RANCH TO RAIL north has a new home this year, but the feedlot and comprehensive data return program is otherwise little changed. Officials with the Extension-sponsored effort say they have noted a more pronounced tilt toward English breed influence among arrivals this time around.

Ranch To Rail North Program
Moves, But Otherwise The Same

By David Bowser

TULIA — Swisher County Feedyard is probably the only feedyard in the Texas Panhandle this month to have a processing crew made up of Ph.Ds.

As Dr. John McNeil pushed the cattle up the chute, Dr. Ron Gill inserted eartags and Dr. Ted McCollum III sorted them.

This month marks the ninth year for Texas A&M University's Ranch to Rail program. As October started, Dr. Joe Paschal, Extension beef cattle specialist in Corpus Christi, led the team that processed the incoming cattle at Hondo Creek Feedyard near the Gulf Coast.

A week later, McCollum repeated the process at Swisher County Feedyard near Tulia, in the Texas Panhandle.

The program is divided into two geographic areas, north and south, because of the diversity of cattle that are fed in the state.

The north program, usually hosted by Randall County Feedyard near Canyon, was moved this year because the Randall County yard was filled with 58,000 head of Beef Assurance Program cattle. Friona Industries, parent company of Randall County Feedyard, is involved with Capitol Land and Cattle Company and McDonald's in the two year-old program.

Cattle for the north program were consequently moved to another Friona feedyard, Swisher County, this year.

Swisher County Feedyard Manager Gene Pool says he's happy with the arrangement.

"All I've got to do is feed them. They do all the work," he says, motioning toward the Ranch to Rail crew processing incoming steers.

Some 650 steers were shipped to the 55,000 head capacity Swisher County Feedyard this month by 62 different producers spread across four states. Cattle came from New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

"We had three loads from the Sulphur Springs and Paris area," says McCollum, noting the range of cattle just from within the Lone Star State. "Two loads from Bryan and down in that area."

There were also cattle from Waco, Stephenville, Decatur and Wichita Falls, as well as the Panhandle and the area around Big Spring.

The quality of the animals appears to be improving, says McNeil, who started the program almost a decade ago.

"Those extremes aren't here like they were in the early years," he notes.

"There seem to be a lot more English-type cattle right now," McCollum says the first day the cattle start arriving.

"Especially Herefords," Gill adds.

They also had some corrientes, a few with some Longhorn blood and some with Brahman influence.

All will face the same protocols as in the past. The health and nutrition programs will be the same as at most other commercial feedyards. The cattle will be subject to the same weather and market variabilities as any other cattle on feed. They will be sorted and sold off on a grid negotiated by the Texas A&M professors.

What sets the cattle in this program apart is the close scrutiny they will undergo as they progress through the feeding process, and the performance and carcass information that will be returned to the producers along with the checks if there are profits and bills if there are not.

McCollum warns producers that this is not a contest nor a pitch for retained ownership. It is an educational process to show producers what their cattle are capable of doing ... or not doing.

"It's amazing how consistent the results are year in and year out," says McCollum, a five year veteran of the program.

He says the average daily gain, health and other performance figures don't seem to vary much on the average. That's because there is usually a majority of new producers coming into the program.

This year about two-thirds of the cattle in the north version are from producers new to the program. The other third are producers who have been involved in the program in the past, McNeil says, and have made changes in their breeding or management programs. Many of them return to see how effective the changes have been.

Closeouts will begin probably in March, if past records are any indication. The final cattle will most likely be sold in May. The results will be tabulated and returned to each producer.