Taking advantage of ultrasound technologies and sound genetics produces profits for Wade Shrimpton and his customers.
Speaking at the Saskatchewan Beef Symposium in Saskatoon Feb. 7, the owner of Key Lake Ranch said the fastest way to make high performance improvements in his herd is through the bulls.
He spends hours poring over bloodlines and genetics to pinpoint the Angus bulls that will provide the carcass characteristics he desires.
“If you’re not on a breeding program, you don’t know how to steer the direction of your herd,” said Shrimpton, who has a 230-head cow-calf operation at Asquith, Sask.
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The ultrasound shows potential buyers what future herds will deliver.
Citing the increasing demands on producers to provide records in a post-BSE world, he said his farm supplies paper or e-mailed text on birth records, calf weights and sex, calving dates, ear tag numbers, cow number, bull group and calf descriptions.
“It doesn’t cost us anything and it opens up markets for us,” he said.
“The more information we can provide, the easier it is to trade with (the U.S.). We need to take control of what we can to make this situation better.”
Shrimpton also engraves his ranch name onto ID tags to advertise his company.
“It’s cheap advertising and a way of exposing the quality of our cattle indirectly,” he said of the 20 cents per tag cost.
His farm has grown to 3,000 acres from three quarters in his 13 years in business. His marketing strategies focus on producing what the marketplace wants, keeping abreast of market trends, watching fluctuating prices and advertising his inventory in July for October deliveries.
He follows that up with phone calls with potential buyers and visits to the auction markets and by keeping in touch with past customers.
“If we don’t know the market, we can’t make educated marketing decisions.”
His goal is to supply uniform, consistent, efficient cows and enable all involved in the cattle sector to make a profit.
Shrimpton stressed the importance of running the farm as a business and putting the best face forward. Producers need to pay attention to how their operations look to customers driving into the yard, he said, advising producers to clean up clutter.
That will create a positive image for the industry and allow producers to spend more time on management.
