January/February - Pharo Cattle Company
Transcription
January/February - Pharo Cattle Company
Jan./ Feb. 2002 PHARO CATTLE COMPANY CHEYENNE WELLS, COLORADO NEWSLETTER PHONE 1-800-311-0995 —————— ———— ——— ————— —— —— ——— —— ——— —— —— ————— —— ——— ————— ———— ————— —————– Buy your bulls from someone who raises cattle the way you ought to. Fall — A Good Time To Evaluate Your Bulls who had just completed their first breeding season. While some looked extremely well conditioned and thrifty, others in the same herd looked as though they had been badly abused and mistreated all summer. How did your bulls look last fall? What was their body condition? How did their hair coat look? Did they look thrifty? Did you notice any feet and leg problems? Are they the type of bulls you would want your replacement heifers to be sired by? There are two reasons for this observed difference between young bulls within the same herd. The first is genetics. While some bulls have the bred-in genetics to adapt and gain weight while working, most do not. The second reason for this observed difference is the way young bulls are developed. Most yearling bulls are severely overfed in a feedlot environment. Unless the rancher maintains that high level of nutrition they will probably lose one to two hundred pounds before they can do anything else. Fall and early winter are the best times to evaluate your herd bulls. You don’t have to be an expert to make these evaluations. In fact, no one else is probably any more qualified than you are. If you haven’t already done it, I suggest you grab a note pad and individually evaluate your herd bulls. This will be time well spent. Once these evaluations have been made you can make some sound management decisions concerning the direction and the future of your breeding program. The decisions you make, or don’t make, will affect the profitability of your ranch for many years to come. Don’t forget that the most important job you have is managing the ranch you live and work on. I was also disappointed in the type and structure of many of the bulls being used on some ranches. Have ranchers forgotten what a bull in his working clothes should look like? In their defense, though, we must realize that a bull’s appearance will change drastically when he loses 200 pounds of excess fat. Many bulls never would have been purchased if they started out looking the way they do now. I will discuss bull structure and type in more detail in an article entitled A Bull Should Look Like A Bull on page 4. ~ Kit Pharo Other than purchasing a few bulls from one of those pampered seedstock herds, the biggest mistake most ranchers make concerning their herd bulls is not getting rid of a bull when he needs to go. This is like driving 500 miles in the wrong direction after making a wrong turn before turning around. No matter what he originally cost, the longer you keep the wrong bull the more expensive he becomes. What Others Are Saying I had Some Personal Observations. the opportunity this past fall to see several bulls in several different herds. Some of these bulls came from Pharo Cattle Company and some came from other seedstock producers. Not all bulls are created equal. There is a tremendous difference in the size, condition and type of bulls used on most ranches. It’s no wonder we have such a problem with consistency and uniformity within the beef industry. “You said your bulls could gain weight during their first breeding season, and they did.” — Larry Gilstrap — “It was a real eye opener when we noticed that the bulls purchased from Pharo Cattle Company stayed in much better condition than bulls purchased elsewhere.” — R.J. Jolly — The most obvious contrast in bull type and condition was observed in the young bulls 1 Fallout Rate… JULIE’S WORKSHOPS Jan. 26 Justifies The Prices Dr. Val Farmer, clinical psychologist from North Dakota who specializes in rural mental health and family business consultation. Cheyenne Wells, Colo. Pharo Cattle Company sold 250 bulls last year for an average price of $2500, with a range of $1000 to $5200. Several really good bulls were purchased for less than $2000. For a commercial cattleman’s bull sale, we feel these prices are just right. Many, however, believe our prices are still a little high. Contact Julie Elliott Phone — 719-767-8007 (home) Email — [email protected] We believe our fallout rate easily justifies the prices paid for our bulls. The bulls we sell are selected from well over 2000 momma cows. Only the very best get a chance to compete for a position in our sale order. Why YOU Should Attend By Julie Elliott Why should you attend Dr. Val Farmer’s workshop? (see Julie’s Workshops above) Of the bulls that begin our performance test, we will have an additional 10 to 20 percent fall out before