Angus capital

Keeling Cattle Feeders shares data and family-style connections

by Wyatt Bechtel and Steve Suther

Hereford, Texas, is known as the “Beef Capital of the World.” It is also home to Keeling Cattle Feeders, CAB 2011 Feedlot Partner of the Year for all yards with more than 15,000-head capacity.

In 2007, only about one-quarter of the feedlot’s 17,000 head were Angus type, and of those just 9.6% reached Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand acceptance. Becoming a CAB partner that year added an Angus focus to the Keelings’ overall commitment to quality. Last year, the yard enrolled 6,200 head that made 21% CAB – well above the Texas average.

“We changed our whole business over the last few years,” says Scott Keeling, who owns the yard with wife Karen. The couple accepted the CAB award at the brand’s annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

Risk management has been increasingly important as the feedlot moved up from 25% to 50% cattle ownership while upgrading animal type. Oldest son Tyler has been a big help in that regard. He’s a commodity broker in Amarillo, and with wife Trudy, parents of the Keelings’ only grandchild, Reid.

Second-oldest son Levi is a feedlot-operations major in a nearby junior college, and Tom, the youngest at 13, is just getting into the junior-high school years with lots of activities. The Keelings always made time to attend local sporting events for the sons who span 16 years in age, devoting time to teach life’s lessons along with golf and fly fishing.

Grading effects, weather and variable lot sizes are a few of the challenges the feedlot faces. “Sometimes it’s like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall,” Keeling says. “But that’s part of what I like about our business.”

He also likes the results, as real opportunities get nailed down, herds improve and everybody from rancher to consumer wins.

“There’s a circle of friends that comes with being a CAB partner,” says Keeling, who was honored in 2008 as CAB Progressive Partner of the Year.

One of those friends is state and nationally prominent Angus producer Steve Olson, who started feeding with Keeling when it became a CAB-licensed yard.

“The feedlot is the right size to give personal attention,” Olson says. “He’s involved himself in the marketing and feeding. He knows what’s going on in his yard and that is a plus to me.”

Olson was looking for a feeder who could provide carcass data on the calves he was raising.

Keeling Cattle Feeders has served as a tour stop for chefs from big cities and other beef specialists who want to learn more about the products they sell, prepare and serve.

“We do a lot of things like that; we’re really transparent with what we do and I love to show it to people,” Keeling says. “They ask good questions and appreciate what you’re doing.”

The feedlot is a model with its beef-industry advocacy and a commitment to quality; much of its business revolves around building bridges.

“Those relationships have only gotten stronger with our CAB affiliation,” Keeling says.

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