The American Rancher | February 2023

coming up we like the balancers because it seems like they have quite a bit of vigor you know on the and they make good Mamas to have that composite hybrid female that lasts a long time doesn't milk too much has moderate mature status and highly fertile here why More Produce are achieving better efficient Rancher [Music] hello I'm Pam Minnick and welcome to the American Rancher commercial cattle producers value cattle that will breed back and produce a calf every year gel V cattle are highly fertile moderately framed cows that raise High performing calves even in tough environments their efficient use of resources makes them the picture of sustainability in today's modern beef industry on this episode we'll hear from producers who choose gelvy and balancer genetics to achieve efficiency in their commercial cow herds [Music] foreign beef cow operation and we background all of our calves [Music] been in this long enough and we've used this breed for long enough that we've been able to sell replacement heifers you know open replacement heifers and got a long pretty well you know we get a little bit of Premium out of them which that's all we're looking for the feedback is been really good and that's what I look for you know yeah we need the premium out of them but I'll the positive feedback just adds to well we're doing something right here you know we're going in the right direction this fall we started around September the 10th calving and this is probably the nicest set of heifers We've Ever Raised as far as condition their disposition the way they're milking there's a lot of positive about these heifers [Music] we have the Harwood Ranch and we're from Crawford Nebraska which is in the far northwest corner of Nebraska mostly we run cow calf Paris and keep our heifers for Replacements and uh that's our biggest thing we're shooting towards is The Replacements and the Goodwin and weight I guess too you know goes together we like the balancers because it seems like they have quite a bit of vigor you know on the and they make good Mamas they they take care of their babies pretty well so that's that's one of the big things here because we don't watch them The Mamas we don't you know our first calf heifers we do but the the adult cows they're kind of on their own we have a really really high breed back I mean a lot of times we only have one or two percent uh empties and the last two years for sure our first calf Peppers we've had 100 breed back on them and and our pastors they're pretty good but it's still when they got to pass it they've got to be an animal that can utilize what's there and ours is this balancer cattle really do well on just most anything actually [Music] we are Huffman Landing Cattle and we are located in Northwest Nebraska between Chadron and Crawford and then also we Ranch Northwest of Tryon Nebraska starting where we started to where we are now trial and air I mean I went too small went too big at the time you know and so to find that animal that can survive on the way we operate without high starch diets and you know High TDN yet still reproduce at a high level and then stay in the cow herd a long time you know the longevity and the fertility is is probably the most important aspect of our operation because if these cows fall out and they're seven or eight years old and even though they produce calves that gain five pounds a day she still lost her depreciation because once she's seven or eight she's really paid for so she can produce calves for another 12 or up to 12 or 13 years old that's basically five six free calves that we get by not having to replace her so the reason that we started using the balancer genetics is to create the perfect hybrid female that is that is the main purpose of why we went to balancer to have that composite hybrid female that lasts a long time doesn't milk too much has moderate mature status and highly fertile I mean that was our reason for going that way [Music] so we run uh gelby and balancer cattle on about 900 Acres so it's primarily Janet and I run it we do have one farm hand and he helps us a lot on different things but when we after we were married and we got out of the army um we came back to Bolivar and we were building a barn and my friend John he says hey they're having a bunch of gelby heifers up at the humansville sale and you got to go take a look at them well at that point I didn't really even know what gilby's were but it didn't take me long to fall in love with them we brought I think 20 the first sale there and then the next year we I think we bought them all and uh they came from the Jim Freeman's Farm it's where all of our genetics started from and we really didn't look too far after that because we were raising six or seven hundred pound calves uh the cows were gentle and uh and always top the market you know what we like about the galveys are the great mothers and again you know they'll raise the 650 700 pound calves most of them are very gentle and and they grow good and especially if you mix the Angus with them they fill out good it's just really in my opinion the best beef animal that you can have we do raise all of our replacement heifers um we just feel like we can raise better heifers than we can buy and we've been doing this for 20 some years and our our cows keep getting better and better every year because we do keep our own heifers and we put the best bulls with those after the break our herd has improved very much since we started using the balancers and the gilby Angus across learn how commercial cattle producers select bulls for cross breeding systems when the American Rancher continues [Music] for nearly 40 years Hyderabad has provided cow calf producers with proven products manufactured to thrive in tough North America operating conditions now Hyderabad is proud to offer its customers the first variable speed electric Bale handling control system the Hydra sticks the Hydra sticks mounts to the left of the steering column and for added convenience an optional Wireless Hydra sticks is available for more information visit their website at hydrobeds.com or call 800-530-5624 much like keeping one's body in shape is important