the sale. Of the bulls that begin our forage test, we will have an additional 20 to 40 percent fall out before the sale. If we would feed our bulls as much as most bulls are fed, we would not have a fallout rate as high as we do. It won’t matter how big your calves are, or who you buy your bulls from, or how profitable you are — WHEN you don’t have someone to pass your ranch on to when you die, or WHEN stress causes permanent health problems or suicide, or WHEN you lose the ranch in a divorce settlement. In addition to requiring our bulls to perform on a limited amount of feed, we also do our best to get rid of all bulls with disposition problems or structural defects. In other words, we select for much more than EPDs. If important family needs are not being met, why are you working so hard? Attending this workshop does not mean you are having trouble. However, it will give you some valuable information to help keep you out of trouble. Family ranching is a cherished way of life. Take care of it. We think it’s only right to be compensated for the fallout that occurs prior to our bull sale. Because of the way our bulls hold up and last, most of our customers agree. A Fitting Analogy By Dr. Jim Baker Most seedstock producers develop bulls by getting them too fat on a hot feedlot ration. The rancher who purchases a bull like this has 30 days to try to harden the bull up and get him in shape for the breeding season. This can be compared to getting a marathon runner ready for the big race by feeding him nothing but donuts for four months with no exercise. Once he is fat, lazy and out of shape we will spend the next 30 days trying to harden him up for the race. 2 NATURE and NURTURE CUSTOM GRAZE YOUR COWS by Pete Ferrell I admit it. I envy Kit Pharo. He has pursued an idea that I gave up on twenty-five years ago. That idea is that genetic selection for “hustle” (the ability for an animal to maintain good body condition in range environments) is valuable. I was privileged to meet both Kit and Dr. Fred Provenza at a workshop in Burlington, Colorado on plant / herbivore interactions taught by Dr. Provenza. I also had the opportunity to get an up-close look at Kit’s cowherd. in the Flint Hills of Kansas Large lots only (300 head and up) at the FERRELL RANCH In these two men lies a great deal of collective wisdom. One has doggedly selected genetics which serve ranchers (persons limited to forage based resources) while the other has spent his professional career studying the variances of experience in the development of the grazing habits of herbivores. Between the two of them lies the possibility of a herd maintained in good condition, year round with little, or no, feed expenses. To that end, both men realize this is precisely what will be needed for ranchers to compete economically in the future. Maybe we can finally stop the tail from wagging the dog!!! Pete Ferrell — (620) 843-1888 Email — [email protected] www.PharoCattle.com In just three months we have had over 5,500 visitors to our newly created website. If you haven’t already done so, we invite you to check it out. Some pages are still under construction. Momma’s Boy… If you want to produce the right kind of replacement heifers, you need to be using bulls that were produced by the right kind of momma cows. Weaning weights, indexes, and EPDs are important but they don’t tell the whole story. There are no EPDs or other measurements for fertility, efficiency, fleshing ability, disposition, structural soundness and longevity. Although most ranchers tell me they want to produce efficient 1100-pound cows, they will usually confess that they have been purchasing bulls from seedstock herds with 6 and 7 frame cows that weigh 1400 to 1600 pounds. Do you really think that is going to work? Biological Type. For several years Pharo Cattle Company has put a tremendous amount of pressure on their cows, requiring them to produce with a minimum amount of inputs. This continues to force the inefficient and unadapted cows out of the herd. Cows come in all shapes and sizes but we have found that the biological type that performs best in our program looks something like this: 1. Moderate Size. Frame score of 3.5 to 5 with a mature weight of 1000 to 1200 pounds. 2. Easy-Fleshing. Ability to maintain good body condition, even on limited feed resources. 3. Large Volume. Able to efficiently convert low quality forages into milk and meat. 4. Structurally Sound. Good feet, legs, udder, eyes, muzzle, teeth, hair coat, etc. Like Begets Like. In the 18th century a Scottish geneticist named Robert Blakewell proved his theory that like begets like. This principle still holds true today. If you are serious about producing efficient, moderate sized replacement heifers with some built-in doability, then I suggest you get serious about buying bulls that were produced by the right kind of momma cows. Plan to attend our 12th Annual Bull Sale on Saturday, April 20th in Burlington, Colorado. We will be selling 250 bulls that are expected to produce daughters that are just as good as their mothers. 