North American Bull Guide 2012

WesternWesternLivestock Livestock

JournalJournal

January 16, 2012 • Section Two • A Crow PublicationJanuary 16, 2012 • Section Two • A Crow Publication

90 Years90 Years 3 GENERATIONS3 GENERATIONS

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4 January 16, 2012 • WLJ’s North American Bull Guide • Section Two


CONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTS 14 Nelson Crow, WLJ’s Founding Leader

—Since Western Livestock Journal’s inception, we have published over 4,500 issues. We are proud to be a third-generation family business and in this article, we share some history from the old days.

22 A History of Cattle Selection—Selection of cattle for economically important traits has brought the beef industry a tremendous distance over the past 90 years.

44 90 Years of Beef Packing—From sawdust and swinging carcasses to sophisticated sanitation systems and case-ready beef, the U.S. beef pack-ing industry has evolved tremendously since the 1920s.

56 We Go Way Back—Five industry legends share their history, their hopes for the future, and a few great memories about the Western Livestock Journal.

86 Strong Cattle Market Expected to Continue—In the last few years, cattle

producers have seen record-high corn costs to the most severe economic contraction since the Great Depression, but in spite of all that, annual average calf prices posted record highs in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011.

102 90 Years of Growth—Scientifi c breakthroughs in technology, medicine and animal nutrition have changed the structure of livestock production over the past 90 years.

INDEX 119 Up-to-Date EPD Listings

122 Sale Calendar

126 Advertiser Index

� is year’s North American Bull Guide will mark Western Livestock Journal’s (WLJ) 90th anniversary. For 90 years or 4, 700 weekly issues of WLJ, we have tried to assemble and report the news in the livestock industry.

We’ve recorded a lot of history over that time and we decided to bring you a little history in this Bull Guide. Dr. Bob Hough has taken a look at the way the cattle industry did its genetic selection over the years. In the early days, the show ring was one of our most valuable genetic selection tools. In those early days, cattle just had to look good and be big. It didn’t tell us much except for how big we could grow these beasts.

Performance evaluations for economically relevant traits came along in the ’50s when breeders started collecting and sharing data and started setting up breed-wide data sets to start understanding the implications of their breeding and selecting of beef sires.

Much has changed in how we breed cattle and also the way we produce and market the fi nal product, beef. Steve Kay gives us a brief view of the packing business and how they changed over time and how they handled the product. It seems that there was seldom a time when the cattle industry wasn’t at odds with the packing industry.

WLJ reported on many of these issues along the way and we will share some of the comments made by my grandfather, father and myself. WLJ is a family enterprise just like many ranching operations. It’s a people business and for this Bull Guide, we have selected fi ve well-known personalities in the livestock business to share their views and their relationships with the Crow family and WLJ.

� is issue is about the history, but we have also provided a snapshot into the future, and Jim Robb at the Livestock Marketing Information Center tells us what to expect in the markets ahead.

PETE CROW WLJ Publisher

Pete Crow

90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90ththththththththththththththththththththththththththth

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WesternLivestock

Journal


NELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWNELSON CROWWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’s founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader 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leaderWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’s founding leaderWLJ’sWLJ’s founding leaderWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’s founding leaderWLJ’s founding leaderWLJ’s founding leaderWLJ’sWLJ’sWLJ’s founding leaderWLJ’s founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding leader founding 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by Pete CrowPublisher, Western Livestock Journal

Western Livestock Journal (WLJ) is proud to be celebrating 90 years of re-cording the history of the livestock in-dustry. We have published over 4,500 issues, along with various other pub-lications, since our inception in 1922. Along with celebrating the 90 years, we are also proud to be a third-generation family business, much like many of our ranching friends.

WLJ was started by Nelson R. Crow. He learned how to use a typewriter in the army and when he was released, he became a USDA market reporter in St. Joseph, MO. Th roughout his early years, he worked as a USDA market reporter in Chicago, San Francisco, and when the Los Angeles Stockyards opened in 1921, he was transferred to Los Ange-les to report on the markets there.

Th e Los Angeles Union Stockyards were owned by the Union Stockyards and Transit Co. Th ere was a very close tie to the Union Pacifi c Rail Road, and cattle were shipped by train. Manage-ment quickly realized they needed a way to communicate with the livestock industry and the Union Stock Yard and

Transit Co. loaned Nelson the money to start the fi rst era of WLJ, then called the Farm and Ranch Market Journal, and Crow Publications.

Th e Los Angeles Stockyards was the newest of the central markets in the West, and Los Angeles was growing fast. News and markets pages fi lled eas-

ily. Th ere were plenty of independent packers and they off ered a strong market to livestock producers, attracting cattle throughout the West, including Mon-tana and Texas. Finished steers sold for $7/cwt. in those days. Los Angeles was also one of the largest produce markets in the country. Prior to today’s Los An-geles, covered with homes and concrete, it was one of the largest diversifi ed agri-culture regions in the nation.

It didn’t take long for Nelson to earn the respect of everyone in the industry. Th e newspaper was a huge success, and in 1939, he was able to pay off his note to Union Stockyard and Transit Co. Th en president of the company, Arthur Leonard, wrote: (see letter on next page)

Nelson’s livestock industry column al-ways maintained a serious tone relating to hot industry topics. He wasn’t bash-ful about letting readers know what he really thought. Ironically, Nelson talked about many of the same issues as we do today. In 1932, he takes on a radical tone:

“It’s not surprising that Communist and Anarchist are able to make head-

Nelson R. Crow

Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - 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Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - 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January 16, 2012 • WLJ’s North American Bull Guide • Section Two 15

way in the U.S. when we have the sorry spectacle of the political leaders hurl-ing slanderous charges at each other via radio and daily newspapers. Such men make it diffi cult for aliens to have faith in and respect for our form of govern-ment.”

Flipping through past volumes of the Journal, it’s easy to follow the history of the packing industry, which has been at the center of debates for 90-plus years. In 1936, Livestock Magazine was started and was a nationally distributed publi-cation, and ran more management and feature-length stories about people and places.

Th e Farm and Ranch Market Journal became Western Livestock Journal in the early 1930s. WLJ carried market news and trade news, but also contained sev-eral signature columns. One of the more colorful ones was written by Frank King, a good old Southwest cowhand. His weekly column, “Maverick,” was about the people and places he had met along his travels, including Billy the Kid, and he wasn’t afraid to tell it the way he saw it.

In 1936, King let one of his readers in on the importance of having an opinion, and supporting beliefs with facts. “A fell-er wrote in the other day from up north of here stoppin’ the Journal. He cancelled his subscription plum off ’n the books on account he is mad at me for endorsin’ the ‘Vigilantes.’”

In that same column, King continues, “Th e way things is gettin’ to be these days, when shyster lawyers, pin-head governors, an’ sob-sisters workin’ over-time to free law violators, it looks like a little vigilante law might do some good, especially if they work on some of these folks that are so busy hampering jus-tice.”

Bruce Kiskaden, the famous western poet, was another frequent columnist, along with artist Kathryn Field from New Mexico.

� en and NowBy Bruce Kiskaddon

Th ere were offi cers, outlaws, and gamblers and scrappers,

Th at lived their wild lives in the stirrin’ old west.

Th ere were bull whackers, mule skinners, soldiers and trappers;But the old time cow puncher

was there with the best.

Th e old frontier cattleman, cool and unhurried,

Th ough the danger was close, or the goin’ was tough:Went on with his work,

and he never once worried;If he had a few cowboys, well, that was enough.

Now the bobbed wire fences have cut up the ranges.Th e cattle themselves is a diff erent breed.

Th ere has been some improvement and plenty of changes.

Th ere’s a heap in the blood, but there’s more in the feed.

Th e old time cow puncher, the dare devil ranger,

With a gun on his hip and the spurs on his heels,Is replaced by a cow hand that works in less danger.

He is surer of shelter and regular meals.

Now the herdsman today has his troubles and losses But he still has the heart of the old time cow hand.

He is doin’ his best just the same as his bosses,

To raise the most beef, the best way that he can.

Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - Nov. 1, 1922Formal Opening of the Los Angeles Union Stockyards - 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Drawing By Kathryn Field


Nelson enjoyed commenting on the federal government, as would my father and I in future issues of WLJ. In 1947, he wrote:

Too high. Government. It is amazing to read of the discussions in the Con-gress regarding the amount of money that taxpayers will have to pay for the federal government. Certainly there are hundreds of thousands of government employees who are performing no really useful service. A committee of business people who have had to trim their own expenses to meet income should tell the lawmakers how to cut Federal expense. It’s too bad to fire people but it is an expensive luxury to keep them on the payroll when every citizen is burdened with an almost unbearable tax bill and that goes for local and state govern-ments as well. Give you Congressmen who sincerely want to cut down federal expenses, all the support possible. The cost of government is all together to ex-pensive and can be reduced sharply and must be reduced.

There is recorded history of the Big 5 packers being in cahoots with the fed-eral government on many issues. The Packers and Stockyards Act was at the top, and an issue even before WLJ was first published. Nelson wrote several comments centered around the debates. In one 1936 column, Nelson is discuss-ing a meeting at the Stock Yards held by the National Livestock Loss Preven-tion Board. While the meeting centered around packers’ losses caused by animal bruising, Nelson’s comments discussed the blame game played between the groups: “It was pretty much a matter of the pot calling the kettle black at the meeting. Producers were inclined to lay much blame on the packer, the railroad and the truck; the packer was inclined to blame the shipper and the trans-portation agencies; the transportation people blame the shipper.”

War articles and comments are also scattered throughout the 90 years of WLJ history. World War I and II both had major effects on the livestock pro-duction and packing industry. In 1942, Nelson talks about keeping the ranch horse because of the ongoing war, and a shortage of rubber. His glass half full

outlook on the country, the industry, and life in general is clear. “Some how, we Americans are inclined to make the best of things. We know that we are going to have to use automobiles and trucks less, but we’ll find some other way of getting around,” he wrote. “The fact is, we’ll all have a good time, using less speed and seeing what is going on around us...[but] …We’ll all be glad to get back to the ‘good old days’ when we had full use of trucks and automobiles, but the big idea now is to lick hell out of our enemies. Then we’ll enjoy our luxuries all the more,” he wrote.

Meat grading was a hot topic in the late 1920s. The government was look-ing for a way to standardize their meat purchases for the military and food assistance programs. Grading wasn’t popular among western cattlemen and Nelson’s comments in the early years make it clear that he didn’t support the effort until 1938 when he said in one of his columns:

“So widespread is the call for U.S. graded meats that instead of one grader in the Los Angeles Area, three men are now regularly employed. Eventually, all beef sold in the United States will be graded for quality: I would like to see Los Angeles become the first large city where U.S. grading and stamping of all meat is compulsory.”

In that same column, Nelson said, “It must be recognized that any sound improvement in the livestock markets must depend largely upon improved

business conditions and resultant in-creased purchasing power on the part of workers.” That same sentence could be reused today.

Stock shows were a major marketing event in the early issues of the paper. WLJ pages were filled with show re-sults and show news. These stock shows were a way for stockmen to gather and trade news along with their livestock. In 1932, Nelson was responsible for starting the Great Western Stock Show in Los Angeles. The pages were filled every week with show announce-ments, the level of entries, and who the judges would be.

One 1936 front page story read, “Hereford President to visit stock show.” The importance placed on the breed association was evident with an entire story dedicated to Albert K Mitchell, president of the American Hereford Association, attending the Los Angeles Stock show. Mitchell, owner of the Tequessquite Ranch, trav-eled to the show from New Mexico.

WLJ was an all-species publication

September 5, 1939

until the war. Paper rations, along with other rationing of products, would change the paper. Nelson’s growth was limited by the paper allocations. Always the entrepreneur, Nelson realized he could get an additional paper alloca-tion if he started another publication on a slightly diff erent cattle product, so he started Western Dairy Journal. Th e Los Angeles milk shed was right in the stockyards and the produce markets, so it was a perfect addition. When the war ended, Nelson’s son, Dick Crow, came home from the Navy, and he went right to work on Western Dairy Management as a fi eldman in the dairy industry at the age of 20. Not long after, he was the youngest member elected to the Cali-fornia Dairy Advisory Board. Crow Publications would eventually sell the dairy magazine in the early ’80s.

In the late ’40s, with business grow-ing, Nelson hired Forrest Bassford and made him a partner in Crow Publica-tions, Inc. Bassford had worked for the Record Stockman, another one of the western heritage publications, and Her-eford Journal. Forest was a broad thinker and when the 1960s rolled around, he was eager to work with the new cattle breeds arriving in the U.S. Forrest was regarded as one of the only journal-ists who had an open mind about the usefulness of Continental and Ameri-can breeds. He took a lot of heat for promoting them from the more es-tablished Hereford and Angus breeds. He was instrumental in starting the Charolais Breeders Association, and many other American breeds of cattle. In a 1998 letter, he wrote, “For many, including me, the 17 western states have been the nations cow country. Th e land of breed creation (Santa Gertrudis, Beefmaster, Brangus Simbrah, etc.) of breed importation—of breed leader-ship.” Forrest Bassford would become Nelson’s right hand man, and a great mentor for the future publishers of WLJ.

Th e early1950s were a boom period for the livestock industry, but the boom would not hold, and the country fell into a widespread drought and reces-sion by the mid-50s. Nelson was advis-ing cattlemen to reduce their inventory to protect the value of their cattle.

One thing that both Nelson and Bassford always preached was genetic improvement. Starting in the ’30s, Nelson was encouraging producers to buy the best bulls they could aff ord and not buy the native scrubs of the day. In 1956, cattle numbers were at an as-tounding 93 million head

In the mid-50s, Dick joined WLJ as a fi eldman in the mountain states after spending 15 years on the Western Dairy Journal. Dick would later become presi-dent in 1971 and start sharing editorial duties with Arron Dudley.

In 1952, a small news clip in the Los Angeles Times talked about WLJ on its 30th anniversary, claiming that cattle-men throughout the state swore by WLJ and it had exerted a profound eff ect in

its increasing war on meddling bureau-cracy and unnecessary federal controls. Th e article said that “each advance of the livestock industry is assisted by the expert and timely reports and analysis printed in the publication.”

Th e Times article quotes Nelson on his growing publication. “Th e little paper caught on in an amazing manner, though. I sent out a prospectus to about 6,000 persons and darned if I didn’t get 2,500 subscriptions right off the bat. Th at was plenty to start with and we’ve been going and growing ever since.”

Nelson’s infl uence was seen not only in the cattle industry, but also in the aca-demic world. Evelyne Rowe Rominger, University of California, Davis graduat-ing class of 1951 and editor of the Aggie in 1949, said she was challenged by aca-demic committee members on a few of her articles—one of them an editorial, “Showmanship, Hah,” criticizing stu-dents for their unprofessional behav-ior at the campus Little International Livestock Show. Committee members thought her criticism embarrassed the campus, she said. “Th at day, lucky for me, Nelson Crow, editor of the West-ern Livestock Journal, wrote me a letter

Continued on page 20


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Continued from page 17 saying it was about time someone had said something about it. I thought I was really big stuff .”

Nelson’s comments in the 1950’s West-ern Livestock Journal Magazine were called, “Observations by the Publisher.” His December 1950 column starts with, “As we come to the close of 1950, we re-alize that we have been in a boom period. Everything is higher than ever before: taxes, wages, income, prices of every-thing we sell and everything we buy. But people are not too happy about it because every sensible person realizes that our so-called prosperity is based upon the ter-rible threat of another devastating world war in which the people of the United States may have to fi ght for survival.”

Th e 1950s saw beef grades changing. Th e new grading system sent previously-graded Choice to Prime, and some of the good to Choice. “Th ey didn’t like the idea of a new grade to be called Regu-lar—the name didn’t make much sense,” Nelson wrote, discussing the politics of the changes.

Nelson Crow was a true leader in the livestock industry; he knew the issues and knew what the livestock industry needed. He had a good eye for talent and started many legends in the livestock publication industry and earned the eyes and ears of the industry.

In 1952, Nelson had the opportunity to expand and purchased Livestock Mag-azine from the Biggs family in Denver, CO. It fi t perfectly with his operation and created the Mountain Plains edition and the Pacifi c Slope editions, two editions each week with custom editorial for each region. It also added to the WLJ monthly magazine. Th is created a very competi-tive situation with the Record Stockman, which reigned in the Plains states.

