The Other Guy's Problem
By Sharla Adams

Getting feedback on the feedlot and carcass performance of your cattle for the first time can be a little like parent-teacher day at school. You naturally figure it's somebody else's kid that is causing the problem until the teacher tells you otherwise.

Or, maybe the teacher says your kid is doing swell in English but needs a little more encouragement in math. As you start paying more attention to his math homework, the report cards start coming back with better grades. The underlying message--you can't fix a problem if you don't know it exists--also applies to the cow-calf business.

In the last several years, there has been a lot of press about what producers have learned in the health arena by sending cattle through the Texas A&M Ranch to Rail program. Ranch to Rail is an information feedback system designed to help producers see how well their calves fit the needs of the total industry.

Looking at the range in performance of the cattle entered in the 1997-98 program shows "somebody" has a problem child or 2. The financial returns range from $99.45 to -$268.36 per head. Ribeyes ranged from 8.6 to 22.1 square inches. Fat thickness, a key element in determining Yield Grade, ranged from .05 to 1.5 inches.

Coming off the truck, the cattle ranged in weight from 347 pounds to 937 pounds. Sale weight (not including those railed) ranged from 768 pounds to 1,670 pounds. Carcass weights ranged from 465 pounds to 1,047 pounds. Cost of gain ranged from $33 to $184.

Some of those differences can be attributed to health issues, but they also have genetic roots as well. Obviously, one of the quickest ways to make genetic improvement is on the bull side of the equation. And a recent survey shows that close to half of the ranchers participating in Ranch to Rail have changed herd bulls.

The Cattleman asked a handful of producers, both commercial and seedstock, the obvious question: Why?

Long on fat, short on muscle

Mitchell H. Brown is a small producer in East Texas who sent cattle through Ranch to Rail the first year for curiosity's sake, more than anything. The feedback he received on the carcass quality of those first 6 calves baffled him--only 1 graded Choice!

"I've always been interested in weaning weights and performance, but it wasn't until Ranch to Rail that I thought much about carcass quality," Brown admits. "If anybody had told me that you can put a Polled Hereford steer on feed for 6 months and come out with less than Choice grade, I'd have told you that you had rocks in your head.

"Now, the further I go, the more I realize how important carcass quality is for marketing cattle," he says. "And if you don't measure it, you may not have it."

Brown, a self-described "worn out, broke down, retired county agricultural agent," has made major changes in his breeding program. His herd of about 50 to 60 cows at Silverlake Ranch, 65 miles due east of Dallas, is a commercial Polled Hereford program with just a few registered cows in the pasture.

Before he started sending his calves through Ranch to Rail, Brown had a lot of confidence in his genetics, using what he considered to be well-known bloodlines. But information from each of the 4 years of testing has shown him a need for change.

His bulls simply weren't siring the quality of calves that he wanted to produce. As a result, he has replaced his bulls and culled some cows.

"I have identified one bull in particular whose offspring have definitely been inferior," he explains. "He was a good-looking bull whose calves grew well, but Ranch to Rail showed them to be long on fat, short on muscle and deficient in marbling."

While the descendants of this bull are being eliminated from the herd, the progeny of another bull have sprung forward. Brown purchased this bull to breed heifers and used him sparingly. He wasn't real impressed with the bull's potential to become a top herd sire, though he was pleased with the bull's calving ease and growthy calves.

However, when Brown sent some of this bull's calves through Ranch to Rail, their superior carcasses suggested that he reevaluate the bull's potential.

In fact, when one of his better new bulls that he used on his mature cows injured himself early in the breeding season, Brown replaced him with the "heifer" bull without hesitation. He's looking forward to the calving season this fall to see the results of the matings between the bull and his mature cows, and he's retaining several of his daughters for the breeding herd.

Brown knows what he wants to improve in his calf crop--ribeye, fat and quality grade--but it's a slow process. He says it's frustrating not to be able to look at a set of registration papers and get some indication of the carcass quality that animal will produce.

In the meantime, he will continue to get feedback on his steer calves and use this information to measure the genetic improvement he hopes to make with each generation.

Will a small producer get paid for improving the end product? This East Texas rancher thinks so. Along with his health program, Brown has made other significant management changes. He now sells his calves at the auction as a pen, if possible, to take advantage of the price premiums associated with uniform size, sex, color, breed, etc.

"Before, I sold them as individuals; just take them over and dump them out whenever they were ready to be weaned," he admits. "Now when I wean those calves, I vaccinate and background them, and I think I'm getting a nickel a pound advantage selling them as a group.

"I do think that I'll get paid for carcass information someday, too, but I also think that you get some pay for it as you go along. When you've got quality, it speaks for itself."

Cost and rate of gain

When Henry Schaar retired 7 years ago and became a full-time rancher, he was thinking that he was young enough to really enjoy it and have some fun. That was 2 droughts ago. Although the weather has taken a lot of the fun out of it, Schaar still enjoys ranching and has a goal to produce cattle that are either "better than average" or maybe even set the standard.

He and his wife Mary Frances run about 300 head of quarter- and half-blood Brahman-cross cows near Victoria, Texas. Before they sent calves to Ranch to Rail for the first time, Schaar was basically satisfied with what seemed like a good bunch of calves at weaning.

