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Downs,
owner and founder of Southern Cattle Company, has been attracted to the
cattle industry since he was young and as he got older, saw a need for
bulls bred and raised locally to best fit the requirements of Southeast
ranchers.
Southern
Cattle Customer Service Representative James Stice said in the past,
local farmers and operators got their bulls from Western states.
"Many of the bulls are not bred or adapted for the climate, weather
conditions, and the grass that we have in this region," Stice said.
Those facts made the animal’s life shorter in the South in terms of
usefulness for breeding purposes.
Since
the creation of Southern Cattle Company (SCC), an 8,000-acre Angus and
Charolais seed stock operation located on U.S. Highway 231 South,
ranchers even as far away as the Mid-West and Eastern states look to the
Marianna operation for their cow and bull needs.
"We
are a registered cattle business that only uses cattle from proven cow
and bull families," Stice said. "We want to be the
sought-after supplier for other Angus herders and commercial
(markets)."
SCC,
founded 10 years ago, bases its program on consistency and has built a
reputation as a genetically superior supplier. The company has dozens of
top-performing cows and bulls – and purchases semen from donor bulls
– which will provide unswerving prodigy with comparable desirable
traits. Traits like calving ease; good growth; high-quality carcasses;
good maternal traits and milking ability; ease of handling; good
marbling and tenderness.
"A
lot of companies, they have one superstar," Stice said. "We
have lots and lots of good ones which keeps us from putting all our eggs
in one basket. It’s kind of like in baseball – you can spend a lot
of time and money chasing that one superstar." SCC has a strong
bench.
Most
of SCC’s herd consists of cows and bulls that are from registered and
nationally known sires and/or dams. Many are half to full-blooded
siblings from some of the best genetically proven animals in the
country.
SCC’s
offspring comes primarily from the in-house embryo transfer program. The
company practically hand-feeds its proven cows, rotating some in and
out, and flushes eggs monthly for freezing and later use. The company
has a similar semen program for bulls and purchases semen from top
producers around the country. This guarantees the most efficient use of
the top producers, creating the most uniform and genetically superior
cattle.
SCC’s
14 employees accomplish this through the upkeep and maintenance of a
complex set of records whereby every animal’s history and bloodline is
documented and tracked. This allows for parental performance monitoring
which will guarantee the success of the herd. "We know their
history and we know their bloodlines," Stice said.
Cattle
from Southern end up in one of two places – commercial cow-calf
operations or other registered Angus breeders. From these two places,
cattle may go through stockers, feedlots, and packaging plants, but the
end user remains the consumer who either buys beef at the neighborhood
grocery store, or orders it from the menu in a top steak house. "We
supply the genetics that starts all this," Stice said.
Keeping
detailed records on all animals bought, born and sold also helps satisfy
the consumer. General Manager Roland Starnes said food safety will
continue to be in the forefront of public concern.
"Where
the product came from is something the consumer wants to know,"
Starnes said. "The whole industry is headed that way. The animal
must be traceable."
The
bulk of SCC’s business is the sale of young bulls. During last fall’s
sale, buyers from 14 states, primarily from the Gulf Coast areas,
purchased 300 bulls. The average Angus bull sold for $3,250 while the
average Charolais went for $2,850. Bull prices ranged from a high of
$8,800 to a low of $1,700. Also last fall, an Oklahoma buyer paid
$250,000 for one bull in a private treaty purchase. But Stice says that’s
not the norm. "We have something for everybody," he said.
"And we depend on those people who come for just one bull (that may
sell for $2,000)."
During
last fall’s cow sale, prices averaged $10,500 per cow. Buyers came
from 17 different states to bid on SCC’s approximately 100 females,
most of which were with calves.
This
fall’s sale, to be held on Nov. 2-3, bulls on Nov. 2 followed by
females the next day, will be smaller. Downs is keeping more stock to
increase the total herd size. "We are in a build-up period,"
Stice said, " – an expansion mode. This is the reason we won’t
be offering as many females this fall. We are keeping them."
This
year’s fall sale catalogues are expected to include 250 bulls and 125
females. Because some bulls are sold by private treaty or for show
animals, Stice anticipates needing about 280 to meet the 250 number.
This
year’s auction features an exciting new venue. The show and sale will
be aired in real time on the RFD Channel. "People will have our
catalogues and watch the auction and will be able to bid from the
comfort of their living rooms," Stice said. "It’s the first
time we’ve done this. It should be lots of fun."
At
last year’s sales, some of the largest buyers came from Florida
operators who purchased between nine to more than a dozen head. Florida
is the 12th largest cattle producing state in the U.S., and is among the
top three east of the Mississippi. Last year, Southern Cattle Company
ranked nationally in terms of the number of Angus registrations.
"Some
people are here today from Georgia," Stice said during a tour of
the farm in early May. "They are buying a cow for a show animal.
She’s really, really fancy."
When
SCC employees spot those, they alert potential buyers they know have an
interest. But providing animals for competition is not the company’s
goal; nor is breeding rodeo bulls, desired for their aggression and
meanness – something SCC avoids completely. "Those are just
different arenas," Stice said.
As
evidence of reaching its growth goals, last fall the company added 1,400
new calves to the operation. Considering about half of those are
females, SCC has about 600 more births to go to reach its goal of having
1,000 new bulls on the farm. "Our sites are set on having 3,000
head. That will take a number of years," Stice said.
To
help with their growth and daily farm needs, SCC patronizes the Altha
Farmers Co-op in Marianna. Jeff Helms, store manager, said Southern
Cattle Company supports the local Co-op by purchasing a variety of
items, too numerous to name.
"They’ve
been doing business with us for about three years now," Helms said.
"They are excellent people and very good customers. They are highly
respected in their industry. They buy so much from us — things
like fertilizer, bulk feed, lime, cattle wormer, all sorts of vaccines,
ear tags...."
The
Charolais side of the operation is less then one-third of the whole
company. Angus beef, on the other hand, is often advertised by breed on
restaurant menus and in meat markets. Consumers have come to look at
Angus beef as superior.
In
terms of production, Angus’ top-quality reputation comes from a
superior carcass and meat quality that is untouchable in the industry.
Because of the product’s popularity, many Angus operations nationwide
reported record profits the last few years while the consumer paid more
than ever before for high-class beef.
Though
the cattle must be tops, Starnes remains focused on that end user and
wants to provide the best customer service possible to clients, be they
small farmers or large commercial operators.
"We
may be in the cattle business," Starnes said, "but we’re
really in the people business."
SCC
will host an educational seminar on Saturday, July 22, for anyone
interested in attending. There will be several national speakers,
representing three large feedlot operations; speakers from Cattle-Fax, a
national cattle marketing firm; veterinarians from Pfizer and the
University of Georgia; as well as several other noted specialists in
Angus beef production.
For
more information on Southern Cattle Company, call (850) 352-2020 or go
to www.southerncattlecompany.com.
Debbie
Ingram is a freelance writer living in Dothan who can be reached at dingram47@sw.rr.com. |