Th e two weeklies were combined in the ’70s to create one national edition of Western Livestock Journal and the month-ly magazine was re-named Livestock Magazine, to have national advertising appeal, and split into three editorial edi-tions. Livestock Magazine ceased publica-tion in the early ’80s due to unbearable economic times.

In 1967, an election year, Nelson was voicing concern over government regula-

tion and wrote: “We are concerned about spendthrift policies of our Federal Gov-ernment which is going deep and deeper into debt; and we are concerned about state and local taxes which approach the point of confi scation.”

Th is holiday column, dated Dec. 28, 1967, went on: “Congressmen are back home after appropriating $157.4 billion, an increase in one year of $13.5 billion. In the four years President Johnson has held the nation’s highest offi ce, federal appro-priations have increased by $53.7 billion!”

Nelson passed in the summer of 1968.Th ere were a lot of great people and

fi eldmen who worked with Western Live-stock Journal over the years, including Bob Tiele, Mack Jones, Don Dorris and John Cholis. Th ey were all extremely competi-tive men who loved the livestock indus-try and the people they worked with. Th e list goes even longer with the likes of Pat Goggins, E. C. Larkin, Russ Pepper, Lionel Chambers, Beau Meek, Sherm Guttridge, Ralph Heinemann and John

Cote, along with a host of others. Th e paper would eventually be passed

down from Nelson to my father, Dick, who would eventually pass the reins down to me, the current publisher. To-day’s fi eldmen include Jerry York (30 years), Jerry Gliko (30 years), Jim Gies (25 years), and the newest edition to the fi eld staff , Logan Ipsen.

Th e personal computer saved the print publication industry. It’s a long way from hot lead type in the 1920s to the instant type setting ability of the personal com-puter and the internet, which is changing the print publication industry today and the way we deliver news and advertising messages. Quality editorial and industry comment will always be a mainstay of WLJ regardless if it is in our print edition or the new digital edition.

However, WLJ and the livestock in-dustry have always been about the people and the relationships each of the publish-ers of WLJ have made with the livestock industry.


As inspiration to write this article, I watched the famous 1925 Buster Keaton movie “Go West” where they take a large group of steers from a desert range, load them on to a rail road car and then Buster leads them through town to Los Angeles Stock Yards. Th e LA Stock Yards is where the famous Western Livestock Journal (WLJ) opened its doors in 1921 to cover the markets. Th e cattle were high percent-age Hereford, with signs of some Long-horn infl uence in their body shape.

Early kinds and breeds of cattle

If we step back, it all makes sense. Long-horns, previously known as just “Mexican” cattle, were one of the three groups of cattle that came the closest to being the indigenous cattle as we had. Having been brought over by Spanish military, mis-sionaries and colonists, Longhorns were running feral by 1550s. However, between the 1880s and 1927, they had been bred

practically out of extinction by imported breeds, primarily Herefords. Th at is when the U.S. government funded a herd in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Reserve in order to preserve the breed, although, in my opinion, distinctive Longhorn mark-ings could still be seen on some Mexican feeder calves being used in the experimen-tal feedlot at the University of Arizona in early 1980s.

According to John Rouse in “Cattle of the World,” the other two kinds of cattle that existed in the U.S. in the early 1920s were the Florida Scrubs and Natives. Th e Florida Scrubs, which were very small Spanish cattle imported from the Carib-bean Islands, had started running feral in Florida as early as the 16th century. Th e other was the “Native” American cattle, which was a conglomeration of cattle types brought over by settlers starting in the 1600s from throughout Britain, Con-tinental Europe and Scandinavia. Th ese various types of cattle soon became in-termingled and indistinguishable, and the three purposes—meat, draft, milk—“Natives” would fi nd their way to Califor-nia with farmers and become the basis for many people’s herds.

To improve these cattle, producers almost exclusively imported breeds from Britain where the science of stabiliz-ing breeds was farthest along, primarily Herefords, Shorthorns and Angus. Th e Shorthorns were the fi rst to be imported (1783) followed by Herefords (1817) and Angus (1873). In addition to the British breeds, Zebu cattle, fi rst imported in 1849, had found a strong niche along the Gulf Coast by the 1920s. Th ere were also a few Charolais imported into Texas as early as the 1930s, but their weight and impact of importation would not occur until 1966.

1880s longhorn with

Hereford infl uence

with

Whiteface

Longhorn

Constitution, 1850 prime steer, 5 years old, 3,850 lbs.

by Dr. Bob Houghby Dr. Bob Hough


Showring reigns supreme

Vying for market share in the 1920s, one could not overstate the importance of the showring. Th e cattle were similar in size as they are now, but on their way down to smaller sizes. Th is was a continu-ation of a trend that had started in 1888 at the Fat Stock Show in Chicago when an 863-day, 1,515-pound purebred Angus steer called Dot beat the long reigning, dual-purpose, 4- to 6-year-old Shorthorn bullocks that were often over 65 inches and 3,000 pounds before being considered prime. Literally, Shorthorn herds that had been having $3,500 sale averages became almost worthless overnight. At 1,515 pounds, Dot was referred to as Baby Beef. Of course, if a little smaller, earlier ma-turing animal was good, then people rea-soned a lot smaller had to be even better. Th is trend would continue until the early 1960s when breeders literally had to dig a hole for their cows and heifers so their

show bulls were able to mount them. Although Angus gained the reputation

as the “butchers” breed, Hereford was by far the most popular breed in the West. Th is had all started with the severe win-ters of 1881 and 1886 when the Hereford cattle out-survived all other improved breeds and their dominance in U.S. pure-bred cattle registrations held on until the 1960s. Angus was more of a regional breed, roughly one-quarter the size of Hereford. Th e Angus Association had always built its promotional year around the Chicago In-ternational Stock Show, but during World War II, the Chicago Stock Show was shut down. Because of this, Angus decided to place all its resources on the National West-ern Stock Show in Denver to try to make inroads into Herefords’ western market. Remember, the showring was everything at the time. According to the late Herman Purdy, who was on the national champi-on intercollegiate livestock judging team the year before the war and coached the

Dot, purebreedAngus steer

Beau Donald, 1916 American

Royal Champion

Salbury 1898 Imported Hereford from England.

Ernie, 1948 International

Champion

Primelad & Lorna Doone Champion Hereford

Bulls 1904 at Louisiana Exposition

Ace Broker 1998 National Champion Bull


champion team right after the war, during the war years, the tallow (fat) was worth almost as much as the lean. Th is, of course, played into Angus hands because they had the smallest, fattest cattle. According to John Rouse in “World Cattle,” Angus did make some inroads in the West, especially in people wanting to breed fi rst-calf heifers.

In the 1950s, with the showring at its pinnacle, came the widespread appear-ance of dwarf cattle, mainly in some of the bloodlines popular in the showring in the Angus and Hereford breeds. According to Keith Evans in “A Historic Angus Journey,” the trend towards “compressed” cattle in the showring had reached its zenith by the mid to late 1950s, and the most common form of dwarfi sm associated with these cattle was “snorter dwarf,” a simple recessive genetic defect. Unlike now when we can do genom-ic testing for genetic testing, at the time, a breeder either had to go through extensive progeny testing to declare an animal “clean” or, in some cases, whole herds suddenly had little or no value overnight (like in the case of dual-purpose Shorthorns). Th e cyni-cism of the showring now started to bubble among fi rst a group of academics and then grew ever wider amongst producers.

Performance genesisJust before World War II came the fi rst

few seeds needed for objective selection. Dr. Jay Lush was considered by many to be the father of modern animal breeding and was doing many of the calculations that would be needed by the modern beef industry. Furthermore, after the war, university fac-ulties would be fi lled with his protégées at performance hotspots around the country.

Th e other notable prewar place was the USDA Miles City Experiment Station in Montana that, starting with trials in 1936, identifi ed that performance was heritable. One other note, the fi rst bull test was held

in Texas in 1941.Right after the war, the performance

movement started to pick up some steam with the scope of people interested ex-

panding rapidly. Th is included the academic commu-nity, such as Dr. H. H. Stonaker of Colorado State University (CSU) who started the Hesperus bull test; Professors John Knox, Phil Neale

and Marvin Koger at New Mexico State University (NMSU); and Virginia Tech and the Front Royal beef cattle research station where they determined that select-ing cattle based on growth rate versus type was heritable and genetically independent of type.

A small but signifi cant group of breeders started to gravitate to these thought lead-ers. Breeders like Waldo and Sal Forbes of Beckton Stock Farm in Wyoming would be infl uenced by Stonaker to start collect-ing and performance testing Red Angus, which would eventually lead to the start of that breed. Charlie Redd of Redd Ranches in Colorado is believed to be one of the

fi rst people to con-sign bulls to a bull test when he sent his Hereford bulls to the Four Cor-ners Bull Test in the 1940s. George Ellis started per-formance testing at the Bell Ranch under the watchful eye of NMSU faculty. From the Bell would come the “205” day weaning weight adjustment breed associa-tions used, as that was their average days of weaning weight when it came to set a number for days to adjust to. Miles City would develop the Line 1 Herefords and greatly infl uence Ferry Carpenter with cattle and ideas when he would go on to play a key role in most of the upcoming performance programs. Of course, there was Dr. Lush, who directly infl uenced people like Carlton Corbin of the famous Emulous Angus cattle line.

Th e great interest in the Front Royal re-search by Virginia breeders would lead to the university setting up a weighing and grading program starting in 1953, and in 1955, with Dr. Th omas Marlowe hired to be in charge, Virginia became the fi rst Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA) to be incorporated in the U.S. Some of the other fi rst states to have BCIA’s, some even older than Virginia, were California, Colo-rado, Maine, Montana and New Mexico. Often, in these programs, a state or univer-sity grader would grade the cattle and the cattle would be weighed for average daily gain. From this, an index could be calcu-lated. At the time, grades matched with USDA Quality Grades, since conforma-tion was part of the quality grading system until 1975. In reality, conformation scor-ing was, for all purposes, stopped by most

Dr. Stonaker

Charlie Redd

Weighing cattle

Conoco, Grand Champion 1969 International Stock Show

Champion Steer Houston Stock Show 1984

Lonestar 1953 Champion Hereford Steer


performance programs when USDA Yield Grades were implemented in 1965. In time, well over 35 states would have beef cattle improvement programs.

Bull tests were another important part of these state programs and were spread across the country and in many cases, still exist today. Bull tests like the Pennsylvania Meat Animal Evaluation Center are still run by the Department of Agriculture or university. Many of the more famous bull tests, like Midland in Montana started in 1959 by Leo McDonnell Sr., are privately owned and run, and continue to stay in business by off ering unique services like collecting feed effi ciency data.

Organizing the performance movement

In 1954, Red Angus Association of America (RAAA) became the fi rst breed association to have a perfor-mance program. In addition, it required weaning weights and inspection as a requirement of the cattle for registra-tion. In 1955, a group of West Texas producers and extension agents formed Performance Registry International (PRI), which quickly went national.

Th ey set up many standards like the 205-day weaning weight and ran a Certifi ed Meat Sire program. Th ey actually kept re-cords and printed certifi cates for in-dividuals, and at one time, kept

records for fi ve of the smaller breeds. Glenn Butts would lead this organiza-tion with the enthusiastic support of people like Ferry Carpenter. Still, there was disagreement between PRI and many of the larger breed associations which could not be smoothed over.

By the early 1960s, the indus-try lacked organi-zation of perfor-mance methodol-ogy, terminology and practices. Dr. Frank Baker of

the Federal Ex-tension Service took upon him-self the job of coming up with s t a n d a r d i z a -tion. By 1964, fi ve breed asso-ciations had an-nounced or were

contemplating performance programs. In January 1967, Ferry Carpenter and Frank Baker held a meeting to bring all

the performance organizations to-gether to discuss how to solve the problem. An ad hoc committee was formed with Frank Baker in charge, and with some prodding from a letter in August of 1967 from Sal Forbes, an-other meeting was held in January

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1968 to form the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF). Th e charter members 24 state BCIA’s, eight breed associa-tions, PRI, American Cattlemen’s As-sociation and bull stud organizations. Th is would forever change the com-

plexion of the performance movement. According to BIF’s 25-year history,

“Ideas into Action,” there was great sup-port to the fl edgling performance move-ment by a few brave journalists like the late Forrest Bassford of WLJ. At the

beginning, they did this at the peril of their own publi-cation as perfor-mance had not yet been accepted by mainstream cattle producers. Their contribution cannot be overstated.

The showring’s last hooray With implementation of the USDA Yield

Grades in 1965, and new importation of Charolais in 1966, the cattle industry was starting to look diff erent. At the time, these cattle were larger, leaner and faster growing. It took judges with conviction to break with the trend of the small cattle. It happened in 1969 when Dr. Don Good of Kansas State

picked a “Conoco,” a 1,250 Choice, Yield

Grade 2, Charolais/Angus cross at the Inter-

national Livestock Exposition in Chicago.

Th at same year, Dr. Robert Totusek of Okla-homa State picked a larger, trimmer, heavier-muscled Canadian bull, “Great Northern,” as Grand Champion Angus. Th is was as important a type change as when “Dot” was picked in 1888 to make cattle earlier matur-ing. At fi rst, the showring was very helpful

in changing the type of cattle needed in the

industry. But as always with the showring,

all bets were off as to making them bigger

and later maturing until the mid-80s cham-

pions were over frame score 10. In 1984,

Michigan State and CSU held the “Beef

Cow Effi ciency Forum,” which was followed

by a 10-year crusade by Dr. Harlan Ritchie

for more effi cient cattle. It was not until the

1990s that judges responded and started

backing down the frame of the cattle and

adding the slope back into the cattle’s struc-

ture that had been straightened out to make

them taller, that cattle got back to looking

phenotypically like they did 70 years before

then. However, for most breeds, objective

measures of performance as well as common

sense soundness of the cattle had long taken

precedence in selection over the showring.

Also at this time of the type change was the

fi rst importation of semen from other Conti-

nental European breeds including Limousin

(1968), Simmental (1968), Chianina (1971),

Gelbvieh (1971) and Salers (1974). Along

with this, the U.S. Meat Animal Research

Center (USMARC) was just starting to

come out with exciting news of the value of

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1925 Quality Marshall International Champion, son of Earl Marshall, weight 2,500, 3

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1935 Eileenmere 85International Grand

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1910 Oakville Quiet LadInternational Grand

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1978 OAS Traveler Top Semen Seller Breed

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1988 Dameron Linedrive, frame 10+.

1997 BonView New Design 1407

1969 Great Northern International Champion Angus

1949 Eileenmere 1032International Grand

Champion Bull 1955 Prince Peer Champion Bull, Ft. Worth.




crossbreeding. Th is resulted in a tremendous

number of speculators associated around the

imports of these new breeds and fortunes

were made and lost. For one breed, about 80

founding members signed up, paid a hefty

entrance fee, and got semen, but only a few

had ever seen the breed before joining. It

was as common to advertise to bankers and

business people as it was to cattle produc-

ers. Of course, the glamour and glitz of the

showring fi t right into this type of specula-

tive cattle business. Th is happened even with

breeds like Simmental where the association

was built on performance principles and of-

fi cially had nothing to do with the showring.

However, the whole practice started to wind

down once the tax laws were changed under

the Reagan administration, which no longer

favored rich investors using cattle as a federal

tax haven.

National cattle evaluationIn the 1970s, genetic predictions were

just getting their starts. Producing Expect-

ed Breeding Values (EBV), which would

later become Expected Progeny Diff erences

(EPD), was a monumental task by the in-

dustry. Dr. Richard

Willham of Iowa

State University fi rst

presented the equa-

tions to produce

EBVs at the 1972

BIF meeting, and

Angus, Hereford,

Polled Hereford and

Simmental breeds

quickly jumped on board. However, these

fi rst EBVs were rudimentary, assumed no re-

lationship between sires, and were best used

in herd. About the same time, Dr. Charles

Henderson of Cornell came out with a new

procedure called BLUP (best linear unbiased

predictions) that could use fi eld data, but

computer power was the limiting factor. Dr.

