MCCOOK, Nebraska — The Heartland Cattle Co. has weathered tornadoes and skepticism, but after 21 years the Nebraska heifer development and research centre has not only survived but thrived.
Owner and operator Patsy Houghton is a former beef extension specialist from Kansas State University who believed it was possible to develop a business that took in newly weaned females, fed them properly and got them pregnant in a timely manner.
Pen space at the 4,000 head facility was fully booked before she and partner Cal Siegfried opened for business.
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The partnership split amicably in 2006 so Siegfried could go into the catering and meat business. The yard will expand to 5,000 head next year.
“When we first started this thing, experts in the industry did not have any concept of what we were trying to do,” Houghton told a mid-June tour sponsored by the Saskatchewan agriculture ministry.
“We have taken some different approaches on some things, but it has resulted in long-term customers.”
Houghton said heifer development is ranked among the most inefficient tasks on many ranches.
Producers who custom feed and breed heifers off the ranch can add a comparable number of mature cows, which increases cash flow and weaned calves. It is also a more efficient use of forage because of mature cows’ increased physical capacity and lower net energy requirements.
Houghton hires six staff members to care for the animals, develop their rations, synchronize them and impregnate them artificially before returning them home at least 45 days pregnant.
“It is not rocket science,” said Janet Lynch-Rippe, who handles the artificial insemination and computerized record keeping.
“It’s all in the details and it is a lot of work.”
Heifers arrive between December and February and are sorted by frame size into pens of 60, 80, 100 or 120.
They receive 35 percent more room than a traditional feedlot because they have to return to the range and need to be accustomed to moving around and foraging.
The customer base is half commercial and half purebred producers, and the animals are not commingled with cattle from other farms. The average farm sends about 250 heifers.
“The commercial guys, they may not be registered, but they are definitely the high end producers,” said Lynch-Rippe.
Salt blocks are available in the pens to encourage cattle to drink. Temperatures can soar past 100 F in the summer.
Most producers vaccinate their cattle with a five way mixture, and all are tested for persistent infection for bovine viral disease upon arrival.
The heifers are synchronized to come into heat and must have two standing heats before they are artificially inseminated.
“On a peak day we’ll do 200 or 250. Right now we are down to 18 or 20,” Lynch-Rippe said.
First-time conception rate is 70 percent. Five to 10 percent fail to get pregnant for a variety of reasons.
New customers sometimes forget to mention that their heifers have been implanted, but the centre can tell because the reproductive tracts are smaller and less developed.
“I don’t like implants in replacement heifers at any point in time,” Houghton said.
Producers may implant calves soon after birth to get them to grow better, but Houghton said scientific data shows it changes animals’ physiological age and may actually hold them back.
The animals are identified with large plastic ear tags, and the numbers are triple checked when they enter the breeding box to make sure all specifications are met.
The centre doesn’t use an electronic ear tag system or DNA tests.
“It is one of those technologies that we will keep an eye on, and there will come a time and place when we will use it more,” Houghton said.
“Right now, for a commercial guy to be able to make that pay, it probably doesn’t pencil right now.”
Customers can provide their own bull semen or follow the centre’s recommendations.
The heifers are put on a controlled diet to keep them from getting too fat.
“They gain about one to 1.25 pounds per day. Our biggest challenge is getting them too fat,” Houghton said.
She also body condition scores them regularly.
The centre takes feeder calves in the off season.
“Between heifer rotations we wean bawling calves. Last fall we had 8,600 bawling calves,” she said.
The centre shares its extensive records with customers to show where they are making improvements.
Houghton said they can improve the rebreeding rate by eight percent through proper nutrition from weaning to first calving, eliminating problem heifers before the breeding season and calving early to give the heifer time to rebound.
The centre also buys heifers to a client’s specifications and can sell heifers for customers who don’t want them all back.
It also attempts to match the females to the ranch’s environment.
Some may want them smaller while others look for big ones because they have the feed and management for larger framed cattle.
People may ask for big ones but then learn they do not do well in their region because of forage availability and climate.
“What they say they want and what they need are two different things,” Houghton said.
There is a heavy emphasis on Angus breeding, but the centre also has Charolais cross, Black Baldies and a common cross of one quarter Simmental and three-quarter Angus. This cross works well because the continental influence makes the heifers grow and the Angus provides maternal qualities such as good milk.
The centre charges an average of $1.55 per head per day for 180 days, which covers feed, medications and artificial insemination.
However, Houghton sees that increasing because of the high cost of corn and alfalfa.
