Our Program. Our cattle have been selected for generations to help you make money.

Our Background. Until the early 1990s, Alford Cattle Company was a fairly-typical family-owned commercial cattle operation. We raised approximately 1,000 stocker and feeder calves per year with a herd comprised primarily of commercial Brangus, Beefmaster-cross and F-1 Braford cows, exposed primarily to registered Brangus bulls. In most years, we sold our calves rather than feed them. Why? For decades (unless market conditions dictated strongly otherwise), our philosophy had been that “you raise the best calves possible and feed someone else’s mistakes.”

The "Targeted" Beef Market. In the early 1990s, the cattle industry had begun to change, and we changed with it. We began finishing all of our own commercial calves at Champion Feeders in Hereford, Texas and selling on the cash market when they were ready for slaughter. Our volume and consistency led to an interesting opportunity. In 1998 and in partnership with Champion, we were invited to enroll our calves in the Ranchers' Renaissance program and to sell them on Rancher's Formula, which pays a premium for USDA Choice and yield grade of 1 and 2 carcasses. The cost of gain on our Brangus-sired cattle was below the yard average, and our cattle yielded exceptionally well. Roughly seventy percent were yield grade 1 or 2. But we saw a problem – only about twenty-five percent graded Choice, so far too many of our cattle weren’t benefitting from the premium paid for a Choice carcass.

Identifying the Solution. After two years and numerous pens of cattle that performed about the same way, we decided to find (or create) a means of increasing the percentage of our cattle grading Choice – and getting that additional return. We looked to our bulls. We were using bulls from the very top Brangus bloodlines, but they simply were not producing calves that would consistently grade Choice at feedlots in the Texas Panhandle.

We ranch in the heat and humidity of the Gulf Coast area of the Southern United States, so we knew that we would need bulls with some Brahman background. Anything else wouldn’t be able to handle the environment. With this in mind, we initially set out to develop a true Brangus bull (3/8 : 5/8) who would sire Choice cattle as consistently as his Angus counterpart, without surrendering the performance and heat tolerance provided by Brahman (Bos lndicus) influence. We have since learned that a “true Brangus” is not a necessity and that the superior genes selected for our program have produced large quantities of quarter- and half-blood bulls (as well as true Brangus) that fully satisfy the goals which we initially set for ourselves. These bulls will be addressed in greater detail below.

Selecting our Criteria. In any case, the first step in our new program was the development of a half-blood cow herd. Our goal was a balanced combination of phenotype, growth, and carcass quality. The American Angus Association had excellent performance and carcass information for the Angus breed, but (at that time) the American Brahman Breeders Association maintained only performance information. With this in mind, we developed our half-blood herd using those cattle which we considered to be the best of each breed meeting our rigorous criteria.

On the Brahman side, a flat and level topline was our primary consideration, followed by phenotype, fleshing ability, fertility, EPDs, pedigree and udder structure. On the Angus side, we established the following minimum EPD criteria for the individuals we would use: (a) reasonable birth weights, (b) minimum weaning scores of +40, (c) minimum yearling scores of +80, (d) milk scores of +/- 20, (e) minimum IMF scores of +0.20, and (f) minimum REA scores of +0.20.

The Angus bulls that we used had a minimum frame score of "7," because we felt that Gulf Coast soils and climate would moderate frame issues. In other words, we started with "more frame," so that we would end in the range that we had targeted.

Finding the Genetics We Needed. Our goals were lofty. Cattle (whether Brahman or Angus) meeting all of our criteria were scarce, and the gentics were difficult to obtain. As such, we are both fortunate and grateful to have received help and full cooperation from some of the top breeders in both the Angus and Brahman breeds. On the Angus side, Ben Eggers (left, photo courtesy of the Angus Association) at Sydenstricker Genetics (Mexico, Missouri) (a former President of the American Angus Association and member of the Certified Angus Beef Board) was invaluable to our program. On the Brahman side, several divisions of J.D. Hudgins, Inc. (Hungerford, Texas) and Jerry Armstrong's Diamond A Ranch (Dime Box, Texas) provided stock and genetics that form the backbone of the Brahman side of our program.

Half-Blood Females. Our herd of producing females is comprised of half- and quarter-blood animals which have been rigorously-selected to meet or exceed the criteria discussed above. All of our females (whether Brahman, Angus, Brangus, quarter- or half-blood) are aggressively culled for phenotype, fertility, fleshing ability, calf raising ability, and udder quality. The result is a set of cows capable of producing heavy calves that will grade Choice on a consistent basis.

Our half-blood cattle have been created in two principal ways. First, we have purchased flushes from Sydenstricker donor cows and bred them via artificial insemination to top bulls from Hudgins and Diamond A, including JDH A Dakota Manso 599, JDH Karu Manso 800, JDH MR Brandon Manso 761/3, JDH YL Manso 204/2, JDH MR Supercalc Manso 310/2, JDH Charley's Jazz 946/1, MR Diamond A 183/6 and MR Diamond A 248/3. These frozen embryos were implanted in a herd of recipient cows comprised largely of our former commercial dams, and the calves were all raised in a Gulf Coast environment.

We also bred our Brahman cows (predominately Diamond A and Hudgins) to top Angus bulls (primarily Papa Universe 515, SVF Hi Road and PARB Diamond Design 258), using both artificial insemination and embryo transfer technology.

The heifers from these matings form the first generation of our new half-blood herd, and we continue to add to them every year.

Half-Blood Bulls. Of course, these matings also produce a number of half-blood bull calves. We have found that these half-blood bulls produce excellent results when bred to females lacking a significant Bos Indicus influence.

Evaluating our Calves. For all of our calves (whether quarter- or half-blood), we keep performance data, record 205-Day adjusted weaning weights and place the calves on gain tests. At one year, we weigh the calves, calculate 365-Day adjusted yearling figures and cull non-performing animals. We place special emphasis on the spread between weaning and yearling weights, as an indicator of the animal's ability to perform in the feedlot. We perform ultrasound tests on all yearlings and have established the following benchmarks: (a) for bulls, IMF of 3.25 and REA of +11.00, and (b) for heifers, IMF of 3.50 and REA of +10.00. With these minimums, be believe that every animal produced by our program has the ability to produce a feedlot steer or heifer grading USDA Choice.

Quarter-Blood Stock. We produce our quarter-blood cattle in two ways. First, we artificially-inseminate our half-blood cows once to industry-leading Angus bulls that meet our EPD and performance criteria, and we then pasture-expose the cows to our own bulls which meet the same criteria. Second, we have a herd of Angus cows that we breed to our half-blood Herd Sires. These half-blood bulls have a minimum REA of 14.5 inches, an IMF of 3.50 or better, and a weaning to yearling spread of 530 pounds. Both types of matings are producing quarter-blood bulls that can take the heat and humidity of the Gulf Coast, while agressively breeding the cows in your herd, maintaining hybrid vigor and performance and siring offspring with the same carcass quality as their Angus counterparts.