Paul Miller had left Cornell for a sabbatical

at the Simmental Association, and in 1974,

he was the fi rst person to successfully run

BLUB procedure for Simmental using the

computer mainframe at the Boeing Aircraft

Corporation. Between 1974 and 1979, Angus,

Hereford, Polled Hereford, Shorthorn, Lim-

ousin and Red Angus would follow, but the

model used to produce the genetic predic-

tions would only take into account sire and

contemporary group.

Th e big break in genetic predictions came

in 1980 when Drs. Richard Quaas and John

Pollak of Cornell introduced the animal

model (as well as the reduced animal model,

RAM), which accounted for all relatives,

mating biased, etc. According to Dr. Bruce

Golden, in a talk Dr. Quaas gave, they en-

visioned it as an in-herd tool because of the

impossible computer requirements needed

to calculate it on a breed. However, by 1985,

CSU had used the RAM model on the

university’s supercomputer to produce the

fi rst truly modern EPDs for Gelbvieh; Red

Angus would be next. UGA would be next


Dr. William

Dr. Pollak

Dr. Quaas

Continued from page 27

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Continued from page 32to implement the technology under the leadership of Dr. Larry Benyshek and the fi rst to do it with the large breeds like Angus and Hereford. For a breed like performance-based Red Angus that had been collecting performance data since the 1950s, their cattle’s genetic trend reveals that signifi cant genetic progress did not start occurring until the implementation of EPDs.

Over time, the universities became as-sociated with certain breeds and became competitive on coming out with new traits. Cornell lined up with Simmental, ISU as-sociated with Angus, CSU with Red Angus, and UGA with a large number of breeds. Cornell came out with the fi rst marker-assisted EPD, tenderness, and acrossbreed EPDs. CSU concentrated on the concept of Economically Relevant Traits and came out with a group of unique genetic predictions like Stayability, heifer pregnancy and mature cow maintenance energy EPDs. Th is al-lowed them to collaborate with the RAAA, who had instituted mandatory total herd re-porting in 1995, to release the fi rst reproduc-tive sire summary in 2002. AAA had always led the industry in collecting carcass data

and with ISU, revolutionized body compo-sition data collection with ISU’s pioneering work with ultrasound. UGA would come out with new EPDs, such as scrotal circum-ference and disposition, as well as further methodology to put genomics into EPDs.

However, by the turn of the 21st century, universities were starting to decrease support for what they felt were “service” type activi-ties like producing EPDs. Also, many of the university professors were aging and felt they would not be replaced by their institutions, so in 2001, the National Beef Cattle Evalu-ation Consortium (NBCEC) was formed by the four universities. Th is was in an eff ort to stop duplication of eff ort, refocus the universities on research and education, and slowly turn the reins over to industry to do their own genetic evaluation. Th is has largely been accomplished over the last several years with ISU and Cornell completely out of the genetic evaluation business. CSU and UGA still do analysis, but only for certain breeds and, in some cases, only for certain traits.

Simmental was the fi rst to take its ge-netic analysis in house and take on custom-ers with a true multibreed analysis. In 2007, AAA formed a wholly owned subsidiary,

Angus Genetic Inc. (AGI), to do its genetic analysis as well as analysis for other breeds. Hereford and many other breeds have taken their analysis to Breed Plan, an Australian-based company. With the Cornell model, Simmental off ered the fi rst multi-breed EPD analysis.

When AGI was formed, AAA was the dominant breed association over Her-eford and the Continental breeds in terms

of cattle registrations and resources. AAA


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Continued from page 34immediately put these resources to use. Th ey added genomics to their carcass EPDs and then to all their EPDs. Th ey also came out with a genomically enhanced feed effi ciency EPD. Last, they increased the frequency of their EPD evaluations until, now, they are done weekly. A number of other breeds also do their analysis with AGI in an external evaluation done for each breed.

When genomics were fi rst introduced, it appeared that acrossbreed panels would be able to be used to enhance genetic predic-tions. However, it soon became apparent

that for most traits, breed-specifi c panels are needed, so at the time this article is written, Simmental, Hereford, Limou-sin and Red Angus are the most active in developing genomically enhanced EPDs. Still, even if they achieve this goal, the submission performance data that is un-biased and contains the full contempo-rary group will remain critically impor-tant to the production genetic predictions.

Crossbreeding Th e industry had always straight-bred

cattle but with the importation of the Continental breeds, commercial producers quickly realized they could make dramatic changes in their cattle through crossbreed-ing. More than that, USMARC started actively researching the risks and benefi ts of crossbreeding when the Fort Robinson, NE, selection experiment was moved to the Clay Center facility in 1971. USMARC quickly started a series of germplasm stud-ies characterizing breeds, which continues to this day.

Early work found that crossbreeding was helpful due to heterosis and breed complementarity. Heterosis is the increase in performance between the average of two parent animals mainly found in lowly heri-table traits, primarily maternal traits like reproduction. Breed complementarity is when the strengths of two breeds compen-sate for each other. In USMARC research of the 1970s and early 1980s, it was found that through heterosis alone, the lifetime production of a crossbreed dam bred to a third breed could be increased 23 percent. Obviously crossbreeding exploded, but many producers quickly became very un-disciplined in their crossbreeding manage-ment, instead choosing to use the “breed of the month club” rather than a planned crossbreeding system. Th is left many herds mongrelized, almost forcing commercial producers to return to straightbreeding to return some semblance of order and mar-ketability back to their herds. Now, hybrids have made crossbreeding much easier, al-though some of the full benefi t of heterosis is sacrifi ced for ease of use.

In terms of breed complementarities, if you study the USMARC research from 1986 that classifi es breed types, Angus-Hereford crosses were fairly low in milk, growth and mature size while Simmental



Continued from page 36and Gelbvieh were high growth, milk and mature size. Finally, Charolais and Limousin were high growth and mature size and low milk. If you look at today’s USMARC acrossbreed EPDs tables and research, the world of breeds has turned upside down. With the exception of Charolais, Angus has more growth than the Continental breeds, and the British breeds now reach a bigger mature size than the Continental breeds. Essentially, the breeds have all striven to be what the other is, although breed complementari-

ties still exist, they are not to the extent they were 25 years ago.

Right now, the industry is at cross roads in terms of crossbreeding. Straightbreeding is defi nitely the easiest system to deal with in terms of genetic predictions, breeding systems and marketing. Crossbreeding still works biologically, but logistically and marketing wise, it has its challenges. Large operations can still easily manage complicated crossbreeding systems; the advance of A.I. technology makes intro-ducing bulls of a diff erent breed much easier; and last, hybrids make crossbreed-

ing available to all producers and essen-tially have all the ease of a straightbreed-ing system.

SummarySelection of cattle for economically im-

portant traits has brought the beef industry a tremendous distance. Th e industry must be wary of fads that have plagued it in the past—even in the performance movement. Th e showring has served as a promotional tool for some in the industry and, in our history at certain times, an engine for change; but on the whole as a selection tool, the showring has led to little prog-ress genotypically. However, the industry has made tremendous strides genotypi-cally to making the cattle better through the objective selection of cattle, specifi cally EPDs. If you look at the genetic trend of any breeds, purebred and hybrid cattle have made more genetic progress in the last 25 years than they did in the previous 100. With the enhancement of genomics, EPDs should only get better in the future, but genomics will not replace the submis-sion of performance data.

As we move forward, the beef indus-try must remember that reproduction is the most economically important trait and the cost of feed is the big-gest expense. We are also an industry in which each segment must make money if we are to remain viable, so postwean-ing and carcass traits are very impor-tant. Th erefore, the reputation of your cattle for making money down stream in industry is important in topping the market. While straightbreeding be-comes ever more popular in our industry, the lessons of crossbreeding still hold true. Th e take-home message is breeds or hybrids must be good at what their utility is to the market they are serv-ing, whether that is crossbreeding or straightbreeding.

To all our customers this past fall,

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Our next Annual Production Sale is scheduled for

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OOO tt AA ll PPPOOO tt AA ll PPPRatios based on 10 calves.Ratios based on 10 calves.

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ANGUS FARMSANGUS FARMS

L k f i t f b ll t th R d Bl ff S lL k f i t f b ll t th R d Bl ff S l

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Thanks to SAN BENITO CATTLE CO.,

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The confidence you place in our program is

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He has all the credentials He has all the credentials to be a great one.to be a great one.

DAM BW RATIO WW RATIO YW RATIO 96 108 106 IMF RATIO RE RATIO 125 102

Modern Balancer Bull 2005


by Steve Kay, Editor & Publisher, Cattle Buyers Weeklyby Steve Kay, Editor & Publisher, Cattle Buyers Weekly


From sawdust and swinging carcasses to sophisticated sanitation systems and case-ready beef. Th at’s how much the U.S. beef packing industry has evolved since the 1920s. While the fundamentals of the business—turning a live animal into edible form—are still present, just about everything else is diff erent.

Beef packing was and still is a complex disassembly process. But meatpackers of 90 or even 45 years ago would marvel at the way in which today’s packers capture

and add value to every conceivable part of the carcass.

Th e other huge change is structural. Meatpacking plants in the 1920s oper-ated alongside large stockyards in cities like Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, East St. Louis and Denver. Slaughter cattle, all fi nished on grass, came by the trainloads every day to these terminal markets. Th e nascent feedlot industry of the 1930s, led by pioneers such as Warren Monfort, gradually changed this. Packing plants eventually began to be built closer to where the grain-fed cattle were fi nished.

Th is trend accelerated in the 1960s with the entry of Iowa Beef Packers (later to become IBP). It began with a single plant in the middle of a cornfi eld in Denison, IA. Remarkably, this plant still operates despite being a slaughter-only operation. In tandem with IBP’s entry came the development of boxed beef (cutting up

carcasses into sub-primals and shipping them vacuum-packaged in a box). Th e swinging carcass business was in demise from then on. A much more recent de-velopment was the move to case-ready beef, mostly for ground beef but also for some cuts.

As fascinating as the geographic shift is the way the meatpacking industry in the 1920s included names that remain to this day, even if only as a brand. Th e Big Five packers in the 1920s were Swift, Armour, Morris, Cudahy and Wilson. One can add John Morrell, established in 1867 and still in business today as a subsidiary of Smithfi eld Foods. Th e Swift name is equally enduring. Monfort, Inc. became ConAgra Red Meats in the mid-1980s, then Swift and Company before Brazil’s JBS SA bought it in 2007.

Th e industry came full circle with JBS’s entry into the U.S. meatpacking indus-try. Immigrant Gustavus Swift had come to Chicago in 1875. At fi rst, he was a cattle buyer. Th en, to avoid freight costs, he conceived the idea of slaughtering the cattle in Chicago and shipping the dressed beef instead of live cattle to east-ern cities, notes broadcaster and cattle producer Bill Kurtis (in an address to the 2009 Meat Hall of Fame ceremony).

“Some said this was a crazy idea—

Gustavis Swift

it would spoil before it got there. But Swift took the risk—perhaps having in his back pocket knowl-edge of a new technology that hadn’t yet been applied—the re-frigerated railroad car. Swift ap-plied the technology and it soon became the accepted method of

transporting beef,” says Kurtis.“Stockyards and meat packing were

generating fortunes,” says Kurtis. “If you travel 43 blocks south on Halsted, you’ll come to the old stockyards—they built Chicago. Now they are long gone. But you can still see the famous names

of Swift and Armour around the shell of what once was ground zero of the beef business in America. It’s still the home of Allen Brothers (a meat purveyor).”

Two seminal events occurred prior to the 1920s but they forever changed the industry and are central to the way the industry operates today. In 1906, an in-vestigative reporter named Upton Sin-clair followed the conditions of workers inside the Chicago slaughterhouses and wrote the “Th e Jungle.”

As Kurtis recounts, “Sinclair was a so-cialist and wanted to expose the work-ing conditions of what he called wage slavery. Instead, the public focused on food safety, shocked at stories of work-ers falling into rendering vats and being ground up into hamburger. Foreign sales of American meat fell by half.” Th e out-rage over what Sinclair described caused Congress to pass the fi rst Federal Meat Inspection Act in 19 06 and the Pure Food and Drug Act.

Th e other event was the growing dis-quiet among cattle producers about retail and packer profi ts and their supposed monopoly. Several years of producer complaints and government hearings followed. Finally, a 1919 Federal Trade Commission study, conducted at the in-sistence of cattlemen, was released. Its shocking fi ndings said that the Big Five packers held controlling or minority in-terests in 762 companies (as reported in “Building the Beef Industry” by Charles E. Ball, published by the National Cat-tlemen’s Association in 1998). Such a number surely far exceeded the interests of today’s fi ve largest beef packers.

Th e result was a Packer Consent Decree in 1919 which forced pack-ing companies to divest most of their non-packing interests (everything from



market newspapers to retail outlets). Th e Packers and Stockyards Act fol-lowed in 1921. Th us the foundationwas laid for the regulation and oversight of the meatpacking industry for the next

90 years.

It’s also interesting to note that the year

after that, 1922, saw the founding of the

National Live Stock and Meat Board. “It

set a new precedent in the industry: build

demand by promoting the product. But it

would be near the end of the century before

the association (NCBA) took that philoso-

phy on as its main agenda,” writes Ball.

Th e 1920s was to see another develop-

ment that continues to infl uence beef pro-

duction to this day. Th e U.S. Department

of Agriculture in 1924 published tentative

standards for carcass grading. Prominent

cattle breeders and feeders, writes Ball,

met in Kansas City in 1926 “to discuss the

advisability of grading and stamping the

better quality beef as Prime and Choice.”

Th e large packers opposed the idea and

introduced their own house grades, writes

Ball. But they later agreed to go along with

government grading. Grading began to in-

crease after World War II and by 1996, 81

percent of the total slaughter was graded.

Th e industry, though, has come full

circle, as packers over the past 20 years have

gradually introduced more of their own

specialty lines based on quality and breed

to add value and to satisfy the demand for

branded beef. Th ey also work closely with

supermarket chains, who have their own

house brands.

Th e decades of the 1920s and 1930s

were the worst in cattle history, with low,

low prices, writes Ball. Th is led industry

leaders to challenge the whole marketing

chain from producer to consumer, calling it

“unnecessarily expensive, unwieldy and un-

sound.” Some packers agreed, writes Ball.

Much of the 1940s was consumed by the

war eff ort. Meat rationing began in 1943,

as was a price ceiling on live cattle, which

packers supported. Th ey were already re-

ceiving a government subsidy on beef,

which was intended to reduce the price to

consumers and encourage production by

producers, writes Ball. But neither group

felt any benefi ts. Instead, a black market

in beef developed and was so common and

accepted by the end of the war that it was

called a gray market.

Th e industry gradually resolved these

issues and after World War II, entered

what Kurtis calls a new era, “one in which

we thought we could do anything…new

technology, new ideas were being applied

to every industry.” Moreover, the U.S. was

starting to produce more corn than any-

where in the world. Th is accelerated the

development of the modern feedlot indus-

try and the move by meatpackers to build

new plants, mostly on the southern Plains,

as close as possible to the largest numbers

of feedlot cattle.

Another phenomenon was sprout-

ing at this time, hamburger chains. Th is



Continued from page 46 fundamentally changed the market channel

for beef from cull cows. Th e 1950s saw the

emergence of several chains, notably Mc-

Donald’s. Today, half of all Americans eat

at least one hamburger a week and more

and more cuts from fed cattle, as well as

their fatty trimmings, go into making ham-

burgers and various forms of ground beef.

Another concept that began in the 1930s

but accelerated in the 1950s was the super-

market chain. Th eir growth to eventual dom-

inance of the retail meat business changed

the entire beef production system, from

ranch to meat case. An early decision that

benefi ts beef to this day is that the chains,

in order to diff erentiate themselves from

their competitors, used beef as their biggest

promotional tool to attract customers.

“Th e new meat counters displaying all

kinds of meat and poultry in refrigerated

counters appealed to customers,” writes

Ball. “Th ey could see what they were get-

ting. Th ey did not have to wait while the

butchers cut it. But to do this, supermarkets

had to have uniform quality and size of beef

carcasses. Th ey became the big pressure for

improved government beef grading.”

All this meant that packers and pro-

ducers worked more closely together to

satisfy the changing market. In 1959, Bill

McMillan became the top executive of the

then American National Cattlemen’s As-

sociation (which later dropped the “Ameri-

can”). McMillan had previously worked

for packer Swift & Co. in public relations.

