FOND OF GOOD CATTLE and good horses, and the grandson of a Kansas pioneer, Raymond Adams has all the outward attributes of a rigid traditionalist — but he's not. Adams not only accepts change but embraces it, reasoning that change is the only way to survive in the cattle business that has been his lifelong passion. At right are cattle Adams is "straightening out" on his home ranch.

Raymond Adams Doesn't Fear
Change, Just Falling Behind

By Colleen Schreiber

MAPLE HILL, Kan. — Private, modest and unassuming, the kind who doesn't like to draw attention to himself. Those are words one might use to describe lifelong cattleman Raymond Adams.

That's not to say that this 68 year-old Kansas native stays at home on the ranch, quietly tending to business. Like his grandfather and father, Adams understands the importance of becoming involved, of embracing change to make a buck. When he wasn't satisfied with the price he was being paid for his beef, he didn't simply accept it and go on. Instead, Adams, along with several other concerned and innovative Kansas livestock men, set out to improve the system.

The end result was the development of U.S. Premium Beef, a producer-owned, closed cooperative which was initiated in 1996 and began operations in December 1997.

USPB's stated mission is: "To increase the quality of beef and long-term profitability of cattle producers by creating a fully integrated producer-owned beef processing system that is a global supplier of high quality value-added beef products responsive to consumer desires."

"I've been selling fat cattle or feeder cattle most all my life and never, in my mind, have I gotten a fair premium for my product," says Adams.

"In my mind a black baldface steer is as good as it gets," he continues. "I just knew that I wasn’t being paid for quality. I’m not saying I wasn’t being paid fairly, but I’m like everyone else; I like to be paid a little more. I think my calves should bring a little more than a mongrel one that you can't tell what it is when you look at it."

The concept behind USPB, he stresses, is to pay people for what they produce.

"That’s what spurred me to become involved with those people and to take an interest and work in it," he continues. "I’d like to do something in my lifetime to help the people in the cattle industry. I think this is an opportunity to do that."

Since its inception, more than 950 producers from 28 states have marketed cattle through USPB out of more than 525 feedlots in 14 states. Adams represents the cow-calf sector on the board.

"We haven't been able to get as many cow-calf people involved as we'd like," Adams says. "It's a tough business and a lot of cow-calf people just didn't have $55 to lay out for a share of stock. Plus, people who have been involved in the business a long time have had a lot of gimmicks thrown at them. They want to see the proof in the pudding first before they step into it."

Proof in the pudding is coming, however. In fiscal year 1999, USPB paid out more than $7.72 million to its members in premiums. That equated to $13.87 per head on more than 560,000 head of cattle marketed through the program during the fiscal year. Another indication of the company's financial success is rising share price. USPB stock has appreciated from $55 to $80 a share. Some members lease their shares for $10 to $12 per share.

Though Adams says he isn't surprised by the company's success, he admits there were definite doubts initially.

"The concept, to offer incentives for producing quality, was right, and that's part of why it's worked."

Working on such a venture meant that changes in old mindsets had to be made, changes like partnering with a packer. But for Adams, change has always been an accepted constant.

"If you can’t change, you can’t stay in business, as far as I’m concerned," he states.

"Traditionally, people in the cattle business have hated packers since time was.

"When we went into USPB we became packers, so we were forced to change our attitude."

Because of this ongoing relationship, Adams says, USPB members now have a better understanding of the packing business.

Packing houses today, he says, are making money because they’re doing a good job of selling beef, but he knows now just how thin their margins are.

USPB members have already accumulated a wealth of knowledge about their cattle, and many found that management and even genetic changes needed to be made.

"We’ve listened to people say 'I don’t want any fat on my meat,' but anyone who knows anything about beef knows that you have to have some marbling. We’ve gone so far backwards that our product isn’t good anymore," he says. "We're working to change that."

Changes still need to be made and things learned. It's an ongoing process, he notes.

