Fueling An Optimal Herd: Clifton Feed and Service’s Cattle Producers meeting offers information, network opportunity aimed at producing and feeding greatness
CLIFTON – A bull market is a financial market where prices are rising or are expected to rise over a long period of time. Presently, in Central Texas, it also refers to the favorable cattle market. And not only are the cattle markets strong, so are the sheep and goat markets.
Since the drought summers, supply is low, and demand remains high for beef; and is expected to stay that way for the next couple of years. Urban sprawl and difficulty in finding good ranch hands plays into the equation of lower supply.
What local ranchers and farmers are experiencing was confirmed by Purina Feeds consulting nutritionist Doug Hawkins at Clifton Feed and Service’s annual cattle producers meeting Aug. 13, a tradition the local feed store has upheld for 45 years, starting with a good meal and a prayer.
Besides receiving a general market report and industry developments, new information on nutrition and herd improvement, the annual meeting gives local ranchers a chance to meet up with fellow cattle breeders, exchange wells and woes about their cattle operation, and catch up on the family goings on. Because most of the farmers and ranchers have gotten to know each other well over the years. And of course, talk about the weather.
According to Hawkins, this coming winter will be in an El Niña pattern, which predicts a shorter, drier winter. But most ranchers and farmers have been able to stock up on good forage in this wetter spring and milder summer.
Hawkins advice to Bosque County cattle producers was to capitalize on the record prices, which are expected to hold for the next couple of years. Hawkins’ presentation focused on utilizing nutritional supplements that help pack pounds on calves, and help pregnant and nursing cows maintain their condition, ensuring a better reproductive rate when she’s bred again.
This played seamlessly into AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist in the Texas A&M Department of Animal Science, Bryan-College Station, Jason Cleere’s PhD, advice for producers to focus and optimize their operation’s output – whether it be protecting forage and hay fields from armyworms, deworming and vaccinating to minimize potential losses.
“It is hard to find something to complain about,” Clifton Feed and Service’s Steve Conrad said. “Most things are going our way; it is an exceptional situation. But we need to prepare for the downturn. Start by investing in your business.”
Conrad, together with his brother Scott and sister Sherry Schulze took over management of the store from their parents. Dad David still visits regularly for a chat, and his homegrown tomatoes were part of the hamburger fixings for the cattle producer’s dinner.
Animals need high-quality, nourishing feed products to grow and reach their full potential. Hawkins offered a few pointers to consider now there is more opportunity for financial wiggle room.
- Sell the older bull for a younger bull with better genetics, to invigorate the herd going forward
- Take care of the cows, giving them prenatal vitamins, boosting their immune systems and making sure they’re well fed, which increases fertility, reproductive rates and milk production.
- Keep track of cows that do not breed efficiently, as each missed ovulation costs the breeder money.
- Try to bring calving season down from 120 days to around 60 days to increase efficiency by pulling the bull off the herd for a couple of weeks. Having more calves born in the first 21 days of the calving season allows producers to market larger, more uniform groups of calves and increase their profit potential.
- Take care of the calves with top quality feed and supplements to speed up weaning, growth and future reproduction success.
- consider adding liquid feed to the herd; an easy way for cows to self-regulate their nutritional needs
“Buyers pay more for cows they know have been on mineral supplements,” Hawkins said. Purina’s Wind and Rain® 7.5 with a horn fly control supplement also prevents water retention, clumping, and breaking, ensuring cattle get all 14 essential minerals and vitamins in any weather. Hawkins also offered a silver lining to surviving drought years – during a drought the bad genetics get sold first.
Those present at the meeting tended to have between 20 and 100 head of cattle, mainly Black Angus, Brangus or Hereford crosses. And several reported already having exchanged their bulls. On rancher said he had added an F1 Brangus bull, to enhance his Black Angus herd’s heat resilience. Another added a Hereford bull to the herd for heavier calves. One rancher shared the exceptionally high price he got at market for his 600 pound calves.
In a Texas AgriLife Extension report Aug. 13 by Adam Russel, Cleere, Ph.D. said soil moisture, grazing conditions and hay supplies this year improved optimism among cattle producers in many parts of the state. But so far, Texas ranchers have not been holding back heifers or buying replacement heifers and young bred cows at rates that indicate growth. Tighter margins are leading to more conservative decisions this time.