3 A Bull Should Look Like A Bull We shouldn’t place all the blame on the show ring, though. I believe the beef industry’s relentless pursuit for more frame, growth, milk, and carcass traits is also to blame for the type of bulls seen on most ranches. As time goes on, our beef bulls are starting to look more and more like solid colored Holsteins. In my travels I have the opportunity to see a lot of bulls of various breeds on a lot of different ranches. Possibly my most disturbing observation is the large number of bulls that don’t possess the masculine characteristics that you would expect to see in a bull. A bull should look like a bull. It should be overwhelmingly obvious. You should never have to take a second look. I’m afraid the beef industry has become so enamored with frame, growth, milk and carcass traits that we have forgotten that fertility will ALWAYS be our most important economic trait. We individually inspect every bull when we weigh them on and off test. Last fall when we were weighing bulls I commented that one particular bull had no masculinity and very little muscling. Gary Rhoades looked over the fence and hollered, “You better keep him. He probably has some good carcass traits.” He was being sarcastic, but I knew exactly what he meant. Unfortunately, that’s the way a lot of the top carcass bulls really do look. A highly fertile bull will appear quite massive about his shoulders, head and neck. He will have a very pronounced crest on top of his neck. The hair on his head, face and neck will be courser and more curly than the hair on the rest of his body. The hair on his head and neck should also appear darker in color, even on an Angus. Several years ago Dr. Burl Winchester asked a couple of very profound questions. He asked, “If a group of men sit side by side in a church pew, where do their bodies touch? If their wives sit side by side in another church pew, where do their bodies touch?” Male and female, of most species, were designed by the Creator to look different. A bull should look like a bull and a cow should look like a cow. A bull that looks like a bull will always produce very feminine and fertile daughters. I’ve had customers look at a young bull with a broad, masculine head and say, “There’s a bull that won’t work on heifers.” In our herd that statement would be absolutely false most of the time. I usually follow-up by saying, “He didn’t His look that way the day he was born.” masculine appearance is simply the natural result of testosterone. If you select cow-headed, steery looking bulls to use on your heifers, you will be inadvertently selecting for low fertility If you’d like to learn more about this subject, don’t miss the Gearld Fry Workshop on February 27 & 28 (call 1-800-311-0995). In the meantime you can check out Gearld’s website by going to the “Favorite Links” page of our website, www.pharocattle.com. The book, Man Must Measure, by Jan Bonsma, as well as other great books can be ordered from Gearld’s website. ~ Kit Pharo A highly fertile bull will show good muscle expression and definition. He should look as though he’s been working out. In my recent travels I have heard people use the term “smooth” to describe a favorite bull. After looking at a few of these so-called “smooth” bulls I would describe them as being overly fat with no muscle expression. Once they lose the fat, there isn’t much left to look at. The late Jan Bonsma once said, “In most breeds, the show standards for bulls and heifers are based on the conformation of the ideal prizewinning fat stock steer. No wonder that so many prizewinning bulls are feminine in appearance, while so many females are sterile or subfertile.” I believe his statement is just as true today as it was 30 years ago. The show ring has never helped us select for a higher level of fertility in our cattle. LOW COST COW/CALF PROGRAM The School The Three Keys Changing BCS Time of Calving Precise Nutrition Dick Diven 800.575.0864 www.lowcostcowcalf.com Agri-Concepts, Inc. 12850 N. Bandanna Way Tucson, AZ 85737-8906 4 Where Did All The Big Ones Go ? the bull elk that carried this rack must have looked like. He had to be enormous. My son, Tyson, and I went on our second annual elk hunt last October. As you can see Tyson had a very successful hunt. In fact, Tyson had this big 5-point bull dressed out by noon on opening day. My old friend, Tommy Vader from Gunnison, acted as our overworked and underpaid hunting guide. That’s Tommy pictured to the left of