Quality beef is a team effort

At the fork of two rivers, lies Covington, La., a quaint town on the eastern side of the Bayou State. The southern city is home to veterinarians Gary and Kim Greene, who together with their son Matt, run Greeneline Angus and share a passion for high-quality cattle.

The Greene family got their start in the Angus business in the late 1950s when Gary’s father and uncle began raising cows in the northern part of the state. Early days spent on the farm developed within the young boy a love for cattle and the outdoors and, in 1993, after the original family farm was planted with Pine trees, Gary and Kim purchased four Angus cows – all they could afford at the time.

Today the family of doctors – Matt is in his third year of veterinary school – care for more than 200 cows on the upland coastal plains. Under the shade of towering pines, cattle thrive in the temperate climate as they graze on Bermuda and Bahia grass. Run with ease and shared responsibilities, Gary boasts, “It’s a family operation.” From paperwork to mending fence, the rancher says, “All of us are involved with it all the time.”

Gary continues to run a veterinary practice where he specializes in reproductive work. His knowledge of genetics led him to emphasize quality in their herd of Angus cattle.

“I’m true and blue, all up and down, an Angus man,” Gary says with a grin. “You can produce a product that you know has reliability in the genetics. That’s very important to me.”

The man who raised two sons amidst nature and around cattle states with assertion, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” They focus on raising and feeding beef that will standout for quality and consistency.

“Certified Angus Beef means everything,” Gary says. “Everyone recognizes the brand, and I think it gives the Angus breed that much more credibility.”

This was written as a part of an ongoing series that introduces consumers to cattlemen and women on our product website. To see more of the producers profiled across the U.S., head over to our “Meet Local Angus Ranchers” tab.

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Grandfather, grandson share Angus passion

Just this week, Gary was traveling through Tennessee when he had the opportunity to stop and visit with Wayne Day and Nick Rippy, a grandfather/grandson duo whose passion for good Angus cattle is evident.

Wayne, who runs approximately 475 cows in Tennessee and Kentucky, buys his Angus bulls from Deer Valley Farms in Fayetteville, Tenn.  Nick, a Goodlettsville, Tenn, high school senior who has an interest in the purebred side, manages another 45 head of registered Angus cows on one of his grandpa’s farms.  He purchased these females from Southern Light Farms at their dispersal sale in November of 2011.

Gary reports that Wayne, who also has several other business interests, is glad his grandson is interested in the cattle business, and may eventually fulfill his dream of managing his grandpa’s cattle operations.  But first, he plans to pursue a degree in agricultural business.

Wayne sells his Angus calves at local auction markets and occasionally sells freezer beef to friends and relatives. At one time, he retained ownership on his calves, feeding them in western Kansas.  But he tells Gary the price of corn and the long distance to the feedlot areas of the High Plains has him figuring he’s ahead to let someone else take that risk, at least for now.

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What costs more than buying hay?

Like the extra hay that ranchers Joe and Brenda Anderjaska, of Hayes Center, Neb., are going to buy this year. It’s those longer-term costs that get a little harder to figure when trying to assign exact values.

I rode shotgun through some of Anderjaska’s summer pastures on Monday. As we looked at their commericial and registered Angus herd, the sky was gloomy. The clouds teased with a few sprinkles, but, like so many times this summer, moved along before offering reprieve.

So the couple is weighing their options, and when they do that, they think behind the fiscal year.

Joe says he’s seen others swath and bale their poor corn stands, but, “That’s slicked off so bad. It’s not going to catch snow, that thing might blow all winter long. We’re going to turn cows into our stalks and see what they can graze.”

Buying hay is expensive, but what is the cost of letting your soil fly away?

“The only way you’re going to make a living is if you keep your natural resources and make them better for the next year,” he says.

The logical equation is either find more feed or run fewer critters.

“People are saying, ‘Well, with this drought, sell your cows off and buy them back later.’ I’ve got a lot, a lot of years in history and genetics that I’m not going to just haul to the salebarn and get rid of,” Joe says. “I’ll figure out some way, I don’t care what it is. We’ll probably go through cows really, really hard this fall, but we’re going to try to keep numbers as close as we can.”

It’s pretty difficult to put a value on a quarter of a century of engineering their perfect herd, but they do know they don’t want to start that process over.

They’re securing more hay and looking at grass in the Southeast, and thanking their lucky stars that they’ve focused on moderate-framed, efficient cows from the get-go.

“We don’t feed them corn and we don’t feed them silage. They don’t get all these good rations hauled out to them,” Joe says. “We’ve worked really hard to get cows that can convert grass and roughage to pounds as efficiently as possible.”

What are you doing to deal with the drought? Are you looking at any creative ways to keep the cows without breaking the bank?

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

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