Betting On the Future
How cattlemen across the country plan for drought recovery.
June 1, 2024
by the CAB Cattle Crew
Eleven years ago, drought hit nearly half of all states, from the West Coast to the Southeast. Since then it has reared its dusty head somewhere every year, forcing tough decisions that set herds up for ever-better heifers and cows to more predictably produce high-quality beef.
Clay Mathis, animal science department head at Texas A&M University, discussed the 2013 drought at the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention, noting more than half of all beef cow herds were affected. The U.S. cow inventory fell, but “luckily we saw exceptional calf prices and demand for high-quality beef, which was the incentive to start rebuilding cow herds.”
Many ranchers burned in the forced culls, Mathis says, moved ahead with caution using “a systems approach” that kept a wary eye on Mother Nature.
“They see the whole and the parts that make it up,” he says. “We’re interested in how those parts are interconnected, to better understand how to make lasting decisions with leverage.”
In Montana
Bar JV Angus
A Fairview, Mont., family ranch has faced drought for five years, but relief could be in sight for Bar JV Angus. Dale Vitt and family operate registered and commercial herds, selling registered bulls.
“We like them low-maintenance and able to care for themselves,” Vitt says. “Our cows will stay around for a long time and produce a big calf.”
Weather trends affect how long some cows can stay. This past dry winter followed seasonal fall rains, and spring surface moisture was advantageous. Still, only regular rainfall will keep away the persistent drought that robbed Bar JV’s feed base for half a decade.
“It affected how much winter feed we could put up,” Vitt says. “The grass was dying. We had to downsize our herd as much as 20% to get through the winters. I don’t think anyone around us is at full capacity right now.”
The cautious rebuilding stage now has far to go.
“We tried to keep our registered herd as close to capacity as possible, but our commercial herd took a hit,” he says. “We’d like to add another 100 to 150 head, but we’ll have to see how the year unfolds.”
Come what may, Vitt maintains the same targets — “a maternal cow that can produce the high-quality end product consumers have grown accustomed to. We like to keep it balanced and select for multiple traits.”
He selects bulls accordingly, but none are perfect.
“You might have to sacrifice certain traits for others, so knowing your priorities is important,” Vitt says. “We want a bull that sires deep-bodied daughters who can raise a big calf while maintaining body condition.”
In Nebraska
Anderson Cattle
Troy Anderson’s family ranch near Guide Rock, Neb., saw extreme drought in the past few years, depleting forage and endangering the herd. Last September, he spoke at the Certified Angus Beef Annual Conference as the 2023 Commercial Commitment to Excellence honoree. Water makes a big difference, especially when rainfall is short.
“Water is one of the key nutrients that cattle need, and our ponds all but dried up during the drought,” Anderson said then. “We were worried about our cattle getting dehydrated and stuck in the mud trying to access what little water was left.”
“We’ve run a lot of water lines over the last several years and put in a lot of crossfencing,” says Troy Anderson, Anderson Cattle, Guide Rock, Neb.
The solution came from adequate water wells.
“We’ve run a lot of water lines over the last several years and put in a lot of crossfencing,” Anderson said. “We’ve even strung garden hose to stock tanks in pastures to utilize the available grass.”
When wildfire roared across parched range a few years ago, the Andersons lost ground cover and hay. They tried to leave as much grass as possible to hold rain and let it soak in. When no saving rains came, the family moved cattle off grass for years to “let the ground heal up.”
In Kansas
McCurry Angus Ranch
McCurry Angus Ranch is entering its third year of extended drought in south-central Kansas, where John McCurry’s family has raised seedstock and commercial Angus for nearly 100 years. With 300 commercial and 400 registered cows, the focus is raising up to 200 bulls annually for commercial customers, many affected by drought.
With both insight and a bit of luck, McCurry has been able to maintain numbers, expanding the purebred side to include commercial cows used for embryo transfer. That’s because he leased a couple more ranches two years ago to spread cows out.
John McCurry, McCurry Angus Ranch, worries most about his bull customers and offers some tips for weathering drought.
“We have 12 acres per head, which is above average for this area,” he notes. “We were able to save enough grass and maintain our feed levels.” It helped to rent farmland, as well, planting everything from corn to hay and stockpiling feed. Irrigating Bermuda grass worked to develop young cattle.