Tyson and his elk. I asked Tommy about the possibility of finding a bull elk like this. He said it was extremely slim to none. They just don’t exist any more. He said many people believe elk genetics have changed and they just aren’t as big as they once were. Tommy shared his theory with Tyson and I, and I would like to share it with you. Tommy believes civilization forced the elk out of their original, high-production environment and into a much tougher, unforgiving environment. He said elk genetics had to change and adapt. Those that did not become smaller and more efficient simply did not survive. Tommy believes the high maintenance requirements for the really big elk made it impossible for them to live through a tough highcountry winter. He said if you want to see some really big elk, you will have to go to an elk ranch where they are pampered and cared for. On the wall of Tommy’s living room hangs an absolutely huge set of elk antlers. The biggest I have ever seen. They measure a full 5 feet in width and each base has a circumference of 11.5 inches. Tommy said they probably date back to the early 1900’s. I can’t imagine what Doesn’t that sound like the same thing we have been saying about cattle genetics? Do you want cows that must be pampered, or do you want cows that can make it on their own? ~ Kit Price-Rollback Female Sale PCC Colorado Hobo We had a tremendous response to our Price-Rollback Female Sale. We had 12 ranchers from 7 different states who wanted to purchase the entire herd of 70 cows, as well as many who wanted to select from within the herd. On December 22 we threw the 12 names in a hat and drew for positions. We called in a couple of unbiased witnesses to verify that everything was on the up and up. The first name pulled from the hat was Jerry Cool from Nebraska. If he likes the cattle, they are his. If he changes his mind, we will call the second name pulled from the hat. The second name pulled was Sweet Farms of Kansas. This was so much fun, I wish we could do it every year. If it doesn’t rain next spring, we may have to. Colorado Hobo is a thick, 4.5 frame Red Angus bull who is reestablishing the industry standards for volume and fleshing ability. With a -2.4 birth weight EPD, he is also an excellent calving ease bull. Several sons will sell April 20, 2002. Semen Available at $15 5 Your Semen Source Contentment If you do any A.I. breeding, you have probably received the latest sire directories from all the major A.I. companies. As soon as I get one I study all the Angus and Red Angus bulls to see if there might possibly be one that fits our program. What a waste of time. From my perspective, this segment of the beef industry is still headed in the wrong direction with no visible signs of change. For the most part, all I find is tall, slabsided bulls with too much birth weight, too much growth, too much milk, and not near enough guts, muscle and fleshing ability. A bull with a frame score under 6 is a rarity – many of the bulls are over 7. Unless you want to produce tall cows that weigh 1250 to 1600 pounds, these bulls are much too big. An Alternate Source. If you plan to do some A.I. breeding this year, I hope you will take a look at the bulls we have to offer before placing your semen order. Our bulls may not be for everyone. However, if you are serious about reducing frame and cow size, and if you are serious about increasing thickness and fleshing ability, and if you are serious about calving ease and cow efficiency, then our bulls are exactly what you have been looking for. You won’t find a set of bulls like this anywhere else. We have a strong selection of Angus, Red Angus, Composite and Tarentaise bulls to choose from. These are the same bulls we are using in our own breeding program. Most of our semen is priced at $10 to $15 per unit, with quantity discounts available. Call Pharo Cattle Company, toll free, at 1-800-311-0995 for a complete listing of our bulls. Very few things in today’s world are as elusive as the feeling of contentment. It would seem that the more we have the more content we would become, but that’s seldom the case. In fact, some of the most contented people I know don’t have much in the way of worldly possessions. Why, then, are they so content? It’s no secret, most contented people have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. In a letter to his friend, Timothy, the apostle Paul writes, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it.” When you breath your last breath, your worldly possessions will have absolutely no value to you. The only thing that will have value is a relationship with Jesus. Do you have that relationship? Paul goes on to say, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Does this mean that money and worldly possessions