Certifi ed Angus Beef partner Many KCF customers have seed-
stock and commercial operations. They placed cattle to determine how their genetics would perform on feed. They have represented nu- merous breeds. KCF was among several Texas feedyards that got involved with the Certifi ed Angus Beef (CAB) partnership program. In 2008, Keeling’s ingenuity, pace and effectiveness earned the feed- yard the CAB Progressive Partner Award. Keeling and his wife, Karen, accepted the award at the annual CAB conference. Texas Angus producers had long
recognized those merits and, in 2007, urged Keeling to align his yard with CAB. “Scott always had an outstanding business approach to running a feed- yard,” noted Steve Knoll, a nearby member of the Texas Angus Association board of directors. “I knew he had a great work ethic and did a quality job.” “I am still proud to be a CAB partner,” Keeling says.
Scott Keeling, Keeling Cattle Feeders, has operated his family’s 17,000-head custom feedyard just west of Hereford since 1985.
Those calves come from all over the southeast:
“It is an opportunity to work with a group of producers who are continually striving to improve the quality of beef they produce.”
Risk and reward He admits that feeding cattle is not for everyone.
“With the capital investment required, we rarely see anyone new getting into this business. It can be ex- tremely rewarding, but extremely risky at the same time. It is not for the faint of heart or without some good risk management to hedge against major fed- cattle price decreases or major increases in corn, feeder cattle and other input costs.” If high fi nancial risk
Arkansas, Oklahoma, East Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. With the high cattle prices, many come from operations that do not include strict preconditioning programs. “For some of those cattle, the biggest thing is just keeping them alive and healthy if bad winter weather hits,” Keeling says. Livestock brokers help in overall procurement. “We
If I buy calves from a ranch one year and they perform well, I will look at them again.”
is not enough, the recent drought and the shortage of feeder cattle has created a more diversifi ed range of cattle procured by Keeling. “We have always liked feeding heifers,” Keeling says. “A lot of them we see now are 350 to 450 pounds. They will be on a grower ration until they reach 750. Then they move to a higher- energy ration.”
98 The Cattleman September 2015
see more Holsteins now,” Keeling says. “They are pro- cured locally from Texas and New Mexico dairies and calf ranches. They are normally day-old calves that will be on feed for about a year. We may contract for day-olds 6 months before we actually get them.” Keeling notes that for ranches that do precondition, there is a difference in how those cattle perform at the feedyard. “They typically see fewer health problems,” he says. “They go on feed quicker and see better gains. We rec- ommend a minimum of 45 days in a weaning pro-
gram and prefer 60 days. I may be more aggressive in buying those calves. If I buy calves from a ranch one year and they perform well, I will look at them again.” Before the recession hit in 2008 and 2009, about
75 percent of the KCF cattle were custom fed for oth- ers. However, major fed-cattle losses caused mostly by sky-high corn prices changed the scope of feedyards.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132