Th is pattern was reversed with Utah native

George Spencer. He was ANCA’s execu-

tive vice president from 1970 to 1980 and

then joined the rapidly-growing IBP.

IBP was born out of the vision of two ex-

perienced meat men, Andy Anderson and

Currier Holman. Th ey were determined to

revolutionize the U.S. beef industry, writes

author Jeff rey Rodengen in “Th e Legend

of IBP” (published in 1998).

“Th ey based their plan on two seemingly

simple and supremely logical ideas. First,

they wanted to move beef plants away from

the big city stockyards into rural areas,

closer to where beef cattle are grown. Th is

would save hundreds of dollars per animal

on transportation costs. Th en they wanted

to sell shrink-wrapped beef that had been

packaged in convenient boxes, thus elimi-

nating even more transportation waste. If

they could accomplish these goals, their

company would profi t without costing con-

sumers or cattle feeders one extra dollar.”

Th e new company initially operated a

slaughter-only plant in Denison then ex-

panded through the Corn Belt. It built its

fl agship Dakota City, NE, plant in 1964-

65. It became Iowa Beef Processors and

then IBP when it moved into pork pro-

cessing in 1982. It had previously expanded

its beef operations into the Pacifi c North-

west in the mid-1970s and to the southern

Plains with the opening of its Amarillo,

TX, plant in 1974. Th is was a colossal plant

by any standards.

But IBP then

opened another

huge plant, in

Holcomb, KS, in

1980.

IBP was not

the only company

to embrace the

concept of boxed

beef but it com-

bined the concept

with a marketing

strategy called

Cattle-Pak. It

led the industry

in forcing labor

unions in cities

such as Chicago

(in 1979) to accept

boxed beef. IBP’s ef-

forts helped end the

market for carcass or

“swinging” beef, and

quickly made IBP the

nation’s largest beef

processor. It remains number one to this

day in terms of annual beef sales and fed

steer and heifer slaughter.

IBP was also a leader in that it fought on

numerous fronts to make beef processing

more cost-effi cient. Arguably its toughest

battle was against labor unions, as it at-

tempted to reduce labor costs. Several bitter

strikes ensued, the fi rst at its Fort Dodge,

IA, plant in 1965. Others followed, notably

at its Dakota City plant. Th e end result was

that IBP helped reduce the industry’s labor

costs. Some companies though, notably in

Los Angeles, couldn’t do this and went out

of business.

Paralleling IBP’s emergence was that of

an even more venerable name in the U.S.

beef industry, Monfort. Family patriarch

Warren was one of the pioneers of modern

cattle feeding. Son Ken expanded the busi-

ness into beef processing with the construc-

tion of a plant in Greeley, CO, in 1960. With

this move, Monfort was also a pioneer in

moving plants closer to the source of cattle

and in fabricating carcasses into boxed beef.




It also was the fi rst to move into portion

control when it acquired Mapelli Brothers.

And it fought its own battles with unions.

Another big name in U.S. beef process-

ing, Cargill, had its

genesis in the 1970s.

MBPXL was formed

in 1974 through the

merger of Kansas Beef

Industries, Wichita, KS, and Missouri Beef

Packers, Plainview, TX. Cargill, Inc. ac-

quired MBPXL in 1978 and for the next

decade, bought and sold plants. Cargill re-

named the business Excel Corporation in

1982 and did so again in 2004 to Cargill

Meat Solutions.

Monfort expanded in 1979 when it

bought a plant in Grand Island, NE. Th e

same year, it endured a 73-day strike at its

Greeley plant, which in part forced the plant

to close temporarily in 1980 and nearly put

Monfort out of business. Th e company re-

bounded and logged $1 billion in sales in

1982 for the fi rst time. But Ken Monfort

was a realist and knew the company’s near-

death experience might reoccur.

Salvation came in the form of an off er

from food company ConAgra, Inc. Th e

latter had long wanted to enter the meat

processing business and had unsuccessfully

tried to buy MBPXL. Instead, it acquired

in January 1987 family-owned E. A. Miller

in Utah. Just four months later, it bought

Monfort for $365 million and in Septem-

ber bought half of fourth largest beef packer

Swift Independent Packing Company (it

bought the rest nearly two years later).

Th is acquisition fl urry produced Con-

Agra Red Meat Companies which, in 1988,

became the second largest beef packer after

IBP. Th ird was Excel and fourth was Na-

tional Beef Packing (which was later reju-

venated by John Miller of the Utah Miller

family). Th e fl urry, though, also produced

increasing concerns by producers about

packer concentration.

“Th e four largest packers in the 1920s

and 1930s accounted for about 50 percent

of the cattle slaughter,” says Ball. “New en-

trants in the 1960s caused the concentra-

tion by the Big Four packers to reach a low

of 19 percent in 1977. But by 1987, it had

increased to 67 percent.” So the National

Cattlemen’s Association in 1988 conduct-

ed a one-year study of concentration and

integration between sectors.

NCA’s report bitterly disappointed

packer critics because it emphatically

concluded that “the free market is alive

and well…Th erefore we are unwilling to

recommend any major alternatives to the

existing system.” More mergers and acqui-

sitions were to follow in beef processing

from then until 2007. So criticism from

some quarters about “packer power” has

remained, more than 90 years after such

concerns were fi rst voiced.

Th e meat processing industry’s cyclical

and unpredictable nature meant fl eeting

ownership of some companies. Greyhound

Bus Lines and Dial Soap at one time owned

Amour and Wilson Sporting Goods owned

Wilson. Oil company Occidental owned

IBP in the early 1980s. ConAgra at least

was in the food business. But it tired of the

commodity nature of its red meat business

(which included pork) and in 2002, sold it

to two private in-

vestment fi rms for

$1.4 billion. Th e

entity thus became


Swift and Company and remained under

that name until JBS bought it.

IBP, meanwhile, as a publicly-owned

company (since 1986), became increas-

ingly frustrated at seeing its stock being

undervalued by investors. Th is propelled

it into a merger with poultry processor

Tyson Foods in 2001. Th e marriage start-

ed rockily, as Tyson tried to pull out of the

proposed deal and IBP took it to court

and won. But the partners quickly settled

down and Tyson is now the largest meat

and poultry company in the U.S. and the

second largest globally behind JBS.

National Beef over the past 14 years

morphed from being owned by producer

cooperative Farmland Industries into

being majority-owned by producer group

U.S. Premium Beef. Th e beef industry’s

latest change of ownership came in early

December 2011 when USPB and Nation-

al’s other owners agreed to sell 79 percent

of the company to investment fi rm Leu-

cadia National Cor-

poration in a $1.3 bil-

lion deal (including

$944 million in cash).

No summary of

recent packing industry history would

be complete without noting the tremen-

dous impact of food safety issues on the

sector. Th ese issues, notably around E.

coli O157:H7, forced companies as large

as BeefAmerica ($1 billion plus in sales)

out of business and the sale of several

family-owned, single-plant operations to

larger packers (such as Taylor Packing to

Cargill).

Packers have spent billions of dollars

on food safety since 1993’s Jack-in-the-

Box E. coli tragedy. Th is and the overall

increased cost of doing business are the

reasons why concentration levels in beef

processing have remained the same since

1995. Th e decline in the U.S. cattle herd for

each of the past fi ve years has also meant

the sector is shrinking, not growing. Th e

decline will also make it extremely dif-

fi cult, if not impossible, for new entrants

to get established. But what the industry

will look like in 90 years time, and which

names will survive, is anyone’s guess.

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[email protected]


As we turn 90 here at the Western Live-

stock Journal (WLJ), it seemed an oppor-

tune time to honor a few of the industry’s

great leaders and legends who we’ve been

fortunate to know through the years. True

to their individualistic cowboy roots, each

of these cattlemen and cattlewomen is an

original. Some went to the best colleges,

others went to the school of hard knocks.

Some are descended from great old ranch-

ing families, others built from scratch. But

uniformly, they are all remarkable people

who share a great passion for our industry,

and who have represented it with energy,

heart and humility.

It has also been our privilege to have

personally known these men and women

over the years—and in many cases, their

parents—as subscribers, readers, advertisers

and friends. So it is with pride and pleasure

that in telling their stories, we can also say

with great fondness… We go way back.

Gib YardleySeed Stock Visionary

Some people are never content to let well enough alone, and Gib Yardley is one of them. Th roughout his highly success-ful career, Yardley, owner of Yardley Cattle Company based in Beaver, UT, has been a driving force in the purebred cattle busi-ness. His willingness to embrace new tech-nologies, develop little known breeds, and challenge the conventions of the purebred industry has established Yardley Cattle Company as a leader in an extremely com-petitive fi eld.

Yardley’s great-grandfather settled in Utah’s Beaver River Valley in 1856. “[He] was one of the original settlers in this valley, and my family’s been here ever since,” says Gib. “And we’ve run cattle here ever since.”

In 1908, Yardley’s grandfather and

uncles expanded the operation when they purchased the beautiful mountain valley

ranch along Asay Creek for $5,000, to

which they later added several public land

grazing permits.

It was into this proud ranching tradition

that Gib Yardley was born in 1933.

Growing up, Yardley observed how

bucking tradition and experimenting with

new breeds could improve performance.

“Th ey used to have Red Durham cattle,

an old off shoot of the Shorthorns,” recalls

Yardley. “[Th en] my granddad brought the

fi rst Hereford cattle into this country from

Kansas in 1920. We had registered Her-

efords for a long time then.”

Young Yardley also proved to be pas-

sionate about cattle breeding at an early

age. When he was 17, he jumped on a

Greyhound bus and rode up to Denver to

see the stock show. In high school, he also

showed several Grand Champions as an

FFA member.

Today, under Yardley’s captaincy, Yard-

ley Cattle Company sells purebred Angus,

Simmental and Maine Anjou cattle, as well

as superior quality ranch horses.

Yardley has been a pioneer in popular-

izing the Simmental and Maine Anjou

breeds in America, which he began intro-

ducing to buyers some 45 years back. For

almost as long, Yardley has been employ-

ing artifi cial insemination (AI) technology

to introduce only the best genetics into his

herd.

“We do more [AI] than anybody in

Utah,” remarks Yardley. “We do from 350

to as high as 600” head a year.

Yardley’s passion and commitment to

raising top quality cattle has certainly paid

off . 2011 marked the ranch’s 39th annual

bull sale, which now typically sells between

175 and 200 head. Yardley’s popular female

by Andy Rieberby Andy Rieber

Gib with his father’s fi rst Grand Champion Market steer.


sale is now in its 34th year. Pens of Yard-

ley cattle have also been highly successful

entries at the Denver stock show—among

others—close to 40 years running.

Yardley sums up his success: “Th ey’re easy

on the eyes, and they grow and perform.”

Both as an advertiser and a reader, Yard-

ley is an enthusiastic supporter of WLJ,

dating from way back.

“My dad had the WLJ when I was a boy

and I used to read it, and I’ve read it ever

since,” Yardley explains. “I’ve been very

good friends with Pete Crow, and very

good friends with his dad [Dick].”

Yardley points out that as a permit holder,

getting good coverage of public lands issues

is important.

“One of the things I like the best about

the paper is that they keep up on all these

environmental issues that concern the

western range industry, like these environ-

mentalists that are trying to get the cattle

off the permits,” Yardley explains. “I’ve con-

gratulated Pete a bunch of times for those

excellent articles that keep us up to date on

issues that are of such vital concern to the

cattle business.”

Although Yardley has been at the fore-

front of many new innovations in the in-

dustry, he emphasizes that the success of

his operation is grounded on simple, time-

honored values: knowing good cattle, sat-

isfying buyers, and above all, close family

ties.

“Nothing’s more important than family,”

Yardley emphasizes, who together with

wife Denise has raised seven daughters

and one son. “I’ve been so grateful that my

kids all love the livestock business. It’s just

been such a joy to work with my kids, and

we have a wonderful working relationship.

Th ey all have grown to love the ranch and

the business, just like I have.”

Asked what WLJ headline he would like

to see run in 50 years, Yardley answered: “Ranch families continue to carry on ranching operations from one generation to the next.”

John FalenPassionate Public Lands Advocate

If you reside in the Great Basin but have never heard of John Falen, chances are you have been dwelling under a rock. A commercial cow/calf producer based out of Orovada, NV, Falen is known widely throughout the region not only as a con-summate cattleman, but also as a passionate and tireless servant to the industry. Th ese dual rolls as rancher and industry advocate have taken Falen on some big circles, not only throughout the West, but frequently

to Washington, D.C., on the business of

the Public Lands Council (PLC), of which

he is currently president.

“Th ey had a weak moment, and nomi-

nated me for that,” Falen quips.

Born in Caldwell, ID, in 1937, Falen

grew up on his parents’ remote South

Mountain ranch outside of Jordan Valley,

OR. After graduating from the University

of Idaho in 1960 with a degree in animal

science, Falen settled for a time in Idaho

where he began carving out a reputation as

an astute cattle trader.

“I’ve been involved in all phases of live-

stock industry,” Falen recollects. “I traded


Five industry legends share their Five industry legends share their history, their hopes for the future, history, their hopes for the future,

and a few great memories about the and a few great memories about the Western Livestock Journal.Western Livestock Journal.


Continued from page 57 cattle for a while, worked for a packing

house … buying butcher cattle, partnered

with a feedlot in Wilder, ID.”

But in 1977, Falen and his wife Sharon

fi nally settled in Orovada, NV, where they

leased and later bought the Home Ranch.

Th ere, they have raised reputation Charo-

lais-Angus cross cattle ever since, as well

as four very accomplished sons and daugh-

ters. Th e Falen family has a long his-

tory as subscribers to WLJ. Refl ecting on

the roll WLJ has played in shaping the

industry, Falen observes: “It’s been good. I

think the WLJ has been the strongest voice

for the overall livestock industry since I can

remember.”

Even back in Falen’s childhood home

on South Mountain, WLJ was a household

standard.

“I can remember my parents taking the

WLJ for years and years and years,” Falen

remarks. “And when my parents started to

go to some of the conventions, Dick Crow

would be there. I was a teenager, probably. I

really enjoyed talking to Dick. He had a lot

of knowledge, and asked really interesting

questions.”

Falen’s interest in advocating for the in-

dustry needed precious little encouragement

to take root. He chaired the Nevada Cattle-

men’s Association (NCA) Public Lands

Committee for over 20 years, only stepping

down this past November. He has also been

NCA president, chairman of the National

Cattlemen’s Beef Association Region Six,

and is currently president of PLC.

With several decades of experi-

ence representing public lands ranch-

ers, Falen is well positioned to take

a long view on the changes that have shaped

ranching in the West, particularly the forces

that eff ect public grazing.

“We still deal with the same problems

with BLM [Bureau of Land Manage-

ment],” Falen observes. “Faces change.

Challenges don’t change much.”

But Falen points out that public

lands ranchers are today facing some

new challenges as well, in particular,

an aggressive anti-grazing movement

that now actively seeks to eliminate graz-

ing on all public lands. Yet, interestingly,

through fi ghting a constant stream of law-

suits from these groups, ranchers and feder-

al agencies have often discovered that they

have more in common than they expected.

“It used to be that the main challenge

we had on these public lands was just the

BLM. Now over time with … John Marvel

[of Western Watersheds Project] and all

these other groups, it’s changed the dynam-

ics quite a little bit,” Falen remarks. “Prob-

ably for the fi rst time in history, the BLM

and the ranchers may be on the same page

against those folks.”

As a crystal ball gazer, Falen remains

staunchly optimistic about where public

lands ranching is headed.

“I’ve said for a long time, and I believe,

that we’ll be on these public lands as ranch-

ers for a long, long time yet, provided that

we stand up … and be counted... When

we lay down on the job, that’s when it’ll all

change.”

Asked what headline he would like to

run in WLJ 50 years from now, Falen an-

swered: “Th e livestock industry is alive and

well on public lands, and has proven that its stewardship of the public lands has been very fruitful.”




Dale LasaterA Family of Innovators

In south Texas, the name “Lasater”

needs no introduction. Th e Lasater family’s

ranching heritage dates back to Civil War

times when they raised sheep, along with

mules and horses for the military. Th e shift

to cattle ranching is dated to 1882 when

Ed C. Lasater and his father Albert pur-

chased a sprawling cattle ranch in what is

now Brooks County, TX.

