In addition to the West Texas ranch, the Foundation
manages 3 other ranches, which are in tall grass prai- ries in north central Texas, north of Dallas-Fort Worth. “Basically, north central Texas is wetter and West
Texas is drier,” Wade says. “We wanted to create viable demonstrations of cattle production in both climate regions. Many times, research is conducted in one area, but cannot be replicated in another. We are able to show both.”
Change for the better For Frank Price and his son, Sims, of Sterling City,
fenceline weaning has made an economic difference for their ranching operation. They implemented this low-stress weaning technique when the father-son team formed a 50/50 partnership 5 years ago. “We have had very few health problems and don’t
have the shrink we used to,” says Frank Price, whose family has been ranching in the area since 1876. “Before [fenceline weaning], we stripped the calves
off the cows, put them right on a truck and shipped them to another pasture to wean,” Price says. “That fi rst week they would walk a lot, bawl, not eat or drink, then fi nally lay down they were so worn out. We prob- ably had 5 to 6 percent shrink. “Health problems come from the bawling, getting
hoarse, walking the fence and not going to water,” he adds. “We don’t have those issues anymore and we have healthy calves. It’s a win-win. I wish I’d thought of it years ago.” Price explains that he had an employee who had
worked on another operation that used fenceline wean- ing and talked him into trying it. “We used his expertise to implement our program,”
Price says. “Our employee’s experience was invaluable to establishing our new weaning program.” The specifi cs of their system include bringing the
cows and calves into a large pen, stripping the calves off and putting them right back into the old pasture, with which they are familiar. Cows go into a new, fresh pasture adjacent to the calves. They wait until the wean- ing process, which takes about a week to complete, is fi nished before vaccinating and branding the calves or
pregnancy checking the cows. They have a permanent high-tensile net wire fence separating the pairs. “Cows are getting tired of calves around 8 to 8 1/2
months old,” Price says. “It’s not a problem because the cow and calf know where the other is. They can still see each other. We don’t see the walking and bawling like we did before.” The Prices cross Hereford and Brahman genetics to
make an F1 tiger stripe. Those cows are put with an Angus bull to make what Price calls a “super baldy.” Those cows are then mated to a Charolais bull for a terminal cross. The cow herd moves together through an intensive grazing program, except during calving when cows are scattered in different pastures. Price implemented this system in the 1980s. Changing to intensive grazing gave the Prices an
opportunity not to feed mature cows. For example, one of their six grazing units has 18 pastures on 22 sections. They move the entire herd through this unit. “This made a huge difference in the economics of
our operation,” Price says. “Not having to feed cows has made it more profi table. It also saves us time. In a traditional system, it could take 1 man all day to check cattle, water and fences. Now it takes 1 man 3 days per week to check cows. It’s easy to manage.” Price puts an emphasis on low-stress handling
through the entire cattle management process, not just at weaning time. “The cattle are handled a lot,” he says. “We take
advantage of any opportunity to move them that pres- ents itself, whether horseback, with a Gator or on foot. We want cattle to look for us to let them move to the next pasture. They must have us to change pastures.” The cows are moved one morning, then checked
on the next day to see if any animals were left behind. “Cows will be standing there waiting on us,” he
says. “The livestock are our employees. We want them eager to work and get work out of them.” The mature cows are on pasture and have mineral
365 days a year. They never receive any feed or hay, so the baby calves don’t know what a feed wagon is. “During weaning, we introduce calves to feeding, putting it right along the fence line by their moth-
The biggest benefit Wade sees in low-stress handling is fewer man-hours needed.
130 The Cattleman October 2016
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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