and making bringing decisions based off of weaning weights and yearling weights and things like that that have driven it more from that side but i think that jim's unique approach of focusing on strictly uh the efficiency side is going to pay in dividends and it's a much needed focus for the industry we started in this industry because we just wanted to make our customers more money we wanted to be the guy that kept the neighbor ranch in business you know if they're struggling a little bit more because they could use our bulls and those bulls are just a little bit better so when people say that their calves weigh 100 pounds more than they used to we never expected to ever hear that that wasn't a goal we had when people are starting to say that their cattle are killing it at 1400 pounds at 13 months 100 percent choice in better we never expected to do that yeah we expected the feed efficiency and yeah we expect the performance the customer started telling us they run 1800 cows now where they used to only run 1200 when they start their tractor in march instead of december we never expected to hear any of that we just tried to make the toughest cow that would make our customers the most amount of money we won't buy another bull unless it comes from lucky seven and jim has done a tremendous job to work with with myself to get them to me and they are exactly as advertised every one of them the bulls have great dispositions you can handle them horseback you can handle them a foot they they're just it's a tremendous tremendous investment on our part as a rancher the first sale gym ever had we bought one and brought him home and it's pretty tough conditions and and he thrived did a good job so we went back and bought more jim jensen's honest if if he tells you something that's the way it is i was a healthy skeptic to the feed efficiency claims of lucky seven when i first when i first met jim and jamie um through the years of buying and using their bulls i can i can tell you that the integrity honesty the data the science the goals that jim and jamie chase are for real these uh genetics seem to get it done at our house and he truly cares about the people that buy his bulls and making advances in the industry pap testing is a huge one where we are we've got to have it we're we're high country another thing that that jim does that nobody else does is that four year guarantee that's huge and i've had people tell me that uh he can't stand behind a four-year guarantee and i said he does i've used it a couple times and with the price of bulls and the price of calves you want to be able to keep your money together on these bulls and that helps customer service is a i've had a couple times when i was short of bulls come summer and called jim up and he'd find a bull for me so he'd either meet me somewhere i'd come get him or something where we winter it's it's not nice country we're sitting about 7 200 feet the wind blows 50 miles an hour or more all winter long it's nasty rough country and our running age cows they graze out on standing forage and those girls they do an amazing job and the biggest part of that is the bull program that we use behind that i've been retaining my heifers i think five years now and my heifers calves weigh within 20 pounds of my cows and that's your calves and heifer calves both i've put probably 50 to 70 pounds on my calf since i started using jim's bowls he'll stand behind his guarantee and you're gonna buy quality bowls no matter if you buy the first sale or the license sale it's going to be there's good bulls no matter what your price range these cattle are truly environmentally friendly we have created some of the most feed efficient animals that have ever been raised and i.e these cattle are going to create less greenhouse emissions they're going to put less carbon footprint out there in the environment these cattle are going to produce more pounds of beef for less pounds of grass or nutrition these cattle are raised in a way that makes them tougher so they're going to have less health and sickness issues i invite anybody to come out to our ranch anytime you want and look at the animals they'll be available our sales the first saturday in march the riverton livestock auction riverton wyoming you can come down there if nothing else just drink a cup of coffee we'd love to visit with you but just come see what these cattle look like and what they can do don't miss your opportunity to put lucky seven feet efficient genetics in your pasture lucky seven angus is on the forefront of raising cattle that will be branded environmentally friendly beef the lucky seven angus bull sale is on the first saturday of march in riverton wyoming to find out more visit lucky7angus.com that's all the time we have today to find out more about us visit our website theamericanrancher.com or connect with us on facebook i'm pam minich for the entire american rancher team thanks for joining us we'll see you next [Music] [Applause] time [Music] that was superior 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 u.s 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 two percent 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

Channel: Superior Productions

Views: 12,712

Rating: 4.8769231 out of 5

Keywords: american cattle breeds, angus cattle, beef recipes, cattle breeds, cattle for sale, cattle genetics, feed efficient bulls, hereford cattle, livestock auction, purebred bulls, purebred cattle, raising livestock, simmental cattle, lucky 7 angus, cowboy bulls, angus cattle documentary, angus cattle farms, angus cattle history, angus cattle ranches, angus cattle auction, angus cattle pros and cons, angus cattle australia, angus cattle ireland, cowboy bull riding

Id: G250os2wk6o

Length: 26min 2sec (1562 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 28 2020