Called Falfurrias Ranch, the operation at

one time spanned 350,000 acres and was

one of the largest in Texas. Th e town of

Falfurrias, founded by Ed Lasater in 1904,

is named after the ranch.

Tom Lasater, Ed’s son, was raised up

expecting to inherit this land and cattle

dynasty. Instead, the stock market crash of

’29 and the Great Depression all but deci-

mated his father’s storied empire.

“Th e great holdings, the huge ranch of

Dad’s father disappeared,” relates Dale La-

sater, Tom’s son. “All those things went by

the wayside.”

It was into this atmosphere of uncer-

tainty and loss that Dale himself was born

in 1943 in San Antonio. He was to fi nish

out the fi rst grade in Falfurrias before

his father Tom packed up the family and

moved to Matheson, CO, in 1950, looking

for aff ordable land and a new start in the

cattle business.

Tom not only succeeded in reestablish-

ing the Lasater family in ranching, he also

developed a strong, innovative bent that

would help lead the livestock industry into

new territory by developing the Beefmas-

ter breed and advancing an environmental

ranching ethic decades before “sustainable”

ranching became fashionable.

Dale recalls that throughout his child-

hood, the Lasater ranch in Colorado was a

place of ideas, discussion, experimentation,


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Continued from page 64 and frequent visits from people who were fascinated by Tom Lasater’s unorthodox approach to ranching, including the WLJ staff .

“Going back 60 years, Dad developed an intimate relationship with the Western Livestock Journal and with the array of edi-tors, photographers, and reporters who as-sociated with WLJ,” Dale recounts.

In particular, Dale believes Tom’s long

friendship with Forrest Bassford, WLJ publisher emeritus, played an integral part

in the development of Tom’s trailblazing

ideas.

“Forrest Bassford was not only an out-

standing journalist and writer, [he] became

over time a very close friend of my father,”

Dale explains. “…Dad had many seem-

ingly eccentric ideas, off -beat ideas. For-

rest Bassford was a good friend in the

sense that he questioned Dad and was

very willing to … discuss things with him.”

Many of these “off -beat” ideas are now

widely accepted in the livestock business,

such as discontinuing the use of insecticides

and hormones, and breeding cattle for traits

that are best suited to range conditions.

Dale also credits his grandmother,

Mary Miller Lasater, with sowing the

seeds of innovation. A city girl from

Galveston, TX, Mary insisted that Tom

go back east for schooling, sending him

to the prestigious Phillips Academy for

boarding school, and later to Princeton.

“I credit her with the creation of the

Beefmaster breed,” remarks Dale. “Dad re-

turned from the East … with a diff erent

perspective. He didn’t just do things the

way his neighbors did, or the way he would

have done had he never left south Texas.”

Dale, who himself attended Princeton

and was a Fullbright scholar, carries on

the tradition of innovation today by rais-

ing and marketing grass-fed beef and

standing behind an ecological approach to

ranching.

Dale has enjoyed WLJ not only for its

reporting, but also for expressing views on

how current events impact producers, and

why they may be positive or negative for

the industry.

“Pete Crow is continuing on that tradi-

tion today,” says Dale, “doing a great job and

being a clear voice for reason within our in-

dustry as we face … a changing world.”

In 50 years, Dale Lasater would like to

see this WLJ headline: “Ranchers … em-brace the necessity of learning from and un-derstanding the natural world, not just trying to control it and manipulate it to suit our own ends.”

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Continued from page 66success in business often brings status, priv-

ilege, and a certain distancing from one’s

fellow man. By contrast, Ellington Peek,

owner of the Shasta Livestock Auction

Yard in Cottonwood, CA, and principal

partner of Western Video Market, is living

testimony that modesty, close friendships,

and honesty are the coin of the realm in the

cattle business. Peek’s forward-thinking

development of video sales, along with his

legendary sincerity and gentlemanly style,

have truly taken the cattle industry into the

21st century.

Th e son of a reputation cattle buyer, Peek

was born in Stockton, CA, in 1928. Even

as a youngster in school, Peek was test-

ing his wings by doing a little bit of trad-

ing on his own while cowboying on the

side. “I’d buy a cow or two or something

when I was in high school,” Peek recalls.

It was in these early fl edgling days of

trading back in the ’40s that Peek became a

reader of WLJ.“[WLJ] was in Los Angeles at that

time,” reminisces Peek. “In those days,

they didn’t have auction yards, they had

mostly stock yards. …San Francisco had

a stockyard, Portland did too. Of course

Denver, Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City,

they had big ones.”

“Anyhow, when I was young, I’d read the

Western Livestock Journal and see how many

cows they had and what they brought. So

I always read the Livestock Journal, even

when I was a little guy.”

Perhaps Peek’s early interest in the cattle

market was a sign of greater things to come.


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Continued from page 68 By 1948, at the age of 20, Peek had

gotten himself started as a cattle trader in

earnest. Th en in 1955, opportunity knocked

when the Shasta Livestock Auction Yard

in Anderson, CA, became available. Peek

leased the sale yard, later buying it in 1962.

In 1966, with the support of local ranchers,

he was able to move the operation to its

present day location in Cottonwood.

Th e rest, as they say, is history. Shasta

Livestock is now the largest volume auc-

tion market west of the Rockies, moving

up to 100,000 live cattle through the ring

annually. Shasta has also been one of the

longest continually running advertisers in

WLJ, dating back to Peek’s fi rst years.

“I probably started advertising with

[WLJ] in 1956, maybe,” Peek recollects. “I

knew Pete [Crow]’s dad [Dick] real well.

He’d always call me a lot, to get informa-

tion. We’d see each other at conventions

and diff erent places.”

In 1989, Peek and partner John Rodgers

took livestock marketing to an entirely new

level by founding Western Video Market

(WVM), allowing sellers to present their

cattle before a national marketplace. Cur-

rently, WVM sells cattle from 16 western

states, moving almost half a million head

a year. Th e WVM monthly sale travels

throughout California, and also is held in

Nevada, Wyoming and Nebraska at certain

times of the year.

Needless to say, cattle marketing has

defi nitely changed since 1956.

“It’s more complicated,” Peek remarks.

“Lots more paperwork and lots more

detail.”

Yet some things, gratefully, are the same

as they ever were.

“Th e quality of the cattle is better now

than it was years ago,” Peek points out,

“but the ranchers are all the same. Most of

the ranchers have been there for years, and

have their families running the ranches.

Th ey’re all good friends of mine,” he says

warmly.

And therein, more than anything else,

lies the key to Peek’s success—genuine

relationships with his customers.

“You know, there isn’t much diff erence in

the market a lot of times, but it’s just how

you take care of your customers,” Peek ob-

serves. “I’ve probably made more deals than

most people over the telephone just with a

handshake and with nothing else. …We’re

all kind of family.”

In 50 years, Peek would like to see the

headline “Cattle sell at record price on satellite sale” grace WLJ. But he points out that by

that time, satellite technology will probably

be ancient history.


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Linda DavisStrong calling, deep roots

“Tequesquite” is the Spanish Indian

word for “alkali.” It is descriptive not only

of the dry and unforgiving country in

northeastern New Mexico, but also of the

toughness and resilience of the people who

settled it and their descendents who still

ranch there today. Linda Davis, daughter

of renowned cattleman Albert K. Mitchell,

is living testimony that these qualities are

still deeply rooted in the ranchers who call

this arid corner of the West their home.

Born in 1930 and raised on the family’s

remote Tequesquite Ranch, Davis grew up

160 miles from the nearest hospital and

schooled by a ranch-hired tutor. When

Davis’ mother tragically passed away in

1934, Mitchell single-handedly shoul-

dered the job of raising Davis and her two

brothers.

“My brothers and I were raised by my

dad,” Davis explains. “Now that I look

back on it after raising six children of my

own, I was quite an accomplishment for a




single man!” she chuckles.

Mitchell was a major fi gure in the

ranching industry at that time, serving

terms as president of the New Mexico

Cattle Growers’ Association and the Na-

tional Cattlemen’s Association, as well as

serving in the legislature. In addition to

running the Tequesquite Ranch, Mitch-

ell also managed the Bell Ranch through

most of the ’30s and into the ’40s.

“He fl ew a plane, and was active in

everything,” Davis recalls. “My dad was

probably ‘Mr. Cowman’ of the last century.

He was well-known and very busy in the

industry.”

Mitchell also was closely connected

with WLJ. He and WLJ founder Nelson

Crow often worked together advocating

for ranchers. Th e common purpose would

form the foundation of a long friendship.

“Nelson Crow and my dad were great

friends,” recalls Davis. “Th ey served to-

gether on many …advisory boards. Th ey

worked very, very closely for the ben-

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agriculture had immediate post war.”

Although it was rare for the time,

Mitchell often brought his children with

him to industry functions. Davis remem-

bers that even as a young person, Nelson

Crow made a favorable impression on her.


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Continued from page 78“Cattle people can’t express themselves,

in general, [but] Nelson Crow was a mar-velous speaker,” Davis reflects. “He could keep an audience in these meetings just mesmerized with …his use of the language and his kind way.”

In 1952, Davis graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, with a degree in agricultural economics.

“It was an eye-opening experience, and probably the turning point in my life,” ac-knowledges Davis. “I … realized the respon-sibilities that we in agriculture have.”

“The thing that changed my life more than anything [is] the fact that I got out of New Mexico,” says Davis. “I had done all the practical things on a ranch, and I knew southwestern ranching.” But the responsi-bilities of feeding the world after the devas-tation of the Second World War represented a new and important calling for Davis as a cattle producer.

In 1952, Davis returned home to help her father run the Tequesquite. She married Les Davis in 1953 and moved to the CS Ranch. Founded by Les’ grandfather, the CS had originally been part of the Maxwell Land Grant. The ranch continues on in the Davis family to this day.

“It’s a commercial cow/calf operation,” says Davis. “It’s family owned and run, and it’s been in business since Feb. 21, 1873.”

At 81, Davis is actively running the CS Ranch with her children. Asked if she gets ahorseback much, Davis answers “Yup. I sure do. Whenever we work cattle.”

“I stay very active,” Davis adds. “I feed the crew most every day. If I get called away, I usually have a backup somewhere.”

Indeed, Davis sometimes has need of a backup. She has been an on-call EMT for over 10 years, as well as having served on the Cattlemen’s

Beef Board, the National Cattlemen’s Foundation, and a lengthy list of other in-dustry groups. She is also currently on the board of the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center.

When asked what headline she would like WLJ to run in 50 years, Davis answers,

“Right now with the drought situa-tion that we have, I would love to see the headline: Due to the great moisture situation throughout the agricultural lands of America, we are producing the best crop in history.”


by James Robbby James RobbLivestock Marketing Information CenterLivestock Marketing Information Center

Drought and record high feedstuff costs in 2011 forced continued down-sizing in the U.S. beef cowherd. In the last few years, cattle producers have become all too familiar with every-thing from record high corn costs to the most severe economic contraction since the Great Depression. In spite of all that, annual average calf prices posted record highs in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011.

In calendar year 2011, the annual average fed cattle price surged 20 per-cent above a year ago. In the Southern Plains, steer calf (500- to 600-pound) prices in 2011 averaged 21 percent, or over $25 per cwt., above 2010’s. Year-ling steer (700- to 800-pound) prices increased 22 percent in 2011 versus 2010’s. But the only real benefi ciaries of those price levels were cow/calf pro-

ducers and breeding stock providers in non-drought regions. Cattle feed-ers’ margins struggled in 2011 with red ink on closeouts dominating the months of May through December.

Even though there are lots of un-knowns, cattle and beef prices are ex-pected to continue higher in 2012 and 2013. How high calf and yearling prices go depends on two factors: 1) the eco-nomic environment (domestic and foreign); and 2) feedstuff costs. Breed-ing stock prices are forecast to set new highs. Profi t margins will remain strong for cow/calf producers, but tight cattle supplies, high feedstuff costs, and ex-cess capacity will stress feeding margins. Packer margins will be under pressure due to excess capacity and diffi culty passing on high beef prices to their cus-tomers (retailers and restaurants).

Cattle inventory, production and beef demand: Where we are

Heading into 2011, the U.S. beef cowherd was expected to show signs of stabilizing, following several years of declines. But drought and record high grain prices took that prospect away.

As of July 1, 2011, the total number of all cattle and calves was 1.1 percent (1.1 million head) below a year ago. Th at was the fi fth consecutive annual decline. Th e number of beef cows at 31.4 million head declined by 1.1 per-cent (about 350,000 head) compared to a year earlier. According to the mid-year report, the number of beef heifers held as replacements continued to shrink with a year-on-year drop of 4.5 percent. By historical standards,


the number of replacement beef heif-ers implies further beef cowherd re-ductions are ahead.

As the third quarter of 2011 pro-gressed, drought intensifi ed in Texas and reached west-to-east from Ari-zona to Georgia and north into Kan-sas. Southern Plains pasture and range conditions were devastated and hay costs surged to all-time record highs. As of mid-summer, over 25 percent of the U.S. beef cowherd was in major drought zones. Also, high grain prices have caused some mixed cropping/cow operations in the Midwest and some additional states to reduce for-age production (hay and pasture) and eliminate or downsize their livestock enterprise to focus on selling grain.

In contrast to the multi-decade low in cattle numbers, U.S. beef produc-tion in 2011 was the smallest in just two years. Of course, the long-term shrinkage in cattle numbers has largely been made up for by heavier carcass weights. In most years, U.S. beef pro-duction has not declined even with a shrinking cowherd. Although beef production is the major contributor to domestic supply, a better represen-tation of beef availability is per capita consumption (or more correctly, disap-pearance per person).

Per capita consumption takes beef production, adjusts for two factors (international trade and stocks in cold storage), and then divides by popula-tion. Th e U.S. population is growing. U.S. per capita consumption of beef has been dropping quickly. Importantly, es-pecially in recent years, declines in U.S. per person consumption refl ect increas-ing purchases by overseas consumers.

After adjusting for population and in-ternational trade (exports and imports), U.S. production is put on a retail weight basis (estimated weight at grocery store, not actually eaten, and including bones, etc.). In 2011, per capita retail weight

consumption of beef was 57.5 pounds, which will be the smallest since before 1955. U.S. per capita beef consumption peaked at 94.6 pounds in 1976.

In recent years, increasing exportsContinued on page 91

Livestock Marketing Information CenterData Source: USDA-AMS, Compiled & Anaylsis by LMIC

ESTIMATED AVERAGE COW CALF RETURNSReturns Over Cash Cost (Includes Pasture Rent), Annual

$ Per Cow

150

100

50

0

-50

-100 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

ANNUAL AVERAGE CATTLE PRICES Southern Plains

$ Per Cwt

155

135

115

95

75

55 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013

Livestock Marketing Information CenterData Source: USDA-AMS, Compiled & Anaylsis by LMIC

— 500-600 lb. Steer Calves

— 700-600 lb. Feeder Calves

— Fed Calves


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April 14, 2012

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20 Yearling Angus Bulls 14 Two-Year-Old Bulls

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Continued from page 87have compensated for lower U.S. per person beef consumption. Further, beef prices would not be where they are today if it were not for record ex-port demand. On a tonnage basis, U.S. beef exports in 2011 fi nally eclipsed pre-BSE levels. Remember, U.S. beef exports collapsed after the Decem-ber 2003 BSE incident; on an annual basis, U.S. beef export tonnage rep-resented 9.5 percent of production in 2003 and fell to 1.9 percent in 2004.

Of course, U.S. per capita beef con-sumption is not the same thing as beef demand; consumption is just one of two important components of the domestic beef demand relationship.

Demand is a relationship that also incorporates a price dimension. Often, aggregate consumer demand for beef uses per capita retail sales weight and a rather crudely calculated infl ation ad-justed retail beef price by USDA using data collected to calculate the national rate of infl ation (Consumer Price In-dex). According to those quarterly indexes, beef demand has improved slightly on a year-over-year basis, but remains below pre-recession levels.

Estimated U.S. cow/calf returns for 2011

Economic incentives to expand beef U.S. cowherds have increased each of the last two years. Since the early

1970s, the Livestock Marketing Infor-mation Center (LMIC) has estimated cow/calf returns over cash costs plus pasture rent based on typical produc-tion and marketing practices in the Southern Plains. Th e estimated num-bers are designed for market analysis, thus, actual cow/calf returns will vary considerably, especially in drought years like this year.

