“Very few people (outside of agriculture) realize how sophisticated this industry is,” says H. Ross Perot Jr. “If you’re going to do well, you must have a well-educated team.” From left, the Circle T team includes Perot, Spencer Deal, Brett Burton, Randy Tawater, Dakota Tawater, Spencer Hendricks, Mark Baker, ranch manager, and Sawyer Smith.
fertility test the bulls every year,” Baker says. “We try to run 20 cows to a bull and expect to get 5 years of service from a bull.” The Circle T team vaccinates twice a year, follow-
ing standard herd health protocols. Mineral feeders are kept out all year to help keep the cattle in good shape. Circle T harvests a good hay crop, but thanks to judi- cious range management and rotational grazing, they have not had to feed much hay during the dry years. Baker insists on maintaining the breeding herd at an
optimum body condition. “I’m not going to have poor cattle,” he says. He prefers to use Brangus and Angus females that are feminine, with good bone and moder- ate frame score. Circle T replacement females have been in demand,
Baker says. Earlier in 2014, they sold about 250 open replacement females at the highest prices he’s ever received. “We keep about 150 females back each year for replacements for our herd. This keeps our genetics up to date,” he says. “We’re like any other rancher when it comes to cull
cows — they have to pay their way. If a cow doesn’t have a calf, she has to be culled unless it’s a freak accident.” In Baker’s experience, if a cow skips a year of production she will pass that infertility on to her daughter when she does have a calf. “We want a cow that will have a calf every year for 12 good years.” Cattle are branded with their birth year as part of
their herd identifi cation. The team of ranch hands is so familiar with the herd that they can identify the family lines by sight when they check the pastures. “We know what female has produced what daughters, and we know what bull we put with each set of cows each year. We don’t want to repeat that bull on a set of cows,” he explains.
Every pasture is the front pasture Pasture management is taken to a different level at Circle T because just about every pasture is their
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front pasture, meaning just about every pasture can be viewed from a highway, or by an urban neighbor. Perot, Baker and the team want to present a crisp and clean appearance to the public. They also want to maximize their available forage, so weed control is important at the ranch. Aerial spraying is out of the question, but ground spraying helps to give the pastures the best chance to produce forage for the cattle. Rotational graz- ing keeps the grass at an appropriate height to recover and maintain range health. “We want a front yard appearance,” Baker says. “To
have that appearance, we can’t have tunnel vision.” To avoid tunnel vision, Baker rotates his team members through the parts of the ranch as much as he rotates the cattle. Team members are encouraged to bring a criti- cal eye to their work. This helps them spot areas that need to be fi xed, adjusted or just generally improved. Baker expects his team members to bring their ideas to the Monday morning meeting table. “I don’t want the ranch to become stale. I want the guys to have that passion for keeping the ranch looking its best.” Speaking of the team, Baker says the ranch hands
also face the challenge of the urban-rural interface. “My guys know that on Friday and Saturday nights after the dance they may get called out because somebody ran through the fence — and they won’t run through the same hole, they’ll make another hole,” Baker says with some chagrin. “If you want to be a part of our team, then you are an all-around hand. You’d better know what grease is, know about getting under the muffl er and on top of the tractor, riding a horse and roping and doctoring. You have to be able to do it all.” Perot says, “I’m glad we have a guy like Mark Baker
and his team to run our program. That’s why we turn out the quality cattle we do and win the awards we do — because of the team. All the businesses we are in are the same way. They’re sophisticated, they’re tough, they’re very competitive. You’ve got to have the right people with the right attitude to succeed.”
November 2014 The Cattleman 87
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