Hello All:
Harvest 2020 is complete! The corn was excellent but it is clear that August was very unfriendly to the soybeans. We praise God from whom all blessings flow. Now we work to catch up on all of the work that was neglected for the past several weeks.
Much of that neglected work has to do with cattle. We were able to find enough time during harvest to get some stalk fields surrounded by electric fence. We moved the pairs and bred heifers to corn stalks in early October. The bulls have been grazing irrigated grass up until recently when we brought them home for another round of evaluations. We culled 2 more during the process and now plan to offer 46 bulls at our March sale. The quality of this set of bulls is unprecedented in our history. Ashely informed me that they all will be getting 10 stars for disposition. She had to push on several of them during the latest evaluation to get them to move. Disposition is one of many traits that are important to us. We have 7 kids and know many of our customers have kids. We believe that no one should have to put up with ill-tempered cattle in their herds, kids or not!
I plan to periodically send these updates out as I remember the helpful thoughts I had about our cattle during harvest. Below will be my first installment.
When Ichthys Cattle Enterprise left Pharo Cattle Company a few years ago the biggest miscalculation I made was how easy (well, how hard) it was going to be to sell bulls. When we left PCC we were selling nearly 100 bulls/year with an average price of over $4000+/bull. I assumed we would not be able to sell as many bulls and that they would average a lower price but did not anticipate it would be half the bulls at half the price! Live and learn. What I have learned is the problem is not the bulls.
We have taken the PCC genetics that are predominant in our herd and mated that with Ohlde Cattle Company genetics to produce what I believe is a singularly unique product. We are able to produce small to moderate framed cattle that have very few calving difficulties, are exceedingly gentle, flesh magnificently on grazing forage and breed back at a percentage we are very pleased with. We also have several cows in their teens, some have made it to their late teens. We rid ourselves of bad udders too. We do what a seedstock producer should be doing, culling hard in their herd so that no bad genetics are passed on to their customers.
OCC and PCC used to work together to sell bulls as OCC Black Angus bulls would be the leading bulls in PCC sales. We have used OCC Black and Red Angus, Composite and Hereford semen to produce cattle that thrive in grazing environments. PCC is an excellent marketing company, OCC has a master breeder in Tim Ohlde. By combining the strengths of these two companies, their genetics and their sales know how, we hope to be able to carve out our own niche in the cattle industry. We don’t need enough sales to support dozens of families but we do want enough to support a few as we are hopeful that at least some of the kids want to be a part of this in the future.
On March 12, 2021 at 11 am we invite you to consider the best cattle we’ve ever offered for sale. If you want to produce good momma cows we have what you want. If you want calving ease please look here. If you want to downsize or maintain your frame score give us a look. As far as I’m aware our genetics will still be on “sale”. I discussed my miscalculation above. Until we have enough repeat customers competing against new customers who are finally convinced we have what it takes, our bulls (that are better than they’ve ever been) will bring less than they would for a more seasoned seedstock producer. I don’t doubt our bulls, only my ability to get the word out!
In addition to 40+ bulls, we have 70+ replacement heifers we have yet to preg. check. Once again, and as we have since having our own sale, every bred heifer we produce will be available to bid on/buy in the sale. For the past four years EVERY heifer we have produced, registered or not, could be purchased at our sale. We don’t intend to change that. Our bred heifers are averaging more than our bulls, which I don’t understand, but I’m okay with it!
Thank you and grace to you all!
Lanny Greenhalgh | Steward
[email protected] | (402) 984-6375
www.icecattle.com
PS: In our next update I want to discuss our development program and explain some of what makes us a unique seedstock program. I will preview that explanation with some attached pictures. Ashley went out and took pictures of the bulls on cornstalks recently. Know anyone else developing their breeding bulls on cornstalks…with no other supplement? Grazing forage (Never grain and NOT hay), water, mineral and salt are the only ingredients any of our breeding or seedstock receive. We have hay for special circumstances like A.I., weaning, evaluations and emergencies but we don’t ever feed hay as part of a planned feeding program for any part of the year. We haul or drive our cattle to the forage to graze, we don’t feed our cattle. Again, know anyone else doing that, for all of their cattle, all…year…long?