For 2011, as calculated by LMIC, most non-drought impacted cow/calf operations will cover their cash pro-

duction costs plus they will have sig-nifi cant money available for their fi xed costs (management, operator labor, etc.). In fact, the estimated LMIC return will be about $90 per cow, the highest since 2005.

Over time, estimated cow/calf re-turns have varied dramatically. Th e most recent negative return year was 2009 (-$31 per cow). Years of posi-tive and negative returns tend to be in clusters. In the last 37 years of LMICestimates, 14 years, or 38 percent,

1:00 p.m. MST * At the Ranch, Benkelman, NebraskaSelling 80 High Performance, Moderate Birth Weight, Carcass-Tested Bulls.Flash: Selling 60 registered and commercial heifers. A.I. bred and serviced by low birth weight JSAR Bulls.Genetics represented include 2-time National Champion Gambles Hot Rod, Woodhill Mainline, JSAR Design Doctor, OCC Doctor, OCC General, War Direction, EXT, NEW Design 878, Bando 1029, BC Maverick, Mytty in Focus and JSAR Rodman.

Top Cut Angus Sale Thursday, March 22, 2012

Live Internet auction service available.

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Where Cattle That Perform Look Good!GREGG STEWART, WASHINGTON, KS 785-325-2089 KENT STEWART 979-777-7919 BRIGHAM STEWART 785-747-8028

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OPPORTUNITYA Dam with 3@85 birth weight ratio

highlighted this Maverick Son. This calving ease specialist sold to Voboril Land &

Cattle in Overland Park, Kansas. Many powerful Mavericks sell this year.

X2The 64# birth weight JSAR Titan 201 sold to Oak Ridge Farms in Indiana, Brandon Bird in

Texas, Rich Mort in Indiana, Strolberg Farms in Nebraska, and Scott Whaley in Indiana. A full brother and many more outstanding low birth weight sons of JSAR Rodman sell this year.

JSAR TITAN

This War Direct son caught everyone’s attention last year for his overwhelming

stoutness and herd topping performance. Sold to Boyd Yeik in Yoder, Wyoming.

X57Calving east to burn with just a 65# actual birth weight. A phenotypical

marvel out of an outstanding ET Dam. Sold to Carl Blackwell Co. The Rodman’s

will stand out this year as well.

X37This Maternal Marvel, JSAR Mr

Maverick 2006X has back to back Pathfi nder females in his pedigree. His daughters should be exciting to see at

Roche Cattle Co, in Parma, Idaho.

X80

This Mainline Son was a top Herdsire Prospect last year. His 78# birth weight exploded to a 1,429 adjusted yearling weight. The famous ABS Bull Woodhill Mainline will see natural

service here this year. Thanks to the Gramm Ranch in Stratton, Colorado, for this purchase.

X50This standout Maverick Female hit on all

cogs. Outstanding performance, impeccable phenotype with maternal and calving ease.

Sold to Mike Hughes in Rosanky Texas with a 66# Rodman bull calf at her side. Many more

like her sell this year.

W46


had negative returns, with only fi ve of those years posting losses greater than $75 per cow (1975, 1976, 1983, 1984 and 1996). Over that same time frame, seven years had estimated positive re-turns of over $75 per cow (1987, 1990, 1991, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2011).

Where are we headed?On a national basis, another sig-

nifi cant year-on-year cattle inventory decline will be reported as of Jan. 1, 2012. Texas and Oklahoma, for ex-

ample, will likely record their largest annual beef cowherd percentage drops ever during 2011. Nationwide, the beef cowherd likely declined by a full 2 percent during 2011.

Regional changes in the location of the U.S. beef cowherd will likely con-tinue for at least the next year. Besides drought-impacted states, beef cow-herd numbers will likely continue to shrink in some Midwest states as more mixed cropping/cow operations down-size or exit the sector. Some southeast

states also will continue to switch to intensive crop production at the ex-pense of cows. In contrast, producers in many northern states will increase their cowherds in 2011. Beef cowherd increases will be most prevalent in the Northern Plains, Central Plains, and western states. In 2011, some of those cows, especially in the Central Plains, were relocated from drought-plagued states.

If drought in the Southern Plains subsides signifi cantly, 2012 will be-come a year of transition toward national beef cowherd stabiliza-tion. Th at is, cow slaughter will drop dramatically and heifer hold-back for breeding purposes will gain mo-mentum. Still, as reported by USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Ser-vice, year-over-year increases in the number of beef cows that have calved in the U.S. could easily be delayed un-til Jan. 1, 2015.

In 2012, LMIC estimates beef pro-duction will drop to just over 25 billion pounds, the smallest since 2005. Th at will translate into per capita consump-tion of about 55.5 pounds (retail weight basis), down about 2 pounds from 2011’s. Preliminary LMIC forecasts put that number even lower in 2013 (about 53.7 pouds) as cattle slaughter and beef production decline. If U.S.


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Continued from page 92 beef exports do not collapse, the amount of beef available to U.S. con-sumers per person will erode further after 2013.

Th ere are implications of tighter beef supplies. Beef prices will continue to set record highs. How much will de-pend on the strength of both the U.S. and world economies. Th e growth rate of U.S. beef export tonnage will likely be capped by tight supplies and asso-ciated record high beef prices. Unfor-tunately for beef industry participants, given biological lags in the beef pro-duction system, poultry and pork may begin back-fi lling domestic and foreign consumer demand be-ginning as early as late 2012.

Price and return outlook for 2012

Forecasts for 2012 put the slaughter steer price 5 percent to 8 percent above 2011’s. Th e strongest fed cattle prices of the year are forecast to be in the sec-ond and fourth quarters, similar to the seasonal pattern of 2011. For the fi rst time ever, quarterly average fed cattle prices over $120 per cwt. are expected. Cull cow prices should follow into new record high territory.

In the Southern Plains, forecasts call for cattle prices in 2012 to increase, however, the rate of gain should mod-erate compared to the surge of 2011. Fed cattle prices are forecast to post an 8 percent to 10 percent year-over-year gain in 2012. A strong fed cat-tle market should keep yearling and calf prices setting new record highs.


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Continued from page 97However, yearling and calf price per-centage increases in much of 2012 could be below those of fed cattle due to high feedstuff costs and red ink for cattle feeders.

Th e major uncertainty for year-ling and calf prices in 2012 is feed-stuff costs. Currently, forecasts are for feedstuff costs to remain histori-cally high but to moderate as the new growing season progresses. For the calendar year, 700- to 800-pound steers in the Southern Plains are fore-cast to average 5 percent to 8 percent above 2011’s, which would be in the $140s per cwt. for the fi rst time ever.

In the Southern Plains, calf prices (500- to 600-pound steers) are fore-cast to average in the $150s, 3 per-cent to 7 percent above 2011’s. If a normal yielding U.S. corn crop with increased acreage harvested develops in 2012 as expected, calf prices in the fourth quarter of 2012 will be well supported. Cow/calf returns in 2012 should exceed 2005’s record (estimat-ed by LMIC at about $165 per cow).

Prices and returns in 2013Both the U.S. and world economies

must grow if consumers are going to pay higher and higher beef prices. In 2013, continued anemic economic growth could limit cattle price gains.

Preliminary forecasts indicate that 2013’s year-over-year increase in fed cattle prices could be 2 percent to 6 percent. Yearling and calf prices are forecast to largely follow those of fed cattle. Planning prices for steer calf prices in the fourth quarter of 2013 slightly above 2012’s currently look realistic, and could be conservative. If those prices materialize, cow/calf returns in 2013 will set a new record high because the up trend in calf and cull animal sale prices are forecasted to out-pace production cost increases.

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by Traci Eathertonby Traci EathertonEditor, Western Livestock JournalEditor, Western Livestock Journal

Scientifi c breakthroughs in technol-ogy, medicine and animal nutrition have changed the structure of livestock production over the past 90 years.

1920sDuring this decade, ranchers and

farmers saw the beginning of the use of mechanized power, creating an in-crease in farm production.

Total population: 105,710,620; farm population: 31,614,269; farmers 27 percent of labor force; number of farms: 6,454,000; average acres: 148

Agricultural exports: $1.94 billion/year or 42 percent of total exports.

Agricultural surpluses became a primary agricultural issue, with prices refl ecting the boom in production, be-

ginning 20 years of an agricultural de-pression.

Th e cotton-stripper was developed, along with the fi rst successful light tractor.

Ceres wheat was distributed and the fi rst hybrid-seed corn company was organized.

Truckers began to capture trade in perishables and dairy products.

Th e Hoch-Smith Resolution re-quires the Interstate Commerce Com-mission to consider agricultural condi-tions in setting railroad rates.

1930sTh e Great Depression set in during

this decade, changing agriculture in a number of ways. Farm prices, along

with income, decreased dramatically.Total population: 122,775,046;

farm population: 30,455,350; farmers 21 percent of labor force; number of farms: 6,295,000; average acres: 157; irrigated acres: 14,633,252

Agricultural exports: $765 million/year or 32 percent of total exports.

One farmer fed and supplied 9.8 people in the U.S. and abroad.

15-20 labor hours required to pro-duce 100 bushels (2-1/2 acres) of corn with 2-bottom gang plow, 7-foot tan-dem disk, 4-section harrow, 2-row planters, cultivators, and pickers; 15-20 labor hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with 3-bottom gang plow, tractor, 10-foot tandem disk, harrow, 12-foot combine, and trucks

Th e Taylor Grazing Act was created, withdrawing public lands from settle-ment, location, sale or entry.

Penicillin came into wide use in human health during the 30s, and it opened the door for similar discoveries in veterinary medicine.

Feed additives were also beginning to play a roll. Researchers were work-ing on improving the feed that cattle, hogs and poultry were being given. During the war, there was a shortage of livestock feed crops, yet the prices for meat were record high. So, live-stock producers looked for synthetic compounds to supplement their feed. Urea was the fi rst organic chemical to be synthesized, and in the 1930s, it became a valuable feed supplement. Producers realized that if they spent a little money on urea, they made much more by increasing their meat produc-tion. Cattle grew faster. Poultry were

102


much more productive.Th e all-purpose, rubber-tired trac-

tor with complementary machinery became a popular item on farms and ranches.

In 1938, a cooperative was orga-nized for artifi cial insemination of dairy cattle.

Bankhead-Jones Agricultural Re-search Act more than doubles federal support of extension work.

1940sWorld War II ended during this de-

cade. Th e business of manufacturing animal feed began to boom as more was discovered about animal growth.

Total population: 131,820,000; farm population: 30,840,000; farmers 18 percent of labor force; number of farms: 6,102,000; average acres: 175; irrigated acres: 17,942,968


One farmer would feed and supply 10.7 people in the U.S. and abroad.

10-14 labor hours required to pro-duce 100 bushels (2 acres) of corn with tractor, 3-bottom plow, 10-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow, 4-row planters and cultivators, and 2-row picker; 42 labor hours required to produce 100 pounds (2/5 acre) of lint cotton with

2 mules, 1-row plow, 1-row cultivator, hand hoe, and hand pick

Land-grant college enrollment in-creases greatly as veterans enroll under the G.I. bill.

In 1943, microbiologist Selman Waksman was working at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Sta-tion and discovered the next genera-tion miracle drug called streptomycin. He discovered the compound in some mold on a clod of earth extracted from the throat of a sick chicken. When

they tested the new drug on animals and, eventually, humans, it proved ef-fective on many of the same diseases as penicillin, and even more eff ective on a larger list. Th e new diseases that streptomycin was eff ective on included tuberculosis, pneumonia, urinary in-fections, typhoid fever and dysentery.

In spite of the obvious human health benefi ts, Waksman had actually been working on drugs for livestock, and most of the new antibiotics that


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Continued from page 103developed during this period were used on animals as well. Streptomycin alone helped wipe out bovine tuberculosis, a disease that was widespread before.

It also helped defeat mastitis, an in-fection in the udders of dairy cattle.

As antibiotics began to be used in livestock herds, farmers and research-ers noticed a curious thing—the ani-mals were not only healthier, but they also grew faster on the same amount of feed.

Folic acid had been shown to be an important nutrient for poultry and animal nutrition in 1946. Vitamin B12 was discovered in 1948 and shown to be an important growth factor.

In the early 1940s, frozen foods be-came popular.

Th e 1940s began what was called the second American agriculture revolu-tion as farmers switching from horses to tractors became the norm. Acre-ages of crops, such as oats, required for horse and mule feed dropped sharply

as farms used more tractors.U.S. saw an increase of use in herbi-

cides and pesticides.U.S. cooperated with Mexico to

prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

1950sDuring the 1950s, the U.S. entered

into a recession. Total population: 151,132,000;

farm population: 25,058,000; farmers 12.2 percent of labor force; number of farms: 5,388,000; average acres: 216; irrigated acres: 25,634,869


One farmer would feed and supply 15.5 people in the U.S. and abroad.

6-1/2 labor hours required to pro-duce 100 pounds (4 acres) of wheat with tractor, 10-foot plow, 12-foot row weeder, harrow, 14-foot drill, self-pro-pelled combine and trucks.

In 1958, the Humane Slaughter Act became legislation.

Legislation provides for the Great Continued on page 108

Carter Family AngusBULL SALEFebruary 13, 2012

Special Event Center at Haythorn Ranch

17 miles north of Ogallala, Nebr.

All bulls will have DNA-Enhanced

EPDs

AI SIRES REPRESENTED

Selling first sons of

Flag Cross Country

Selling first sons of

Visiontopline Royal Stockman

Carter Family AngusNow in Arthur, Nebr. and Julesburg, Colo.

[email protected]

OUR PROGRAM WORKS

See our bulls on display at the National

Show

...see it ...buy it ...use it


LIKE FATHER LIKE SON- THE LEGACY CONTINUES

AT THE SPANISH RANCH WITH BD CUYAMA BRIGHT SIDE 7201T.

Calving Ease • Top FE • Top Tenderness• Fertility • Disposition

Daniel and Pamela Doiron805-245-0434 [email protected]

IBBA Reg. No.R10115207Semen available $40 per straw.

Continued from page 106 Plains Conservation Program.

Trucks and barges compete success-fully for agricultural products as rail-road rates rise.

For his streptomycin discov-ery, Waksman received the No-bel prize for medicine in 1952.

In the early 1950s, chloramphenicol and tetracycline were discovered and introduced as antibiotics.

Th e number of tractors on farms exceeded the number of horses and

mules for the fi rst time.Anhydrous ammonia was increas-

ingly used as a cheap source of nitro-gen, spurring higher yields.

In 1959, a mechanical tomato har-vester was developed.

1960sTh e 1960s saw the beginning of

the Vietnam War, helping to expand businesses, including agriculture.

Total population: 180,007,000; farm population: 15,635,000; farmers

8.3 percent of labor force; number of farms: 3,711,000; average acres: 303; irrigated acres: 33,829,000

Agricultural exports: $5.76 billion/year or 22.9 percent of total exports.

One farmer could feed and supply 25.8 people in the U.S. and abroad.

5 labor hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 12-foot plow, 14-foot drill, 14-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks

Along with the Wilderness Act, other agricultural legislation, includ-ing some that would help keep land in farming, increased.

Financial condition of northeastern railroads deteriorated in the 1960s, with rail abandonments common. Agricultural shipments by cargo planes increased. 99 percent of all sugar beets and 96 percent of all cot-ton was harvested mechanically.

Th e U.S. government began to of-fer federal loans and grants for water/sewer systems.

1970sIn the 1970s, antibiotic resistance


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Continued from page 108 became a hot topic, and infl ation outran economic growth.

Total population: 204,335,000; farm population: 9,712,000; farm-ers 4.6 percent of labor force; num-ber of farms: 2,780, 000; average acres: 390

Agricultural exports: $19.8 bil-lion/year or 19 percent of total ex-ports.

One farmer would feed and sup-ply 75.8 persons in the U.S. and abroad.

3-3/4 labor hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 30-foot sweep disk, 27-foot drill, 22-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks; 3-1/3 labor hours required to pro-duce 100 bushels (1-1/8 acres) of corn with tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot herbicide applicator, 12-foot selfpropelled combine and trucks

No-tillage agriculture techniques became popular.