Adams runs two separate operations in two different geographical areas of the state. The homeplace lies on the outer fringes of the Flinthills in Wabaunsee County. It's here where Adams grew up, as did his father. The operation here is a mixed bag of sorts. Today it's used mainly as a stocker operation.

To the south and west, just east of Liberal in Meade County, Kansas and Beaver County, Oklahoma, is the cow-calf and farming operation. The ranch lies right on the Cimarron River. According to legend, Adams says, the Cimarron was named by an old cowboy who was trying desperately to boil water to cook some beans but couldn't get the water to boil. The cowboy got disgusted, kicked the can in the river and said, "Simmer on."

Adams describes the land here as good cow country, "as good as it gets" — mostly short grass, but the kind that will come back strong. This area was once the center of the Dust Bowl, and today Adams has eight irrigation circles on which wheat and alfalfa are raised. He harvests about 80,000 bales of alfalfa a year.

"The circles have a purpose in that now we think we can live through a drouth," Adams says.

Adams comes from a long line of pioneer Kansas ranchers. Born to it as his forefathers were, he says ranching was a love that came naturally.

Adams' grandfather, H.G. Adams Sr., came with his family from Illinois to Maple Hill in 1878. As a successful farmer and rancher, H.G. became one of the leaders of his community. He helped provide the first ferry on which people and commerce could cross the Kansas River.

He was also the first commercial cattle feeder in Kansas. He bought corn off the Kansas River bottoms to feed to his cattle, one of the more productive areas of the state.

"It wasn't uncommon for him to feed 5000 to 7000 head in a year, which is not big by today’s standards but it was then," Adams remarks, "especially when you consider that they were using teams and scoop shovels."

The cattle were sold in St. Joe, Kansas City or Chicago. Most of the Prime cattle went to Chicago, Adams says.

Among his treasures, Adams has old stock show ribbons dating back to the 1909 American Royal. In 1911, Adams' grandfather had the champion carload of grainfed steers and heifers.

Adams says his father was a greater trader of cattle and struck deals all over the country. Also in his possession are pictures of cattle he bought off the JA in the Texas Panhandle that date back to the late 1800s.

H.G. began running cattle on the Cimarron River in southwestern Kansas in 1895. On one occasion in his travels back and forth and here and there, he met William Robert. It's been told that as a young boy of 12, William Robert walked and hitched rides from St. Louis to Lincoln County New Mexico and upon arrival went to work for the Nelson Mercantile Co. in Anton Chico. Later he became acquainted with John Chisum, one of the great early pioneers and the first to ranch in the New Mexico area. Chisum offered him a job as bookkeeper on his outfit. He later became acquainted with and married Chisum's niece, Sally.

The Jinglebob outfit was claimed to be one of the largest of its time. It was free range country then, and in time Chisum lost much of his land to homesteaders because he couldn't afford to fence it.

Robert, who by this time had struck out on his own, didn't have the necessary capital to fence up his land either, so he took Adams in as a partner. Adams later bought Robert out.

In 1903 Adams purchased the XI ranch, which is being operated today by Raymond and his sons. In 1932 he branded 5000 calves with the XI brand.

H.G. Adams also played a major role in the development of blackleg vaccine. For this and his many other accomplishments, Adams was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame of Great Westerners in 1997.

Raymond has carried on the family legacy. Born in 1932, he enjoyed his life as a ranch kid. That is, until his parents felt it necessary to send their son away to boarding school in Kansas City. They wanted him to receive a good education and felt the small country school wasn't sufficient.

Adams doesn't have many fond memories of that experience.

"It was during World War II. We lived in a dormitory, the food was horrible ... It was a good school, but I love this ranch and I would have stayed right here," Adams says.

That wasn't to be his last experience away from the Flinthills he loved so much. Upon completing high school, he was accepted by both Yale and Cornell universities and chose the latter. He majored in economics.

It wasn't long, however, before the long cold winter and homesickness for his family and for his ranch finally got the better of him and Adams returned home before finishing his degree. He went to Kansas University next, but only for a semester.