cattle must also maintain good health all of this starts with good nutrition sweet Pro is unique because it's a it's a fiber a supplement to a fiber digester there's no waste in the product they're getting all the raw materials and all the raw nutrients right where they need them for more information on all Suite Pro distiller's grain-based rangeland and bunk bed products with probiotene or to find a dealer near you visit www.sweetpro.com thank you welcome back to the American Rancher when it comes to raising beef it's important that cattle perform well in their environment and remain productive in the herd for a long time by utilizing galvey and balancer genetics in planned cross-breeding systems producers can take advantage of the positive traits each breed offers these producers explain how choosing the ripe bowls impacts their operations we like the balancers just because of their their really good Mamas they got good feet and and good Udders and we we strive we try to keep our own Replacements so we strive for having a nice moderate cow but yet on our steers we want to have some pretty good weaning weights too so that's some of the things that we look at when we're buying Bulls is you know they got they got to perform and and they do they feed out really well so our herd has improved very much since we started using the balancers and the gilby Angus cross and our percentage of the the Bulls will be a higher percentage gilby on the Bulls that we buy that keeps our milk up and that's what the cow is there for is to raise that calf it's I'm not there to raise it for them they're to raise it for me so I've been asked okay well how long how long do you think you should get use out of the Bulls you buy we pay a pretty good price for a bull so I expect them to last me you know at least four to five years they're long lasting that's another positive thing of the breed our bows are still going the purpose that I went with the balancer is they are traditionally known for you know a smaller mature size moderate milk very fertile but our balancer Bulls are very easy to handle with five kids over the years I mean wild cattle don't go and and so we do very well with them it's not a fight to to get them out their overall milk usually is is not extreme from what we have right now I mean it's a very functionable animal that can live in the sand hills and if they can be fertile and grow and do what they knew under those conditions then that's what we want to put in here you got to buy bulls or cattle from people that raise cattle like what you want to raise so what uh we're trying to do with that composite cow has ultimately take full uh value of the hybrid Vigor part of what we're doing here and adding that little bit of of cross breeding to get those extra few pounds or just the more efficient animal and uh and on the back side of that that that composite animal fits our environment and then on the terminal side if we go to that Direction with say it with a thermal Crossfire then that Mom is still even going to produce that a better calf at that point too so it's basic a composite hybrid system across with a terminal hybrid system again you know the balance of continental and British genetics [Music] the Bulls we have really well right now they've been really good to handle uh they're not spooky we just get along really well with them and they're not huge Bulls they don't get really big they just have really nice confirmation and just they're thick and deep and nice size for our ground it's pretty rough it doesn't look too bad right here it's pretty grassy but we got a lot of places where it's really Rocky and they've got to have good feet and they've got to have good confirmation it because they just won't stand up we have had other bulls that we tried and they didn't stand up at all we keep a lot of replacement heifers they produce make a really nice cow when our first calf halfers the last two years we've had no empties in the breed back on the first calf heifers and same way with the whole herd if we have one or two percent is that's a lot for us some years we just have a couple out of the whole herd so they're very fertile and do very well we get quite a bit of feedback on our calves and everybody's always really impressed and get when we sell the sale barn there's a lot of competition that if we don't sell have in the top or real close to the top usually every year [Music] so on the bull side of the house you know we buy absolutely the best bowls that we can afford to buy we really pour over the the statistics on the Bulls and the epds and we try to find the Bulls that will give us a moderate size calf we try to find the Bulls that have the great weaning weights and The Yearling weights I always look for milk without milk you don't have much of a calf and we look for bulls that have some facility to them we don't want them wild we want them nice and calm calm calves grow better stay healthier we usually use the predominantly the balancer Bulls on our heifers we use an Angus bull called rainfall he does a great job giving us moderate size calves for the heifers and and believe it or not they grow out about as good as the cow calf out of a cow so we like that and then for the heifers that we keep out of rainfall we put them back on predominantly uh gelby Bulls try to get that percentage of gelby back up in them there's only so many resources that we have with a grazing management system and and the right type of cattle and a supplement deal you can increase that 25 30 percent learn why caring for cattle and maintaining the land and are important aspects of beef production that stories after the break here on the American Rancher [Music] welcome back to the American Rancher when it comes to caring for their cattle ranchers know that good animal husbandry is not only best for the animal's well-being but it also has long-term benefits for producing safe and nutritious beef Vigilant Land Management and raising cattle that thrive in tough conditions are especially important when overall efficiency is the goal these producers top priority is creating a high quality beef product and forging sustainable operations for generations to come we put up