Santa Gertrudis 'seed stock' producer touts ease of care

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

August 23, 2001 -- According to the Breeders Resource Book pulished by Santa Gertrudis Breeders International, this breed was named after a division of the King Ranch in South Texas, after 10 years of experimental work. The Santa Gertrudis breed is five-eighths Shorthorn and three-eighths Brahman

"The Santa Gertrudis breed of cattle started out at the King Ranch...They were designed for heat tolerance, for insects and for adaptability on hard growing conditions and pastures...basically, deep South Texas. It's rough country.

"Also, they wanted an animal that would be a beef animal and at the same time be a good mother and a good milking animal," said Wade Phillips, general manager of Corporron Acres Ranch in Lavaca County.

At Corporron Acres, owners Jim and Dolores Corporron run these pure breed cattle on about 900 acres of land. Presently, they have 230 mothers, six to eight sires and about 70 heifers.

In the counties of Austin, Colorado, Fayette, Lavaca and Victoria, there is a concentration of Santa Gertrudis producers.

"We've got approximately 14 breeders...that's Santa Gertrudis, pure bred breeders...in this area. I think it's probably the most dense area of breeders in the United States," said Jim Corporron.

"Many years ago, probably 20-25 years ago, we were looking for a breed that would kind of take care of itself and wouldn't take a lot of attention, because we were only coming on weekends...and not every weekend. We did a little research, and with the Brahman influence, Santa Gertrudis is five-eights Shorthorn and three-eights Brahman, they can pretty well take care of themselves."

The Corporrons had commercial cattle for over 20 years, and went to the pure-bred about five years ago.

"Basically, we're what's called a 'seed stock' producer, cow/calf operation. We help promote the breed...as a whole...through sonogram data. At a certain age of the animal, we take ultrasound measurements of beef on the hoof, and we're able to track carcass merits to show that our cattle will grade out select, high select, low choice or choice.

"We identify those traits because it's highly hereditary...and we use those bloodlines, those animals, to help the breed as a whole and to improve the beef industry as a whole, too," said Phillips.

According to Corporron, they don't breed anything before 18 months, although commercial producers may breed as early as 14 months.

"In the pure-bred business, it runs the cow down. Sometimes, the calves don't do real well. If you're going to get a premium for your cattle, they've got to be in good shape for the auctions," said Corporron.

Cattle on his ranch are marketed through private treaty, select consigned sales and regular auctions.

Corporron organized the first "Santa Gertrudis Bluebonnet Classic" to be held in Schulenburg on March 23, 2002.

"We're reaching out there for the breeders to participate that cannot or don't want to participate in the other sales...like Houston. It gets expensive to go to Houston and take your cattle," said Corporron.

Gain testing is an important factor at Corporron Acres, too. While some producers have large enough herds to compare their own animals to each other, smaller producers like to compare their bulls to other herds for a better comparison, according to Corporron. They claim to be the home of some of the best polled bulls in the industry, too.

"We like to take ours to a location that has other breeders bringing their bulls in for gain testing. Then, it gives us a comparison of how well our bulls are doing against other pedigrees.

"Sometimes, they do extremely well, and sometimes they don't do well, but that's what we need to know, because if we're going to sell you a quality animal, we want to know what the gainability is...especially, going to commercial breeders. When a calf is born and what they sell it for in seven months...that's where they make their money," said Corporron.

Their calves are weaned between six to seven months and are usually about 50 percent body weight of the mother, according to Phillips. Their breeding season program of six months is in it's third year, and they hope to get it down to 90 days in the future, according to Corporron.

At Corporron Acres, they try to be very progressive in all aspects of breeding, getting it on the ground and all the way to sell time, said Phillips. It is very important to them that their animals are the best of the best, and they strive for that in all areas of production.

The Star Five program for Santa Gertrudis focuses on the fertility, milking ability, gainability, conformation and disposition of the breed. Developed as a marketing tool, it helps producers identify the influence of the breed and improve the market share and perception for the producers, according to information form the Santa Gertrudis Breeders International.

"I enjoy it's private ownership. I like to compete with other breeders. It's advertising. Our philosophy is if we're not in the top 25 percent at a sale or selling a show calf to some of these children, then we're not doing our job.

"I just want to be number one, but you can't always be number one. It's a challenge," said Corporron.