Setting Precedent, part II

We’re standing atop the tallest point of his Marianna, Fla., ranch and it’s honestly a little difficult to imagine. To my left and right and farther than my eye can see, Herman’s cattle graze under a canopy of trees and I ponder the need for fence at all. Advancements in the Angus breed and selection for docility leave Bar L Ranch calves calm and quiet.

“We ran woods cows (what we Floridians synonymously call “Cracker cows”) as a kid,” he says. “We introduced them to Brahman bulls later.”

Years have passed too quickly in between then and now but Herman looks at his cattle like a case he’s studied, toiled over and won. He’s seen what they are capable of and he and the guys, led by nephew, Blane (pictured), merely do their part to help them get there.

“We started cattle in the mid ’60s,” he says. “We just bought a small little herd of 25 head. We had land that wasn’t suitable for row crops so we ran cattle on it.”

Before he knew it that small herd turned into 1,100 commercial cows; Angus became its core.

“I was getting docked for eared cattle,” Herman says, and after working with the University of Florida on synchronization techniques, “I found those Angus cattle to be just as easy keepers as the Brahman cows.”

“Angus was so far ahead of everybody else,” he says, referring to the reading he did outside of his law textbooks. “It was a no brainer when you looked at what was being done.”

For ten years he fed and for ten years he learned. A decade’s worth of data sits in his desk drawer from the years he spent feeding cattle in Texas and Kansas. He’ll credit those days to jumpstarting his preconditioning program, perfecting his vaccination protocol and removing the “ear” influence from his herd.

“I just wanted to get better at what I was doing and it taught me,” he says. “The education, the hidden costs you learn to avoid, it led me in the right direction.”

Through the use of artificial insemination (AI), embryo transfer (ET) and the genetics available to the Angus breed, Herman now raises his own bulls through embryos originating from Schaff Angus Valley, St. Anthony, N.D. Aside from the younger first- and second-calf females, he sticks to AI and uses ET bulls for cleanup. By selecting bulls at the top of the breed, he moves with confidence that his calves will contribute to the industry and consumer demand.

When it comes time to select for genotype, he looks first and foremost at birth weight.

“I’m a believer that if a heifer can’t have a 75- to 80-lb. calf, you’ve made a mistake. You haven’t developed her right. I don’t want any 50- to 60-lb. calves.”

“Milk is critical to your weaning weights, but without the right nutrition program it can be your downfall,” he says of his next priority. “You’ll wean a big calf that first year, but the second year you won’t have a calf. She’ll have converted all of the food to milk.”

Then it’s frame score.

“I look for a bull that’s a 5 ½ or 6,” he says. “You want him deep, you want him wide, but that air underneath him doesn’t weigh anything when he goes on the scale.”

For cows he looks for thickness and depth, the ability to take in moisture and convert to dry matter intake before he culls at 11.

Herman doesn’t creep feed his cattle but he does give them enough nutrition through hay and mineral to reach full potential. His goal is no matter the season and weather that may come, his cows look like they’ve just come off of summer pasture.

A precedent we should all follow.

Thanks for allowing me to tell your story,

Laura

PS – If you missed yesterday’s post about Herman’s shared love of cattle and the law, you can read it here!

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