At Cavender Ranches, we’ve been involved in the Brangus breed for over 30 years and made a commitment to start feeding all of our cattle 25 years ago.

We are both a seedstock producer and a consumer of our own genetics. Our earliest breeding decisions were made to produce functional cattle that had the right look for our geographic region.

We knew nothing about our carcass value, but felt we were leaving money on the table by not feeding our cattle based on the size of our herd. We happened to go with a feedyard that sold cattle on a grid which allowed us to see our carcass results from the start. When we first began, we immediately picked up an additional $50 in value per animal by simply getting them to the feedyard and retaining ownership. Over time the additional value has grown significantly as both calf prices and our emphasis on meeting the demands of our commercial and feedlot customers have increased.

With a long history of feeding all steers and heifers that didn’t make it to the “replacement” pens, we’ve turned a profit more years than not. Once we got past the “fear of losing money” and

stayed the course, we realized it was not as high-risk as everyone made it out to be. There are tools available to hedge downside risk and you can start smaller, build confidence and grow into a bigger position as you go. The key is being consistent once you start and in going where the data takes you.

After acquiring feedlot data, and therefore an improved sense of direction for our carcass traits, we have made incremental improvements in our cattle each year while maintaining their eye appeal and ability to thrive in many different environments. As commercial producers, we have also put more emphasis on carcass traits when selecting bulls for our herds.

The knowledge we have gained and the resulting data has continued to drive our pursuit of excellence in our seedstock operation. Our goal remains to produce real world cattle for our customers with the visual appeal and the genetics to perform at a superior level by any measure including profitability, gain, carcass and pounds on the ground.

Overall, the Brangus breed is not only ideal for our region, but can also produce feeder cattle that will compete well against any other breed in the feedyard. As an added bonus, we can produce heifers that will sell at the top-end of the commercial replacement market and fit a wide range of environments.

At Cavender Ranches we feel the more data we provide, the greater premiums we help command for our customers’ genetics. We hope our success on the rail will help build confidence for some of our customers as they feed their cattle as well.

Please feel free to reach out if we can be of any assistance to you and your operation.