There were 4.65 million beef cattle in Texas in 2019, but the number declined to the lowest point since 1961 by February 2023 after back-to-back years of drought and poor forage production. AgriLife Extension economist and professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Bryan-College Station David Anderson, Ph.D. expects the January 2025 U.S. Department of Agriculture cattle inventory report to show further declines based on the high numbers of heifers going to feedlots and cows going to meat packers.
“Prices have been so good, that a check in the hand for that heifer looks better than the potential future earnings from her producing calves,” Anderson said. “It’s putting producers to a decision on prices they are seeing now or what those prices might be when she has a calf.”
It seems that after two years of statewide drought, ranchers are taking advantage of the favorable market instead of herd rebuilding as seen following the historic 2011-2012 drought. Texas’ beef cattle herd shrunk from 5.14 million head to 3.9 million head between 2010 and 2014. But producers rebuilt the herd quickly as they moved to take advantage of all-time high calf prices in 2014. The state carries around 14.6 percent of the nation’s beef cattle, and the size of Texas’ herd ripples into the supply side of national beef cattle markets from sale barns to grocery store meat counters.
According to Russel’s report, the weekly weighted average price for 500-600-pound steers at auctions across Texas was $139.73 per hundredweight in 2011. By 2014, the weighted average for those steers rose to an average of $236 per hundredweight, with a peak of $283 per hundredweight in October. Recent prices have eclipsed those records. Feeder steers at 500-550 pounds were selling for $333.38 per hundredweight in March and have averaged $316.40 per hundredweight since July 2023.
Locally owned and operated since 1968, Clifton Feed and Service is the area cattle producers trusted supplier of quality feeds. With customers coming to the feed store on a regular basis, relationships are built over generations; they know the friendly staff will assist them with all their questions and needs.
“From loading up to delivery smiles at the barn door, some of our favorite conversations happen right then and there,” the store’s website says. According to Conrad, the homework and research they do to find the best possible value-added products and offer new technologies coupled with the high level of service makes their store special and definitely worth a visit.
Early on, Clifton Feed and Service operated primarily as a supplier for rural farms and ranch operations. Since then, they have grown into one of the largest feed retail shops in the area, catering to local farmers and pet owners. In addition to the loyal and trusted multi-generational customers that visit the store, in the past 10 years, the customer base has diversified.
People who did not grow up on the family farm, but studied ag-related subjects in college, moved into the Bosque County area to start farming and ranching for themselves. They also bring a need for different products. Besides feed, the recently refurbished and upgraded store offers a large selection of pet products, toys, and gifts.
Whether you’re a backyard farmer with some chickens and a vegetable patch, have a 50 head herd to manage or just love to feed the deer on your property, Clifton Feed and Service’s excellent service and industry knowledge and expertise can help you out. Besides heavy duty fencing, gates and feeders, there are snacks, and local honey. A wide array of lawn care products, plants, herbs and flowers. There is apparel, footwear, caps and straw cowboy hats. So while dad is getting 10 bags of specialty feed and some square bales, mom gets a toy tractor for her grandson, a grooming brush for Fido and adds some seasonal blooms to the list.
To reach this new group of customers, Clifton Feed and Service upped their social media presence with fun videos, informative videos like “Living the Farm Life” on Facebook and Instagram. Workshops like “Fueling Champions” for Future Farmers of America and 4-H youth showing livestock during the Central Texas Youth Fair, having fish days for stock pond owners and the annual Big Buck contest all reach a wider base, than if they were “just a feed store.” Customers can also find cattle market reports from both Clifton and Meridian livestock commissions on the store’s website.
The annual cattle producers meeting is a customer appreciation event, but also but also offers advice, expertise and a network their customers can build on. With seasoned cattle producers, some of the programs may already be part of their cattle operation, but the reinforcement of the information and knowledge and additional tips proved valuable. And the event gave them a chance to ask for some advice from the Purina experts or the store’s staff on hand.
“When our customers do better, we do better,” Conrad said about the unique partnership the store has with its customers. “We’re big believers in knowledge; knowledge is power. And we want to share that, and make them successful. Our job is to complement what our cattle producers, our customers do, to help them make more money and be successful.”
Photos by SIMONE WICHERS-VOSS & courtesy of CLIFTON FEED & SERVICE CENTER
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