about half enough grass hay to Winter on and usually and we need then we'll need some kind of feed to supplement to get through Calvin and before we go out to pasture we usually have to buy some and and we'll buy usually kind of whatever we can get a hold of and make it work somehow mix it I got lost straw this year they they hate their or they didn't have their wheat they combined it so we've got straw and I'd like to get some Alfalfa to go with it and then some distillers and and we'll make them utilize it they won't eat they won't have really that gray to feed but they'll do really well yeah they're the balancer heard they're really a hearty animal and they can utilize just about whatever and they get about whatever too this year we've got a almost completely different grass than most years here on the grassland that when the rain came we've got a lot cheap grass which isn't real good grass and high in protein or anything but they're doing really well on it and there's there's other enough protein grasp to go with it to make them utilize it but the herd the animals themselves are doing really well on it I do think that the balancers and the crossbreed they are hardier I mean you know and when years like last year and this year you're gonna get some sick ones with this heat and and dust but I think it really does does help them so of course the big thing is now all the talk is the sustainability with the cattle and and I guess with running on the grasslands the the forest service we hope that we'll we'll be able to do that year after year our cows we keep till they're 12 13 years old and they do they perform pretty well till then and we just hope to keep raising good cattle and good meat there's only so many resources that we have but if you can with a grazing management system and and the right type of cattle and a supplement deal you can increase that 25 30 percent you know I mean I really believe that any Ranch can do it to certain degrees our system is is not new I mean the grazing system has been around from massive intensive and you know moving them every few hours half a day to three days and and then just on a slow rotation maybe maybe a five pass of rotation through the summer every 30 days we have a combination of both depending on the on the lands that we have and my job is to to try to allow this soil in a 13 14 inch precipitation area to produce as much grass it can possibly and so with our rotational system on these type of cattle we want them to go in and just take you know the tops off leave us a good stubble and then hopefully within six seven days that regenerates and starts growing again and then we at least give it a 60-day rest minimum before we'll go back into that pasture and if you can catch some decent rains a lot of times we'll have just as much growth in our in our test areas or more than our test areas so we actually get maybe a time and a half or sometimes on great years with moisture a double tonnage per acre than the neighbors that just turn the cows out in May leave them there till October and if you look if you look at these at these places a cow is going to go select for the very the very most nutritious grasses and so she takes those to the ground as soon as that starts growing say six weeks or six days to two weeks as soon as there's enough another inch up there for her to eat she can take it again and so by doing the rotation pretty intense systems you make them graze more evenly you make them graze more undesirable species and then by getting out of there and giving rest that allows your most desirable species to grow back up My ultimate job is to create healthy soils that create healthy ranges and and those ranges then will take care of me and the generations to follow me you know you know having a good relationship with whether it's the breeder or your veterinarian or anything to do with your livestock you know because you can always gain you know valuable information to make you provide a better product and that's kind of what we've done here is we've got a really good relationship with who we buy our seed stock off of we've got a really good relationship with our veterinarian and we we are on a program that that we vaccinate at a timely rate you know and we give them the vaccinations for our area what are needed you know and we double up on that on the vaccination it's just a combination of using all your resources to make a better product so we run about usually 95 conception rate we feed good mineral and we feed good hay and and keep the cows cows in good condition you know once we get the calves grown and and we wean them we usually wean in September and uh you know at that point we put them through the whole protocol of two rounds of shots and and the warming and and uh just kind of get them going for the backgrounders and we sell them after that we we sell them on Superior so between Superior and the feeder finder program been very successful for us we've been very very happy with the results and we can plan to continue this for many years in the future you know on the pasture and grazing side of the house we use rotational grazing and we keep keep the grass growing we keep rotating the cows but you know if you don't have grass you don't have beef one thing I've found in this business over the past 25 years that you you can't do it by yourself it is a family operation all the way through we have our kids Janet helps a lot but we have our kids and grandkids they get involved and they help us vaccinate and I think that is one of the most rewarding things of the whole business for more information about gelby and balancer cattle and the commercial programs offered by the American gelby Association visit gelby.org that's all the time we have today to find out more about us visit our website theamericanranter.com or connect with us on Facebook or YouTube I'm Pam Minnick for the entire American Rancher team thanks for joining us we'll see you next time [Music] thank you foreign [Music]

Channel: American Gelbvieh Association

Views: 1,339

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Id: 9_GnQMWK6D4

Length: 23min 32sec (1412 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 03 2023