Molecular biologist Paul Berg pi-oneered the techniques that make possible the transfer of genes from

one strand of DNA to another.In 1979, the American Agricul-

ture Movement organized a “trac-torcade” demonstration in Wash-ington, D.C.

1980s

Th e 1980s saw another reces-sion, and a farm fi nancial crisis aff ected farmers with heavy debt loads.

Total population: 227,020,000; farm population: 6,051,000; farmer 3.4 percent of la-bor force; number of farms: 2,439,510; average acres: 426; ir-rigated acres: 50,350,000 (1978)

Agricultural exports: $35.6 bil-lion/year or 15 percent of total exports.

3 labor hours required to pro-duce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 35-foot sweep


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Our bulls are pasture raised and no ‘bunker’ ever. Bulls are in working condition that will stay that way.

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Continued from page 110 disk, 30-foot drill, 25-foot self-pro-pelled combine and trucks; 2-3/4 labor hours required to produce 100 bush-els (1-1/8 acres) of corn with tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot herbicide applicator, 12-foot self-propelled combine and trucks

Th e Southeast’s then worst summer drought on record takes a severe toll on many farmers, and global warming be-comes the new concern of scientists.

More farmers began using no-till or low-till methods to curb erosion.

Farmland values bottom out after a six-year decline, signaling both a turn-around in the farm economy and in-creased competition with other coun-tries’ exports.

After several slow years, the end of the ’80s saw sales of farm equipment rebounding.

In the late ’80s, more farmers began to use low-input sustainable agricul-ture techniques to decrease chemical

applications.Low prices and growing debt aff ect

many farmers in the Midwest; many rural counties decline in population. Willie Nelson hosts his fi rst Farm Aid concert to benefi t farmers.

30 million acres are retired under the Conservation Reserve Program of the 1985 Food Security Act.

1990sTh e recession ended in the begin-

ning of the ’90s, boosting net farm in-come to a record $54.9 billion. Rural counties begin to gain population af-ter losing ground in the 1980s.

Total population: 261,423,000; farm population: 2,987,552; farmers 2.6 percent of labor force; number of farms: 2,143,150; average acres: 461; irrigated acres: 49,404,000 (1992)

Agricultural exports: $48.2 billion/year or 9.5 percent of total exports.

One farmer could feed and supply an estimated 100 people.

Negotiations begin for a free-trade agreement with Mexico and Con-gress approved General Agreement on Tarrifs and Trade. In addition, the new North American Free Trade



For more than 50 Years, the ALGOMA ANGUS CATTLE have been defi ning performance with Practical Effi ciency.

Sound, Fertile, Moderate Framed, Easy Fleshing Females that work hard and

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Our bulls averaged 900 lbs. at weaning on 10-28-11 without creep feed.

Great Udders that will hold up forthe lifetime of the cow.

Moderate Birth Weight, Rapid Growth … Genetics they pass on to their calves.

Natural Muscling, Carcass Quality, Maternal Traits … ALL in an

eye-appealing package!

Our Bulls always sell with Performance and Ultrasound data.

In addition, they are also tested PI-Negative for BVD and are fully

vaccinated and semen tested.

“Algoma Queen Velvet R32”, a 2-year-old “SAV Final Answer” daughter and her

calving-ease son of, “Tehama 944 R525”.Lot 2: “R37”, Reg. #17013101, weaned off his dam at 980 lbs.

ROBERT, KATHLEEN BUCHANAN & FAMILY 13490 Algoma Rd., Klamath Falls, OR 97601 541-883-8471Catt le Bus iness , Our ONLY Bus iness

Sound Feet and Legs. At weaning the bulls are conditioned on a steep juniper covered

hillside. These are NOT overfed bulls. They will be ready for the 2012 breeding season!

Selling many sons of this carcass, growth and docility sire, B/R New Day 454 (AAA #14675445) including 5 full brothers from our great donor “B709”.

DON’T MISS THESE BULLS and OTHERS sired by: SAV Bismarck, Sitz Upward, Harb Pendleton, Te-hama 944 R525, SAV Final Answer, SAV Pioneer,TC Aberdeen, New Day 454, Prime Star,

and others. Many Calving-ease bulls and some Herd Sires sell at:

Call Today for your Sale Book or more

information.

HEREFORD & ANGUS BULLS & FEMALESTHICK, MODERATE FRAME, HIGH MATERNAL QUALITY!

Bulls & Females AvailableCampwood Route

Prescott, AZ 86301

Steve Pierce 928/445-7949Larry Stark 928/778-1962

Continued from page 112 Agreement lowered trade barriers and enhanced export prospects.

Th e information technology begins to catch on in agriculture—precision tech-niques become increasingly popular.

Biotechnology brought important new developments in dairy, corn and other commodities; genetically engi-neered crops and livestock appear.

Livestock waste and runoff becomes a concern.

USDA meat inspection programs are modernized in response to con-cerns about food safety.

In 1994, farmers begin using atellite technology to track and plan their farming practices. Th e use of con-servation tillage methods, which leave crop residues in the fi eld to combat erosion, continues to rise.

Th e Food and Drug Administration grants fi rst approval for a whole food produced through biotechnology.

Farm Bureau celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Th e fi rst weed and insect-resistant biotech crops—soybeans and cotton—are available commercially.

2000sBy the 2007 census, there were

2,204,792 farms (75,810 more farms than in 2002), and 922,095,840 acres (a loss of over 6 million acres since 2002).

Th e mid 2000s saw 346,231 farms, or 38,547,450 acres, enrolled in con-servation programs.

125,000 farms produced 75 per-cent of the value of U.S. agriculture production.

A shift to female farmers and ranch-ers recorded 306,209 women in charge (a 30 percent increase from 2002).

Table 3. Acrossbredd EPDs on an Angus Base for the Ten Largest Breeds Birth Weaning Yearling Milk Backfat Ribeye Marbling Wt. Wt. Wt. Area 1 Angus 1.9 44.0 81.0 21.0 0.009 0.27 0.39 2 Hereford 6.4 43.5 56.9 (0.7) (0.048) 0.15 (0.28) 3 Charolais 9.1 65.0 92.6 11.6 (0.223) 1.07 (0.48) 4 Simmental 5.5 56.9 81.5 19.3 (0.198) 1.03 (0.47) 5 Red Angus 2.0 30.5 52.3 15.5 (0.038) (0.04) 0.08 6 Gelbvieh 5.1 44.9 63.6 24.2 n/a n/a n/a 7 Brangus 4.9 38.9 57.0 12.3 N/A N/A N/A 8 Limousin 5.6 42.9 47.7 7.6 N/A 1.57 (0.73) 9 Beefmaster 7.4 47.4 54.9 4.6 N/A N/A N/A 10 Shorthorn 7.9 31.9 64.7 21.6 (0.171) 0.37 0.02

Table 2. Breed Average EPDs for the Ten Largest Breeds Birth Weaning Yearling Milk Backfat Ribeye Marbling Wt. Wt. Wt. Area 1 Angus 1.9 44 81 21 0.009 0.27 0.39 2 Hereford 3.6 45 74 18 0.003 0.22 0.04 3 Charolais 0.6 25 44 7 (0.001) 0.20 0.03 4 Simmental 0.7 31 57 4 0.020 0.08 0.04 5 Red Angus (0.03) 32 61 17 0.000 0.08 0.08 6 Gelbvieh 1.3 41 74 14 n/a 0.10 0.04 7 Brangus 0.8 24 43 11 0.002 0.29 0.15 8 Limousin 2.0 42 79 21 N/A 0.51 (0.04) 9 Beefmaster 0.6 11 17 2 0.010 0.03 0.00 10 Shorthorn 2.0 14 23 2 (0.020) 0.13 0.12

Table 1. US MARC Adjustment Factors to Add to EPDs of Ten Largest Breedsto estimate Acrossbreed ELDs Birth Weaning Yearling Milk Backfat Ribeye Marbling Wt. Wt. Wt. Area 1 Angus - - - - - - - 2 Hereford 2.8 (1.5) (17.1) (18.7) (0.051) (0.07) (0.32) 3 Charolais 8.5 40.1 48.9 4.6 (0.222) 0.87 (0.41) 4 Simmental 4.8 25.9 24.5 15.3 (0.218) 0.95 (0.51) 5 Red Angus 2.3 (1.5) (8.7) (1.5) (0.038) (0.12) - 6 Gelbvieh 3.8 3.9 10.4 10.2 n/a n/a n/a 7 Brangus 4.1 14.9 14.0 1.3 N/A N/A N/A 8 Limousin 3.6 0.9 (31.3) (13.4) N/A 1.06 (0.69) 9 Beefmaster 6.8 36.4 37.9 2.6 N/A N/A N/A 10 Shorthorn 5.9 17.9 41.7 19.6 (0.151) 0.24 (0.10)

IF YOU SELL ’EM BY THE POUND...

st

MARCH 8, 2012


Acrossbreed EPD adjustmentsAcrossbreed EPD adjustmentsas a comparison of breedsas a comparison of breeds

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ALL BREEDSALL BREEDSMar.17 – Utah Beef Improvement Assn, Bull TestSale, Salina, UT

ANGUSANGUSFeb. 6 – Windmill Angus, Production Sale, Haigler, NEFeb. 8 – Meadow Acres Angus, Production Sale,Echo, ORFeb. 9 – Booth’s Cherry Creek Angus Ranch, BullSale, Veteran, WYFeb. 10 – McConnell Angus, Bull Sale, Dix, NEFeb. 11 –Bradley 3 Ranch, Ltd., Bull Sale, Estelline,TXFeb. 11 – Schaff Angus Valley, Production Sale, St.Anthony, NDFeb. 13 – Carter Family Angus, Bull Sale, HaythornRanch, Ogallala, NEFeb. 14 – Double R Ranch, Production Sale, Eltopia, WAFeb. 14 – Kessler Angus Ranch, Milton-Freewater, ORFeb. 18 – Minert/Simonson Angus, Bull Sale,Dunning, NEFeb. 18 – Nix Angus, Nevada Cattlemen’s Association,All Breed Bull Sale, Fallon, NVFeb. 20 – Bulls of the Big Sky Sale, Billings, MTFeb. 20 – Teixeira Cattle Co., Bull Sale Terrebonne, ORFeb. 20 – Weaver Ranch, Production Sale, Ft. Collins,COFeb. 21 – Kessler Angus Ranch, Milton-Freewater, ORFeb. 22 – TC Ranch, Production Sale, Franklin, NEFeb. 25 – Rocking R Cattle Company, RanchersChoice Bull Sale, Eltopia, WAFeb. 26 – Buchanan Angus Ranch, Bull Sale,Klamath, ORFeb. 27 – Reyes-Russell Ranch, Bull Sale, Wheatland,WYFeb. 28 – Haynes Cattle Co., Bull Sale, Ogallala, NEFeb. 29 – Bear Mountain Angus Ranch, Bull Sale,Palisades, NEMar. 3 – Trinity Farms Auction, Generations ofExcellence, Ellensburg, WAMar. 4 – Ward Ranches, Bull Sale, Gardnerville, NVMar. 5 – Mytty Angus Ranch, Bull Sale, Florence, MTMar. 5 – Vision Angus, Production Sale, North Platte, NEMar. 6 – Thomas Angus Ranch, Bull Sale, BakerCity, ORMar. 8 – Mytty Angus Ranch, Bull Sale, Florence, MTMar. 8 – Sunny Okanogan, Production Sale, Okanogan, WAMar. 10 – Lucky 7 Angus, Bull Sale, Riverton, WYMar. 10 – Riverbend Ranch, Bull Sale, Idaho Falls, IDMar. 10 – Yardley Cattle Co., Bull Sale, Beaver, UTMar. 13 – Wagon Wheel Ranch, Production Sale,Yuma, COMar. 15 – Harrison Land & Cattle, Production Sale,Belt, MTMar. 17 – York Ranches, Bull & Female Sale, Alturas,CAMar. 19 – Malson Angus & Hereford, Production Sale, Parma, IDMar. 22 – Jones Stewart Angus Ranch, ProductionSale, Benkelman, NEMar. 23-24 – Leachman Cattle of Colorado, ProductionSale, Wellington, COMar. 24 – Sinclair Cattle Co., Inc., Bull Sale, Buffalo, WYMar. 27 – Culver Cattle, Bull Sale, Walden, COMar. 30 – Silver Bit Angus Ranch, Bull Sale, May, IDMar. 30 – Stipe Charolais & Angus, Bull Sale,Moiese, MTMar. 31 – Belle Point Ranch, Lavaca, ARApr. 4 – Black Ranches Inc./Nine Irons Seedstock,Production Sale, Antioch, NEApr. 7 – Brusett Angus Ranch, Production Sale,Jordan, MTApr. 7 – Redd Ranches, Bull Sale, Paradox, COApr. 10 – Spruce Mountain Ranch, Bull Sale,Larkspur, COApr. 11 – Walter Angus Farms, Bull Sale, Ogallala, NEApr. 14 – Bar T Bar Ranch, Bull Sale, Yerington, NVApr. 16 – Jorgensen Land & Cattle, Bull Sale,Winner, SDApr. 27 – Fair Oaks Ranch, Bull Sale, Paso Robles,CASept. 16 – Oak Ridge Angus Farms, Production Sale,Calistoga, CA

BALANCERBALANCERApr. 7 – Redd Ranches, BBBBBBulullullullullull SaSaSaSaSSaSaSaSSaSSaSaSaSaSaaaa SSaaleeleele,le,e,le,le,lellele PPPPaPPaPa PaPaPaa P P Pa P ddddradradaradraddox,oxx,oxox,o ,, CCC COCOCOCOCOCCOCOCC CCCOApr. 14 – Bar T Bar Ranchhhhhh, B, BBBBBBullullulu SaSa SaaaSaaSSaleleee,e,leeelelelleleeee, Ye YeYYeYeYeYeeYeYeYeYYYeY rinrinrinrinnrinrinrirrrri gtogtogtoggtogtogtogtooggggggggggg n, n,n, ,n, nnn NVNVNVVNVNVNNNVNV

CHAROLAISCHAROLAISFeb. 14 – V-A-L Charolaaissss, BBBBB, BB, B, ullllululluuu SaSSa SaSaSa Sale,eeele,lele, NyNN NyNyyNyy NyNyyyyyssassassassasssasssssss O, OOOOO, O, OO, OOORRRRRRMar.13 – Romans Ranchessss, PPPrPrrrodudoduoduoduuctictictiction ononon n SalSalSallSalaSalaallSalSalee,e, , eee,e VValValalllVValValle, e,e, ee, ORORRRORROROOMar. 23-24 – Leachman CCaaaatata tlleleeetle ofofofoffo Co CoCC CoC C Colorlorloloradoadoadoadoa o, , P, P, PPPPP, PPPPPPProdrodrododrododrrodo uuuctuctuctuctuucctucuu ioioiononon Sale, Wellington, COMar. 30 – Stipe Charolaiss &&&& && && AngAnAngngAnAngAAnn uus,us,us,us,uu Bu Bu BuBuBuuull ll ll llllll l SSSaSaaalalSalSaSaalale, e, e,ee,eee, e,, MoMoMoioioiiiiiMooMoiooMoM eseeseeseesseeseeeeeseee ,, ,, MTApr. 14 – Hebbert Charoolaaaaaais,s,s,s,i Bu BuBu BuB ll ll l l SaSalSalSa e, e,e,e HyaHyaaaaaHyaaaaaayaaaaaay nnnnnnnnnniniiniisss,s,s, , sss, , NNNNNENENNNEN

COMPOSITESCOMPOSITESApr. 4 – Black Ranchees s IInc.nc.c.c.n /Ni/N/Ni/Nine ne e ne IroIroIroIrooonnns ns SSeeSSeSeeeSeeSeeSeeSeeSeeSeSeSeeSeeee ddstdstdsdststtdd tooooockockockoo , Production Sale, Antioch,, NNNNNEEEEEE

GELBVIEHGELBVIEHApr. 7 – Redd Ranches, Bullullululu l Sa SaSS le,le,, Pa PaPaaPa PPaaP radradox,o CO7Apr. 14 – Bar T Bar Rancchh, B, , BB, ullullllull Sa SaSaa S le,le,e,e,e,le,le, YeYe Y rinri gtogton, NV