McCurry worries most about bull customers.
“We talk to these guys all the time, and their stocking rates are light. They focus on old cows rather than buying replacement heifers,” he says.
It’s smart to rebuild using “what they already have” first.
“Clean up your open cows because their value shoots up in a drought market,” McCurry advises. “Sell the older ones. Keep the younger, more fertile cows so you maintain genetics and breeding potential.”
A tighter breeding window will increase uniformity and reproductive efficiency, he adds. “Keep it to 45 days or so.”
In California
Centennial Livestock
Heading west to California, Seth Scribner, operations manager for Centennial Livestock, navigates the effects on a commercial cow-calf and stocker operation in the San Joaquin Valley. Outcomes improved, with lessons learned, from the toughest spans in 2014-2015, then 2017-2018, and again in 2021-2022.
In the Valley, many ranches calve in September before (normal) rains fall from November through April to support grazing January to May.
To deal with abnormal variations, Scribner says the first step is decreasing stocker cattle numbers, prioritizing the cow-calf enterprise.
“Some old-timers told me right when we first started out, ‘Don’t fall in love with your cows,’” says Seth Scribner, operations manager for California’s Centennial Livestock.
“You invest so much in that genetic pool,” he says, “through heifer retention and purchase of bull genetics. It’s hard to turn loose of it.”
During the last drought, he didn’t. Instead, Centennial Livestock moved loads of cows off the ranch in 2021 for a time, something not needed on their ranch in nearly 50 years.
“Some old-timers told me right when we first started out, ‘Don’t fall in love with your cows,’” Scribner says. “That’s hard not to do.” California droughts never line up with preg-checking in May, meaning culling pressure can begin before the ranch has sorted cows and weaned calves.
Culling in later winter allows for stockpiling of feed resources to make it through the year with the cattle on hand.
“You go into it with that mindset,” Scribner says. “How can I sell, market, cull as many animals as possible and retain the two-thirds that I absolutely do not want to sell?”
After the yearlings go, the next round of culling is to remove lower-performing or older cows that don’t fit the core group. In the severest drought, culling moves into the core.
To minimize that, Centennial Livestock leased ground for cows elsewhere and brought them home later in the drought. Some were moved to drylots in place of feeder cattle. The ranch also reduced heifer retention.
Right after the last drought year, Centennial Livestock faced substantially understocked pasture. Still, with so many severe cycles back-to-back, Scribner chose to forego expansion.
“If we made a move, maybe kept more heifers that year or ran more stocker cattle, it didn’t really reward any of us,” he says.
Years of assuming risk taught area ranchers not to anticipate weather or markets coming off a tough year.
This year Scribner sees ranchers considering a rebuild are faced with challenging economics.
“It’s hard to increase your herd when your calves are worth so much and you need that cash flow to keep everything going,” he says.
Stocker cattle may not be nearly as profitable due to inflation and rising costs, so Centennial Livestock instead looked at increasing numbers with their cow-calf herd. They bought good cows from drought-forced sales in Texas. It was also more rapid growth than retaining heifers.
Scribner says the top considerations were economics, calving window and calf type. Ideally, cows match up as fall-calving, bred back to Angus and likely to produce calves.
Economics matter at time of purchase, but a cheaper deal may only be advantageous on the procurement side of things, he notes. That’s why the pressure is on to begin retaining their own heifers as soon as possible. Sire selection is an integral piece. Cows are bred to Angus sires with above-average carcass and maternal traits. Most calves sell as feeders, but heifer replacements require that need for higher carcass merit to not give up the maternal side.
In breeding season, Centennial Livestock sorts cows into terminal and maternal groups. Sire selection and drought are not simply related, where typically only one-quarter of their bull battery is replaced annually. Instead, it’s more focused on the long-term vision for genetics and profitability.
Betting on the future
From stocker to cow-calf, from West Coast to the Plains, drought has hit ranches of varying size, type and location in recent years. Looking to a herd rebuild, it’s safe to say cattlemen and women are betting on the future — and rain.
Editor’s note: Article by Jessica Wesson, Lindsay Graber Runft and Steve Suther.
Topics: Management , Nutrition , Pasture and Forage , Selection
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
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