Agricultural News
Drought May be a Blessing In Disguise for Cattle Producers Donnell Brown Says
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:02:54 CST
Donnell Brown from the RA Brown Ranch near Throckmorton, Texas, spoke to attendees at the Cattle Industry Convention in Tampa, Florida.
He and his family know firsthand about surviving hard times-the ranch has been in business since 1895 and continues to be a leader in raising top-quality commercial cattle and registered quarter horses. The ranch has received both the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Cattle Business of the Century Award and the American Quarter Horse Association / Bayer Best Remuda Award. The ranch utilizes some 40,000 acres in Texas and Colorado.
Following his presentation at the convention, Brown spoke with Radio Oklahoma Network's Ron Hays. What's the biggest concern right now facing his operation?
"The easy answer to that is surviving this drought. We don't know when this drought is going to end. I'm hoping it's sooner instead of later. That's the biggest challenge where we are. On our ranch today, 70 percent of it we cannot use today because we're out of water. We are absolutely out of water on 70 percent of the ranch. And that creates a huge challenge.
"So, I'm looking forward to being out of the drought. My biggest concern right now is that this drought ends soon. We keep praying for rain. We're confident that it's going to rain soon, to give people enough ability to hold on, to keep the herd together, to stay in business. But I know there's some that won't. But what I see there is that it provides opportunity for new people to come into the business and I'm excited about that as well."
He says for those producers who can survive the drought and those who enter it after, the profit potential will be enormous.
"I think profitability will be huge. I think it will be for some time. I see a lot of land going to corn and bean production right now and out of livestock production. And it makes sense, economically, because of the grain prices and what they're bringing.
"The American producer has done a great job of producing, a great job of utilizing technology and genetics to enhance production. Grain production has done that as well as anybody. I'm confident that we're going to have a huge grain crop when that rain comes because we've converted enough acres over there that we're going to see lower feed prices which is just that much more enhancement to the beef cattle sector.
"So I see huge opportunity just as soon as we get that moisture coming to overcome this drought."
He says the technology that we have today will also be very helpful in recovering from the drought.
"We've been an early adapter of technology for a long time. We've tried to stay on the leading edge without being on what I call the bleeding edge-that far part out there that actually consumes too many people. We've use AI and embryo transfer for a long time. It's old technology but it's still new technology to a lot of people. Now we're using some in vitro fertilization. I've got one cow this year that's got 64 offspring. When I can mass multiply my most superior genetics and I can create a tremendous product in volume for my customers, I think that's a great opportunity there.
"I think we're going to be able to have more precision and accuracy in our genetics through the use of DNA technology. I'm excited about that. Again, that's a technology that's been around for some time, but now it's to the level of accuracy where it tells us so much more than it has in the years past. And it's at a price point that it's useful to so many in the seed-stock industry. I'm looking forward to the future where my commercial customers can utilize that DNA technology to measure the genetic merit of their cattle and, again, make precision decisions to enhance their profitability through the genetics of their cattle."
Brown says that, when it's all said and done, the drought may prove to be a blessing in disguise.
"The good thing about this drought is that, I think, the net result is going to be a significantly improved cow herd, genetically. We've all continued to have to reduce inventory, reduce inventory. Well, we start with the cattle with the least genetic merit, those cattle that are going to return the least dollars to us. So, genetically, we're a lot stronger. And now with that technology we can enhance genetics faster and rebuild the nation's cow herd with quality and quantity."
You can hear Ron Hays's interview with Donnell Brown by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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