are bad? Absolutely not, but the love of money and worldly possessions is bad. In Matthew, Jesus tells us to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all our other needs will be provided. In a nutshell, that’s the secret to living a contented and happy life. BAR 6 7 MODELS AVAIL ABLE > SAVE TIME > SAVE LABOR > SAVE MONEY Dealer Inquiries Invited Feed & Grain Dispenser BAR SIX MFG. INC. Jody & Jessica wish you a Happy New Year Protection, KS 6 1-800-549-4456 Cooperator Herds the most part, these are breeders we have been working very closely with for several years. What is a cooperator herd? Cooperator herds are often referred to as multiplier herds because they multiply or replicate the genetics and/or the philosophies that exist in another breeding program. They are also referred to as satellite herds because they all have an alliance with a central or nucleus herd. Bull Selections are made at weaning each year. When we go into these herds we are extremely discriminating. Performance is important, but we also select for calving ease, structural correctness, disposition, fleshing ability, and thickness. The bull’s mother must be moderate in size and fault-free. We can’t afford to make any mistakes because our reputation is at stake. We only want the best of the best! As time goes on and as these herds continue to get better and better we will be able to select more and more of their bulls for our sales. The demand for Pharo Cattle Company bulls has increased tremendously over the past twelve years. In order to meet this demand and keep our prices affordable, we thought it necessary to increase the number of bulls offered in our annual bull sales. This task, however, is not as easy as it sounds because we refuse to sacrifice quality for quantity! A short biography for each cooperative producer will be provided in our upcoming sale catalog. Some biographies are already posted on our website, www.pharocattle.com. These are some really good family owned and operated seedstock producers that we are very proud to be associated with. The ten philosophies behind the bulls produced by these cooperative producers are printed below. The Solution. Over the years our seedstock program has evolved into a network of outstanding cooperative producers. We’ve been able to increase our numbers, without sacrificing quality by selecting the best bull calves from a few select cooperator herds. I’m referring to producers who have philosophies, genetics, and breeding programs very similar to our own. For Philosophies Behind Our Bulls 1. Honesty and integrity will not be compromised. 2. We will manage the natural resources placed under our control in a sustainable manner. 3. The breed of cattle is not as important as the breeding program and the philosophies that produce the cattle. 4. Cows are run in a real-world environment, as tough as or tougher than the environment most commercial cows are run in. 5. We let the environment sort out the good ones, while we show absolutely no sympathy for open, late, or dry cows. 6. We will never make an excuse for a cow. A cow must produce and wean a calf every year to remain in the herd. 7. By limiting feed resources we try to apply sufficient pressure on the cowherd to force out the unadapted and infertile animals. 8. In addition to growth and performance, we select for other vital economic traits like fertility, calving ease, moderate cow size, fleshing ability, structural correctness, disposition, and longevity. 9. Replacement heifers are developed on a low-cost, forage based diet with minimum supplements. We only want the most efficient and most adapted heifers to make it into the cowherd. 10. A bull calf must be born unassisted from a fault-free cow that has never missed to make it into one of our bull sales. 7 Produce Your Own Bulls our best bulls to use on some of their older, wellproven cows. They will keep a few of the resulting bull calves for their own use. This makes it possible for them to justify paying extra for those really good bulls. Simple mathematics tell me they could easily pay twice as much for some bulls and still have a bargain. Some of our customers are also using semen from our elite herd sires to do the same thing. Pharo Cattle Company is probably the only seedstock producer in North America who suggests that some of their customers should produce a few of their own bulls. However, we do it with some reluctance because many of our customers have not yet reached the point that this is a viable option. Danny Hanson, who has an adapted cow herd at Lusk Wyoming once told me, “The reason commercial ranchers have cows as good as they do is because of their own culling program — not because of the culling program of their seedstock producer.” He’s right. In fact, many