HEREFORDHEREFORDFeb. 4 – Upstream Ranch, BBuu Bu B ll ll ll SaSalSaSala e, e, e TaTayTayayTayaya lorloroo , N, N NNNNNNNN,,, N, EEFeb. 24 – Jamison Herefforrdddsdsds,ds Bu BuBBuBBull ll ll SalSalSa e, e, e QuQuQuuuiuuuiQuu nntettetentetetetteen rr,r,r, rr KKKKKSKSKSKSKSKSKSKSSMar. 5 – Harrell Herefordd RRRRRRancncncancch, hh, hh, , BulBulBulBulB l &l &l &lll & Fe Fe Fe FeeeeeeeeeFeeemalmmalmalmaamamalmalmalmammalm le Se Se e e e SSSe Se Se Salealealeealee,, , ,Baker City, ORMar. 19 – Malson Anguss &&&& & HHHerHererrererefoefoefoefoefoefoeford,rd,rd,rdrd, Pr PrPrPrPPP PPP ododddduuuoduodudod ccticcticttitititictictic itt ooon on oon SalSalSalSalaSalSalee,e, eeee,Parma, ID

LIMOUSINLIMOUSINMar. 30 – Wulf Limoussinnnn FFFFnn Farmarmaarmrmrms, s, s, , s,, s ProProPrProPrProPP duduuuuccuduucccduuuu tiotiotiotiotiootiotionn n n Sn Snn Snn n alealealeeea e,, ,,,,,Morris, MN

MAINE ANJOUMAINE ANJOUMar. 10 – Yardley Cattle CCCooo.o..CCo., B, BB, B, ullullulluu SaSaSa SaSSaSaaSaSaaSSaaSaaaaaSaleeleele,llelelee,le,lee,lele,le,e,le, B BeBeBBe BeBBe Beaveaveveaveavevevavevvv rrrrrrr,rr, rr,r, r, , UUUUTUTUTUTUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTUUUUUTTTUU

RED ANGUSRED ANGUSFeb. 23 – Lorenzen Rannccchhheheeehchc s,s, ss, s, BulBululBulBululB ll Sll l Sl SSl Sll l Sl SSSSalealealealelaleea ealealealelea PPP, PP, , PP,,,,, eeeendendenendeendndende dletletetetletlete on,ononnn,ooono ORMar. 1 – Bieber Red Anngguuuug sss Rs RRsss RRRaaaaaananancancanancancaaaaa hhhhhhhh, h, hh, hh, hh,h, ProProProPProoProProoducducducddduducucducducdducduuducdducd tiotiootitiotiotion Sn Sn Sn Sn SSn Sn Salealealealaleeaa , ,Leola, SDMar. 2 – Sutherlin Farms, PPPPProrooododdoddodddrodododododducucucctctucctuuctuucc ionionononionoiono Sa Sa SaSa SaSaSaSale,le,le,,,,lelelee SStttStStStS eveeveeveeveeveeveeeevensvnsvnsvnsvns illillillille,ee,e, , e, eMTMar. 15 – Loosli Red Anggggguuuguug ss, sss s, PProProProProProPrP ducducducducducduduuududu tiotiotiotiotiotiotion n SSSSSSSnn SSaalaleleealeeaa eaaal , A, A, A, AAAAshtshtshtshtshton,on,,n,onon,onon IDMar. 22 – Mushrush RReeeeddddedded AAnAnAnAnA gusgusgusgusuggggu , P P, P, PP PProdrodrododddddrodddroddducuucucucctctuuuctctionionononionion Sa Sa SaSa Salelele,le,e,le,e,e,leeee Strong City, KSMar. 23-24 – Leachman CCCCaCatattttC tlet eeet ee of of of offoo Co CoCoCCoC lorlorlororadadaddddoododaddoooadad , , PPPPP P, P, PProdrodrodrodoductuctuctuctctionionioonononnnnioni Sale, Wellington, COMar. 30 – Pieper Reedddd AAAAAd Angngunguuungngng ss, s, s, , s,s, s ProProProProProProPPPr dducducdduducducuducucucducducudducduud tiotioootiootion Sn Sn n Sn Sn Sn SSn Salealealealeealeealealee,,, Rushville, NEApr. 4 – Black Rancheesss IIIs Is ncnc.c.c.c.ncnn /Ni/Ni/Ni/Ni/ ne ne e IroIroIroIroorooooonsnnnsns ns ns sns ns nnnsss SSeeSeeSeeSeeSSeeSeeS dstddstdstdstdstockockockockockockockcococ , ,, ,Production Sale, Antioch,, NNNNNEEEEEEEApr. 7 – Redd Ranches, BBBBBBululllll SaSaSaSaaSaa ele,ele,le,le, PaPa PaPaPa PaaPa PaP raradraaddadradadadadraadaadaararaadrara oxox,oxox,ox,oxoxox,xooxo COCO CO COCO COCOO7Apr. 10 – Beckton Red AAAAnnngnggngnA ggusuususus,uuuus, Bu BuBuBuBuBBull llllllll & F&& F& F& F& F& FFFF& F& F& F& F& FF& F& F&& Femeeemamaemamaemammeeee le lele eelel SalSallSalSaSaleeee,e, , e, eeeSheridan, WYApr. 13– 5L Red Angus, PPrrPrrPPProdododuduoododud ccticticctictic on on on n n onon SaSaSaSaaaaalSaSalaS llaa eeeee, e, e, e, eeee,e,, SheSheSheSheShehSheSheSheSheSheShSheeridridridriddridridddanan,an,an,n,,ananaaaann, MTApr. 14 – Bar T Bar Rancchhhhh,, B, BBBB, B, B, ullulluuuuull Sa Sa Sa SaSSS le,le,le,e,le,le,le,le Ye Ye Ye Ye Ye YeeYee YYeeeerrrinrinrinininrinrinrinrr gtogtogtogtogtooggtogtoogtggtogtg n,n, n, n, n, n, nn NVNVNVNVNVNVVNVVNVVVVV

SALERSALERMar. 4 – Ward Ranches, BBBBBBuuuullllluu SSaSaSaSaaa S SSS le,le,le,le,e,le,lele, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga GaGaGG Ga GaGaG rdnrdnrdnrdnrdnnrdnnrdnnnrdrdnnnneererrrvrvvrvere veeervrv lillllillill e,e, e,e, eee, e NVNVNVVNVNNVNVVNVNVVVV

SIMANGUSSIMANGUSFeb. 19, 2012 – Bar CKK CCCaCaaaaCC tttttlltttttt e Ce Ce Ce Ce Ce Ce CCee o.,o.,o.,o.,o.o.,o.,o.,. Pr Pr Pr Pr PrPr PrProduoduoduoduododuoduoduoododuddoduooduodudd ctictictictictiicction on oon on non n SalSalSalSalSalSaSaSalS ee,ee,e,e, , eMadras, ORFeb. 20 – Bulls of the Bigg SSSSSSkkyky y y kkky y kkk SaSalSalSalS lSaSaS ee, e, eee, eee BilBilBilBillinlininnnlinlinl nnggsgsgs,gsgssggss,ggs,, MTMT MT MTMTMT MTTMTMTMar. 3 – Trinity Farmmss AAAAAAsss Auctuctuctuctuctuucctcctctioniionionionionononon, G, GG, G, G, GG, GGGGGGGGGGeenenenneeeenennneeeee ratratratratratrationiionionionioniononnononns os os oooooss os oof ffff f ffff Excellence, Ellensburg, WWWWAAAAAWA

SIMMENTALSIMMENTALFeb. 20 – Bulls of the Bigg SSSSSSSSSSSkykkykyky yky y kkk SaSalSSalSalSSSaSa e, e, eeeee, e, BilBBilBilBilBilBillilinnlinnnnnlinnl nnni ggsgs,gssgsgs,gs,ggggs,g MTMT MT MT MTMTMTMTT MT MT MMar. 3 – Trinity Farmmsss AAAAAAs As AAs uctuctuctuctc ioioniononiononn, G, G, G, GG, GGGGGGGGGGGGeeeeneeneneneeeneneeeeen ratratatratratatrata iononiononioioionns os os ooos os os os f f f ff ff Excellence, Ellensburg, WWWWWAAAAWAAWMar. 10 – Yardley Cattle CCCCCoo.o.o.ooCo , B, BBBB, B, , ullllullullullullu SaSaSaSS SaSa Saleele,le,ele,le, BeBeBBBeBeBeBeBeBe BeBeBe BeBeaveaveaveaveaveaveveaver, r, r, r, r, , UTUTUTUTUTTTUTUUUTTApr. 7 – Redd Ranches, BBBBBBuuulullu lu l S SSaSaSaSSSaaalele,le,le,le,le,le,e, Pa PaPaPaPaPaP P radraraadadddradadradraraaaaaraaaaaaraaraaaaadox,oxoxoxox,oxox,ox,oox,ox,xxox,o , CO CO COCCCCCCOCO COCCOCCCOOO7

STABILIZERSTABILIZERMar. 23-24 – Leachman CCCCaaaattC tatC tltletleeeeeeett etl ofofof ofof of ofo CoC CoCoCCoCoooCoolorlolorlorlorlorlororoo adoaadoadadoadoadoaadoadoadadadoadoadadadaadod , P, P, P, P, P, Prodrorodrodrodrodrodododo uctuctuctuctuctuctu ttionionionononnionononio Sale, Wellington, CO

COMMERCIALCOMMERCIALApr. 11 – Western Videoo MMMMMMMaarkarkarkarkrkrkkkkkaaaa et,et,et,et,et,et,e Ho Ho HoHo HoH lidlidddddddlidliiddddayayy y y y aaaayyy InnInnnnnnInnnnIn , V, , V, V, V, V, V, VV, Visaisaisaisaisaalialiaiaaaliaaal a,, ,,,CAJul. 9-12 – Western Videeoo MMMMMMooo Mararkarkarkrkkarkarka et,etet,et,et,ete Si SiSi S lvlvvvveevveeeveevelver r r LLLLLr rrrrrr egaegaegaegegaegaegagaggg cy cy cy cy cyyy HotHotHoHotHotHoHH el elel eleleele& Resort, Reno, NV



5L Red Angus .............................................21

A1-Mist Sprayers ........................................82

ABS Global .................................................85

Accelerated Genetics .................................107

Allfl ex USA, Inc. .......................................111

American AgCredit .....................................78

American Akaushi Association ...................60

American Angus Association ....................104

American Hereford Association ..................39

American Live Stock .................................122

American Salers Association ...............42, 120

American Shorthorn Association ..................2

American Simmental Association .............115

Animal Health Express ...............................97

Aristocrat Angus Ranch ..............................92

Bakko Industries ........................................112

Bar CK Cattle Company. ............................81

Bar T Bar Ranch, Inc. ....................................4

Bear Mountain Angus Ranch ......................82

Beckton Red Angus .................................... IC

Beefmaster Breeders United ........................89

Belle Point Ranch ..........................................7

Bethany Ridge Farms ..................................48

Bieber Red Angus Ranch ............................79

Biotracking ..................................................58

Birdwell Auction, Inc. - Auctioneer ...........124

Black Ranches Inc./

Nine Iron Seedstock ....................................94

Booker, C.D. “Butch” - Auctioneer ......26, 124

Booth’s Cherry Creek Ranch .......................30

Bradley 3 Ranch, Ltd. ..................................62

Brusett Angus Ranch ..................................67

Buchanan Angus Ranch ............................114

Bulls of the Big Sky Group .........................59

Carter Family Angus .................................106

Carter, Dustin - Auctioneer.......................124

Cattle Visions ............................................121

Cattlemens Livestock Market .....................65

Chandler Herefords .....................................66

Circle D Corporation ..................................51

Conover, Al - Auctioneer ..........................124

Culver Cattle ...............................................11

Cumming Realty .........................................50

Dorran, Steve - Auctioneer........................124

Double R Ranch ........................................110

Dow Ranches ..............................................53

Duarte, Eric - Auctioneer ............................42

Duralite Trailers, LLC .................................88

El Rancho Espanol De Cuyuma ...............108

Fair Oaks Ranch ........................................112

Flying U Angus Ranch ................................99

For-Most, Livestock Equipment .................26

Genex Hawkeye West .................................72

Gilchrist, Kyle - Auctioneer ......................124

Goggins, Joe - Auctioneer .........................124

Grandin Livestock .......................................78

Hardesty Cattle Co. .....................................34

Harrell Hereford Ranch ..............................73

Harrison Land & Livestock ........................28

Haynes Cattle Co. .....................................128

Hebbert Charolais .......................................88

International Brangus Breeders ...................36

Jamison Herefords & Quarter Horses .........37

Jones Steward Angus Ranch ........................91

Jorgensen Land & Cattle Co. ......................80

Kessler Angus ..............................................30

King Herefords/Charolais ...........................71

Las Vegas Ranch .......................................114

Lasater Beefmasters .....................................37

Leachman Cattle of Colorado ...................BC

Lienemann Management Productions .....120

Live Auction, TV .......................................117

Livestock Marketing Association .....55 Loosli

Red Angus .................................................101

Lorenzen Ranches .......................................12

Lucky 7 Angus ..............................................6

Malson Angus Ranch ..................................70

Mason & Morse Ranch Company ..............58

McConnell Angus .......................................96

McPhee Red Angus ....................................83

Meadow Acres Angus Ranch ......................74

Minert/Simonson Angus Ranch .................77

Moly Manufacturing ...................................98

Montana Red Angus Association ................33

Montana Simmental Association ................64

Multimin .....................................................75

Munks Manufacturing Inc...........................74

Mushrush Red Angus .................................68

Mytty Angus Ranch ................................... IB

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association ......109

Nix Angus .................................................116

North American Limousin Foundation ....113

Oak Ridge Angus ........................................40

Parasal Manufacturing .................................58

Pieper Red Angus ......................................116

Powder River Livestock .............................104

Powell Scales ..............................................88

Pratt Farms ................................................103

Red River Farms ..........................................78

Redd Ranches ................................................8

Reyes/Russell Angus ...................................84

Ritchey Mfg. Co. .........................................48

Riverbend Ranch .........................................31

Robbs Brangus ..........................................100

Rocking R Cattle Company ........................18

Rocky Mountain Sire Services, Inc. .............74

Romans Ranches .........................................90

Running Creek Ranch Co. ............................5

Schaff Angus Valley .......................................3

Scott Mfg...................................................100

SEK Genetics ..............................................50

Select Sires ..................................................29

Silver Bit Angus Ranch ...............................43

Silver Spur Ranch ........................................19

Sinclair Cattle Co., Inc. .................................1

Spruce Mountain Ranch .............................13

Stewart, Trent - Auctioneer .......................120

Stipe Charolais & Angus .............................70

Stockman’s Market - Auctioneer .................35

Sunny Okanogan Angus Ranch ................118

Super-Sort/Div. of Heartland Ag Products .....52

Sutherlin Farms Red Angus ........................90

Sweet Pro Feeds ..........................................38

Swihart Sales Company ...............................69

TC Ranch ..................................................123

Teixeira Cattle Co./Ankony Oregon ...........80

Th e Cattle Range .........................................52

Th omas Angus Ranch .................................73

Triner Scale .................................................70

Trinity Farms ...............................................32

Troutt, Kelly - Auctioneer .........................124

Upstream Ranch ........................................125

Utah Beef Improvement Association...........51

V-A-L Charolais Ranch ............................120

Vermeer .......................................................93

VF Red Angus ............................................41

Vigortone Ag Products ..............................108

Vision Angus ...............................................61

Wagon Wheel Ranch ..................................30

Walter Angus Ranch ...................................88

Ward Ranches .............................................63

Weaver Ranch .............................................51

Weishaar, Lynn - Auctioneer .....................124

West Coast Brangus Breeders Assn .............70

Western Feed Supplements .........................76

Western Tire Recyclers ................................25

Western Video Market/Shasta Livestock ......105

Westway Feed Products ...............................83

White Ranch Angus ..................................100

Whitestone-Krebs .....................................127

Windmill Angus Ranch ..............................48

Wulf Limousin Farms ...................................9

Yardley Cattle Co. .......................................50

York Ranches ...............................................47

Y-Tex Corporation.......................................54

Z Tags - North America ..............................95

North American Bull Guide 2012

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