"If I hadn't gotten into Ranch to Rail, I don't think I would have made any changes," he admits. "It really alerted me when you started looking at the finished product on the rail. When I sent my calves down there after weaning and preparing them, I always thought I had some of the best calves going down there. But when they came out and hung on the rail--and in the feedlot--they were just average."

The Schaars have participated in Ranch to Rail for 6 years, sending from 15 to 30 head per year to the South program. They have small pastures, running only 1 bull per pasture, and have used 5 different breeds of bulls trying to optimize their performance past the front gate.

"After the first year, I got rid of a couple of bulls and more or less replaced them with the same type and breed of bull," he explains. "But it didn't seem to get any better results. The rate and cost of gain were just not where they should be and it took too long for the cattle to finish.

Recently, he bought a couple of Charolais and Angus bulls and will continue to use some Limousin bulls. However, due to the drought he has sold some of his bulls, 25 percent of his cows and most of his calves.

He hasn't had time to get feedback on the new bulls' progeny to see if he has made any progress towards improving feed efficiency. But, even so, he's sticking with his plan.

"I just want to be a better producer," Schaar says. "And I think eventually we are going to get paid based on the end product. I think we will receive a bonus for a calf that comes out of a herd that can prove top quality on the rail. I may not be in business anymore by the time that happens...."

Pinpointing bloodlines

Sarah Buxkemper of Ballinger, Texas, returned to her grandmother's ranch in 1960. Her grandmother registered the RX brand (she was a pharmacist) back in the early 1900s, and to this day, Buxkemper's Simbrah operation goes by the name of the RX Ranch.

She has been interested in improving the end product and other things "forever." Along the way, she has captured carcass data any way she could, whether it was from her kid's show steers that went through carcass contests, or cattle that they slaughtered for their own use--she recorded ribeye, fat thickness and marbling measurements.

She's been involved with 3 universities to gather tenderness, carcass and feedlot performance information, including Ranch to Rail. Buxkemper says she hasn't made major changes because of the knowledge she's gained, but it has allowed her to do a better job of keeping and culling both herd bulls and cows.

"By using the data, I have been able to pinpoint certain bloodlines that marble better, some of them have better Yield Grades, some are better on growth," she explains. "I use it to choose herd bulls and cull cows, basically. And I gather information so I can buy back my customers' cattle that I know will do well because I know something about the carcass genetics of the sire."

For Buxkemper, turning carcass information into a more accurate mating decision is a simple matter of paying attention. For example, she says if you have a cow that always produces a Choice, Yield Grade 1 or 2 calf no matter what bull that you breed her to, then obviously, you know it is a good bloodline and should consider her progeny as herd sires.

Another reason that getting carcass data is important to her is because she feeds about 100 head a year and sends them through the B3R Country Meats program. Buxkemper emphasizes the importance of knowing something about the genetics behind your cattle before you put them into a branded program. Otherwise, she says, "you can take a whipping."

Her personal fascination with tracking data aside, this medium-sized seedstock operator believes that a purebred producer who doesn't know what her cattle can do in the beef won't be able to stay in business for long in today's rapidly changing environment.

Dark cutters, early maturity

About 40-odd miles west of Fort Worth, Texas, and also in Kingston, Ark., you'll find the Mille-Cent Ranch owned by one Robert Messer. The Mille-Cent Ranch was home to one of the original herds of Fleckvieh (German Simmental) cattle in America and at one time claimed to have one of the country's largest as well. Fleckvieh-based Simbrah were also represented in the herd.

Messer now concentrates on embryo transfer and selling semen, as he dispersed the main herd last May. However, he has a long history of performance testing and continues to send cattle out of Simbrah and Brangus recipient cows through Ranch to Rail. Those that didn't take the first heat were bred to his Simmental bulls.

Messer got involved in Ranch to Rail at the very beginning and has fed from 10 to 40 head a year in both the South and North programs. He has used the feedback to fine-tune his genetics rather than make any major changes.

For example, he found a trend in a few of his crossbred calves between disposition and dark cutters, even though their sires handled okay and didn't show any disposition problems themselves.

Dark cutter refers to carcasses that produce meat that is dark, firm, dry and unattractive to the retail consumer. Another thing he identified and eliminated was early maturing cattle. Some of his cattle going through Ranch to Rail got too fat too quickly and ran into trouble with their Yield Grades.

"We don't have many of either one of these," he points out. "This is just what we're doing to fine-tune our herd."

Besides eliminating the dark cutters and early maturing cattle, Messer has also monitored quality grade, using that information to help choose herd bulls. He also plans to send his information to the American Simmental Association to document how his genetics perform on the rail.

"I have 10 or 15 years of similar information, and now I've finally got some time to work with it," he explains. "I hope to promote semen from some of these bulls. It's very hard for an independent person to do that, but I have the time and the interest to do it.

"I think there is a great need for carcass knowledge, but I don't know if it will float to the top before the geneticists figure it out for us or not," he smiles.

Who's that guy?

The problems these producers are dealing with in their herds aren't new. You can hear stories like this in any feed store or auction market cafe around the country. The common thread among all of them is that they didn't know they had these problems in their herds--no matter how minor--until they started looking.

And, once they found a problem, they started working to correct it. Where would the cattle standing out in your pasture fit within those ranges mentioned earlier? Whether it's cattle or kids, you'd sure like to think that it's the "other guy's" problem--but just exactly who is that other guy?*