Agricultural News
Award Winning Idaho-Based Ranch Uses Commercial Herd as Compass in Decision Making Process
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 10:00:33 CDT
Riverbend Ranch is well known in the Angus business, but the Idaho-based operation got its start with commercial cows. They still use their 3,500-head commercial herd to help point to profitable decisions.
"We can find what worked, what didn't work," said Frank VanderSloot of Riverbend Ranch. "We know first-hand, and honestly it's breeding for the real world that matters in our world. In our estimation, if you're not breeding for the real world, you're just having a hobby. It doesn't matter how much you're spending on your cow herd. If it doesn't work for the commercial cattlemen, we're just doing something else that probably isn't going to have merit in the long term."
The program has built on the strengths of the Angus breed, starting first with calving ease, fertility and mothering.
"We certainly don't want to sacrifice any of that," said Steve Harrison, a partner in Riverbend Ranch. "Then we want to be able to find a phenotypic package and a soundness package that includes all those things and then put as much performance and carcass merit as we can into that makeup, that profile and keep the cattle sound and solid and real-world."
The average Riverbend bull will have a below average birth weight E-P-D, with weaning and yearling weight in the top 15%. That's while maintaining a top 20% for all carcass values.
"I think the idea that you're going to wreck your cow herd selecting for carcass traits is fallacy," Harrison said. "In this day and time with all the selection tools that we have available in this breed, and the advanced technology tools with Genomics, whatever the case may be, we feel like there's plenty of cattle in the gene pool that can advance carcass traits and still keep all the convenience in, and phenotypic traits that the Angus cow was built on and is known for, and continue to work in some of these harsher type environments."
Riverbend sells around 650 bulls each year, with a high-mountain-desert customer in mind.
"I believe without question we've proven and others have proven you can have the absolute best carcass in the world and not lose anything if you've not just bred your herd to take care of carcass and forgot all these other traits," VanderSloot said. "They've got to all be a part of it. So, carcass is just the piece that completes the package, but without carcass traits, you're not going to have a product that people are going to want to have, and you're not going to have a very profitable herd either, for that matter. You've to have great carcass as part of the package, or it just won't work for you."
Riverbend Ranch recently received the Certified Angus Beef 2016 Seedstock Commitment to Excellence award.
To watch a video featuring Frank VanderSloot and Steve Harrison of Riverbend Ranch discussing the selection philosophy they stick to for their registered herd, click the PLAY BOX below.
Source - Certified Angus Beef
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
