Cattlemen advised to background their herds

By MANDY SPIKES | Central Texas Edition

JEFF HEFFERNAN Operations Manager Capitol Land Livestock Schwertner, Texas

July 3, 2003 -- Preventing problems in a rancher's herd is a major ingredient in running a strong cattle business. From preventing illness to marketing cows and calves to get the best price, a rancher must be prepared for unexpected situations to arise.

At the Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas' cattlemen's college, Jeff Heffernan addressed the importance of backgrounding cattle, as well as selling cattle to their worth. Heffernan is the operations manager with Capitol Land Livestock, located in Schwertner.

"The cattle business is very dear to my heart," began Heffernan. "This year is almost gone. What we need to be doing, instead of focusing on this year, is looking at what we are doing in this industry to ensure our survival. We need to start thinking ahead to the years 2004 and 2005."

He explained that Capitol Land Livestock takes highly stressed animals and turns them into an operation that can be used. "We have noticed a recent trend, not only where we work, but in the industry as well. Our labor unit is moving away from the cattle business towards towns. They have decided to work at Dell or some other computer related business."

It takes a special kind of person to take on the cattle business, he stated. "It also takes the right kind of person to find an animal and treat it before it gets too sick to help.

"Think of your cattle in terms of production and prevention. It's a whole lot easier to prevent something for happening than it is to cure it. Antibiotics add up when you are dealing with the feed lot. You might ask yourself how you are going to pay for it. You do that by taking off what you pay for the cattle when purchasing them."

He stated that a rancher can't assume that all cattle will be good in a sale, but at the same time, one shouldn't guarantee that all will be bad.

"At the sale barn you should take and buy with the most of what you can get from the cattle. It all depends on what people bid for them. Everything you do should be good for the cattle business. If you are good to the cattle business, then it will be good to you."

He said he gets phone call day after day from ranchers who have done everything for their cows and yet don't know how much their calves are worth. "You need to go and look at them so you can sell them at a reasonable price. Remember, though, that part of the fun in cattle trading is haggling on the price. In the end, you must take what's offered.

"Everything has a value no matter what it is. It's up to you as a producer to do whatever you need to sell the animal at a good price and market to the best of your ability."

Heffernan stated that ranchers need to get out more to meet other ranchers and sellers and learn what they can in the cattle business. "The cow/calf producer has been in a fortunate situation so far. They have been fortunate but it looks like times are starting to change. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it doesn't look like it's going to get much better than it is now."

He explained that if something is bought today, it has to make money or else it won't give money back. "So far our business has been good, but you must think how to keep it profitable for us.

"Nobody here likes to see drought, but drought might be the best thing for cattle producers. When you have more supply, then that means there is less demand. We had a higher percentage of fall calves because there were poor results in the spring and summer. It gave us a different time period and more money in our pockets. We didn't plan the drought, Mother Nature took care of it, but it worked to our advantage."

He reminded the producers that in the cattle business, it's easier to prevent and difficult to treat. "Good calves makes us money. Bad calves makes us loose money."