SanJac River Ranch
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SanJac River Ranch
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Brangus Journal April 2007
Brangus Journal July 2006
Brangus Journal Oct 2005...................
Brangus Journal Oct 2005
Brangus Journal April 2004.........................
Brangus Journal April 2005................
Brangus Journal Herd Reference '04 (Page 34) An AI Program is a Must! By Bill Helms, SanJac River Ranch Recent Brangus Journal articles have talked about the importance of utilizing artificial insemination (AI) to improve the genetic qualities of the Brangus breed of cattle. If we as breeders are going to continue to improve the quality of our cattle and meet productive and economic goals, it is up to us to use all the tools available and artificial insemination is the key. Is there any truth to this profound statement? There must be some basis behind this statement as both the Angus and Simmental breeds claim they use AI to breed approximately 50% of their registered cattle. So why is the IBBA indicating that they are only registering about 15% AI cattle? As a small East Texas producer of Brangus cattle, my excuse was simple: It was hard to accept AI as something we could do and something that would make a profound improvement to our herd. It sounded too complicated and we really didn’t understand how to get started on a small scale. We have owned and operated our ranch in San Jacinto County for ten years and are probably similar to many small producers that produce a large percentage of the Texas cattle on ranches with herds smaller than 100 head. Our ranch is probably typical of a new group of ranchers that moved out of the big cities to carve out a piece of the country life. When we made the bold decision to raise cows, we really didn’t understand the cattle business and how much there was to learn. The cattle business appeared to be pretty easy; we bought a pick-up, a bull and a few cows and we were in the ranching business. We also assumed the economics must support these small ranchers as every one we saw drove a new pick-up with a cattle trailer. After a trip to the Mound Creek Ranch in Montgomery in 1994, we decided black cows looked really good in our new pastures and with that humble basis we made the decision to sell our starter cows and get in the registered Brangus business. As we grew and learned about the breed, we developed a passion for the cattle and the people we met. There were a few breeders who were willing to take some green horns under their wing and with a lot of understanding and patience, pointed us in the right direction. After making the common mistake of buying high and selling low for a few years, we re-aligned our goals. Our focal became on improving our genetics. But genetic success was barely a light at the end of the tunnel, as we could not afford the quality and pedigree we dreamed about. At this point the only real avenue open that would make a major improvement in our genetics was an AI program. Since we continued to believe an AI program was above our capabilities, this was a tough paradigm to tackle. Again, Mound Creek Ranches stepped in, provided encouragement, some guidance and helped us take the next step by getting Tracy Holbert involved with selecting and matching AI sires with our females. During this period we met Rex Carr (reference the article in the February 2004 Journal) and he convinced us to start an AI program. Rex was patient and worked out a plan to breed nine cows. This first AI experience was a real bust as Mother Nature did not cooperate as a nasty front blew in on breeding day and the success ratio was very bad. After a few tears we agreed to try again the next breeding season and this time we used AI to breed 33 cows with about a 50% success ratio. The first AI calves became the turning point in our program. They were obviously a giant step above anything we had previously raised. We became believers. With this success we were encouraged to go the next step. This part of the improvement process was somewhat painful as our herd data indicated there was a lot of cows that even with AI sires could not produce the genetic quality and pedigree we wanted. Culling animals is an important part of the improvement process but it can be a real downer when we needed to sell cows that we liked but the data indicated that they just did not meet our genetic goals. Our next step was to take the artificial insemination course at Bovine Elite to better prepare us for the next breeding season. However, breeding 30-40 cows a year did not give us adequate experience to achieve the success we wanted. We again worked with Rex Carr to do the actual breeding using our Heat Watch system on cows we set-up. This approach gave us hands on experience and also reduced our cost. Our AI pregnancy ration went from 10% to almost 100% in three breeding seasons. The results from the AI program have been a great success for our small ranch. We now have our first AI heifers being bred and we are anxious to see what their calves will look like. Because of the AI program we now have heifers in our breeding program with big name sires and the bull calves are selling for three times more than what we were getting before the AI program. The economic light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and we are pretty sure that light is not a train. Our new criteria for success are pretty simple. Our breeding season is 75 days in the fall and 60 days in the spring and the cows must produce a calf every year. The bull calves must have a birth weight no higher than 90 lbs and a weaning (205 days) weight over 600 lbs. This past season we had some bulls wean over 700 lbs. The heifers must have a birth weight less than 85 lbs and weaning weight over 550 lbs. We like EPD’s for BW between 2.0 and 3.2 and WW 45 to 50. Based on the results we have seen on our ranch we highly recommend an AI program and we can assure you that it is not as hard to get started as you may think. The results are fantastic and we have the economic data to prove that it works. We also learned that there are plenty of people in the Brangus Breed that can and will help the small producer like ourselves get started and the results will far exceed your expectations. In summary the culling and AI programs have developed for us a new passion for the breed and each breeding season we strive to reach the next level.
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