Lessons learned

More than 20 years ago, when Tim started his cowherd from scratch it was what he describes as, “a gigantic failure.”

In college he “got hooked” on Limousin cattle because of their growth performance and phenotype. So he bought nine head and everything was good until he got his first calf crop.

The weight of the calves was disappointing and when breeding season came they were difficult to breed back. Luckily a neighbor gave him some advice: switch the breed.

Now Tim has 250 commercial Angus cows, an impressive artificial insemination (AI) program, good friends in the industry and knowledge he wouldn’t trade for anything. And he’s raking in the premiums with calf crops that make 65% to 84% Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) or Prime.

But what he is most proud of is getting 75% of his herd to conceive via AI, with very few stragglers after using a good clean up bull.

“Fertility is still the number one deal—if you can’t get them bred what good does it do if they can grade well? You’ll be out of business if they aren’t bred,” says Adams.

Angus cattle have “just flat worked” for him because of their maternal ability and reproductive efficiency. As for the carcass traits, he credits those who helped him throughout the years, especially Tom and Matt Perrier from Dalebanks Angus.

For years Tim bred away from what he considered to be “carcass bulls,” disregarding Matt Perrier’s encouragement to include a focus on marbling.

Like many other producers, both registered and commercial, Adams thought it was impossible for his herd to excel in both maternal and feedlot traits. But Matt was able to break through and now, thanks to proven genetics, Tim’s herd is proof that his theory of simultaneous selection works.

Learning from his past, Tim is now smarter about his breeding decisions, trusting the numbers and selecting for balance. To him, the cake is his fertile Angus cows and the icing on top is the calves’ high-quality carcasses.

“You never stop learning in this business,” he says. “Sometimes the lessons you learn the hard way are the most important because those are the ones you never forget.”

At the bold age of 21, it is often hard for me to remember that I actually do not hold the answers needed to solve all the world’s problems. My way isn’t always the best way and in life I’m going to make mistakes. But that’s okay because like this producer, learning from them is how we find success.

-Kaitlin

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