commercial ranchers have cows that are better than their seedstock producer because their feeding and culling program is so much stricter. Once your ranch has developed a strong genetic base with some efficient, moderate-sized, environmentally adapted cows you can probably get away with producing 25 to 50 percent of your own bulls. As your seedstock producer, my challenge will be to produce bulls that are as good as, or better than, the ones you’re producing for yourself. I would like to see all seedstock producers take on a challenge like this. ~ Kit Until seedstock producers are willing to demand as much from their cows as their customers do from theirs, they don’t deserve to sell another bull. If your cows are better than your seedstock producer’s, how can one of his bulls improve your cowherd? Buy Your Bulls From Someone Who Raises Cattle The Way You Ought To I recently had a speaking engagement in western North Dakota which is an area we have sent several bulls this past year. While there I visited a couple of ranches. On one ranch I was quite impressed by a set of moderate sized, easyfleshing, bred heifers that were happily grazing through 6 inches of snow. Knowing the type of bulls produced by most seedstock producers in North Dakota and Montana, I asked the rancher where he had been able to purchase bulls that could sire females like that. I wasn’t terribly surprised when he told me he had been producing most of his own bulls for several years. PHARO CATTLE COMPANY 12th Annual Bull Sale Saturday, April 20, 2002 Burlington, Colorado Pharo Cattle Company has several customers who have been purchasing some of 250 Several Options to choose from Yearling and 2-Year Old Bulls Gene Dubas — 308-536-2369 Office 308-380-2727 Mobile Email — [email protected] Website — www.silencerchutes.com ANGUS — RED ANGUS COMPOSITE — HEREFORD 8 Cherished Memories… K A Encore An extremely thick and heavy muscled Angus bull. There will be a few Encore sired calves in our spring bull sale. Semen Available at $14 This photograph was sent to us by a friend. It is a picture of our son, Trapper, dragging calves to a branding fire when he was 18 years old. It stirred up a lot of old memories of Trapper and caused us to wonder about all the things that might have been. It has been over two years since we lost Trapper but we still think about him nearly every day. We would give anything to have him back. For those of you who don’t already know, Trapper took his own life at the age of 24. We had no idea at the time, but Trapper had been suffering from a very common illness known as depression. I’m convinced Trapper didn’t even know what he was dealing with because it is something that is very seldom, if ever, discussed in rural America. We have since learned that depression is easy to treat and control once it has been diagnosed. If you even suspect that you or someone you love might be suffering from depression, please don’t hesitate to have it checked out. Life is much too short to suffer needlessly. More information about depression can be found on the “Favorite Links” page of our website, www.pharocattle.com. ~ Kit & Deanna Gearld Fry Workshop Bovine Engineering and Consulting February 27 and 28 in Cheyenne Wells, Colo. Call 1-800-311-0995 9 PHARO CATTLE CO. PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 9 Cheyenne Wells, CO 44017 County Road Z CHEYENNE WELLS, CO. 80810 PHONE 1-800-311-0995 E-MAIL [email protected] ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Cowboy Logic: “If you can keep your head while others are losing theirs, you obviously don’t understand the situation.” Some Dreams Do Come True A Reputation Built on Pride and Quality Remember me telling you about our new office with an attached house? Well, we are finally about ready to move in. We can hardly wait. Not only is there room to spare, there is a central heating system. After 25 years of heating with wood, that’s something we’re really going to appreciate. I’m sure there will be times, though, when I’ll miss backing up to that old stove. Our new home is pictured in the Wardcraft Homes ad to the right. It’s hard to believe that this, for the most part, is a factory built home, but it is. We designed the house from scratch to fit our needs and then Wardcraft took over. This isn’t your typical modular-type home. It has 2 x 6 exterior walls and everything you would expect to find in the best stick-built home. Wardcraft delivered our house in one piece with the roof folded down on top of the first floor. After setting the house on the foundation they raised the roof and attached the dormers. Kit and Deanna Pharo’s new home and office 1-888-927-3272 (toll free) www.wardcraft.com Give Wardcraft Homes a call. Maybe they can help make your dreams come true, too. 10