Page 39 - Milk Creek Reds Angus Bull Sale – March 16, 2024

Ranch Philosophy
Ranch Philosophy

The cattle industry is constantly changing and feeders and packers seem to be the drivers in directing that change. Their ability to direct change is
related to the concentration of ownership within these two segments of our industry. Both segments keep increasing the size of animal that they
want to feed and harvest because of their efficiency of producing more pounds of beef per animal and reducing the costs by feeding and harvesting
less head of cattle and leaving them within the feedlot for longer periods of time. What impacts their bottom line is diametrically opposed to what
impacts the cow/calf producers bottom line.

In our segment of the industry, most cow/calf producers raise cattle in an environment that has limitations to what it can produce hindering our
ability to meet the changes without increasing input feed costs to sustain the larger, higher output cattle that the feeders and packers are looking for.
Coupled with this the feed input costs has increased dramatically over the past four years compounding the problems to reach profitability within
our segment of the industry.

I am thankful that our Red Angus Association staff is working hard to educate the industry on the quality of Red Angus cattle and how they can
reach all the requirements in the branded packer programs that have been set for Angus cattle. Through this effort, the USDA has recognized Red
Angus as Angus so that they are able to qualify in all programs with the exception of CAB which is owned by the Angus Association. This educa-
tion is going to take time to develop traction and will eventually open more marketing opportunities for our cattle. In the meantime, the industry is
using excuses to discount red hided cattle so that they can add more profit to their segment of the industry. With the current cattle inventory, we are
hopeful that the next three years will see above average feeder cattle demand which will diminish the ability for discounts because of hide color.

We continue striving to produce cattle that will be able to thrive in a grass-based environment without any inputs other than salt, mineral and some
hay when needed due to drought or severe winter conditions. When you study the genetics that we are using you might ask, why don’t you use high-
er growth sires to increase the weights of your calves? The answer lies in what we have discovered when we have attempted to do that very thing.
Most sires that we have used to accomplish this, with exceptions of a few outliers, tend to produce females that have a higher percentage chance of
failing to breed as yearlings or first-calf heifers because they have a higher energy requirement than what our natural environment can provide. That
can become very expensive when you account for the time and dollars invested in developing those females to that stage.

The sires that we are using will still push the envelop of producing offspring with performance that is limited by our environment on any given year
because our weaning weights can fluctuate 50-100 pounds based on when and how much rain falls from the sky. We continue to search the breed for
the outliers that will push the performance as well as carcass traits but will not give up the fertility and longevity developed within the herd which
are the key profit drivers for any cow-calf operation.