Finally, his father issued an ultimatum: "Get a college degree somewhere or you're going to work." Adams got serious about his college education then, entered Kansas State University and eventually did attain his degree. While at KSU, Adams was a member of the livestock judging team. Don Good was his coach.

"That was probably the best thing I ever did. I loved it," Adams says. "We got to travel to a lot of different operations. We studied their livestock and saw what worked and what didn't work."

Adams still uses much of what he learned on the judging team today in his operation.

"Nowadays, people use all the modern technology like ultrasound, EPDs and other records to judge livestock, but I'm of the old school," he says. "I think I can look at cattle and judge pretty well how they're going to perform."

Upon graduation, Adams spent two years in the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed at Salina and later spent three months at Cheyenne, where he went through supply school. Two years, he says, was more than enough.

"It wasn't that I didn't like the Air Force. I just wanted to get back here so I could start punching cattle."

Adams did make it back to the ranch and soon became his father's partner. He was a good partner, Adams says of his father.

"Most everything I know I learned from my dad."

Raymond Adams Sr. died in 1967.

Like many operators, Adams has run the gamut in terms of cattle breeds to find the one best suited to his operation. Today his breed of choice is the black baldy cow because, according to Adams, the Angus-Hereford cross "is the best cross going, probably the most efficient brood cow."

He's been using Gardiner Angus bulls for the past 30-plus years, and now his calves are approximately 60 percent black and baldface.

On this year-round cow-calf operation he stocks a cow to 20 acres. His cows calve in the spring beginning around the first of February. Weaning weights generally average around 500 pounds or so.

For the last several years, Adams has been running the bigger end of his calf crop on irrigated wheat until they reach approximately 800 pounds. They're then sold or fed out. He currently has 1000 head on feed at HRC Feedyard in Scott City. Those calves will go through the U.S. Premium Beef program and Adams says he's shooting for a $50 per head premium.

"We didn't have to use the stock the first year," he explains. "So when fat cattle got to be 58 cents and feeder cattle were worth 78 cents, we sold feeders. It goes back to the bottom line. You better look at the bottom line or you won’t be around," he warns.

The number of cattle fed out varies from year to year, Adams continues. "We don't necessarily do the same thing all the time. We try to adjust to whatever we think will work."

In 1934 when Adams' grandfather divided the ranch among his three sons, the brothers flipped for the XI brand. Raymond's father lost, so he moved his brand to the left side and added a "T". Raymond still brands the "XIT" today.

Like his grandfather and father, Adams fed cattle at the homeplace until about 10 or 12 years ago. When the packing houses began moving away from Kansas City and St. Joe to the west to places like Liberal, Garden City, Dodge City and the like, he was in essence forced out of the feeding business.

"That put us at a disadvantage freight-wise," Adams says. "Plus, our climate is not as good as Southwest Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. You can’t beat that dry climate for feeding cattle."

Adams has seen considerable change in the cattle feeding industry. Primarily, he says, "it's more scientific.

"When we fed cattle, we fed them cottonseed meal, corn and prairie hay, period," Adams explains. "Now they’ve got a nutritionist that sets up these rations and they include things like trace minerals, vitamins, etc."

Today the homeplace, which he describes as a "calf weaning machine," is primarily a stocker operation. The native bluestem pastures and brome grass fields are more conducive to running stockers than mother cows, he explains.

Adams buys outside cattle, straightens them out and then runs them on rented ground or land that he owns outright. Of late he's been buying cattle off Superior's video auction. One year he bought 3600 steers from Charlie Dunlap at Vaughn, New Mexico. He traded for years with Ross McDonald, who worked for Zeigler Cattle Company at El Paso, and he bought the Waggoner cattle for several years as well.

They were only the wildest things left in the world," Adams says. "I started going down there with my dad when I was about 13 years old. Tony Hazelwood was the boss then."

Like his grandfather, Adams isn't afraid of making a trade either way.

"Whatever it takes to turn a buck ... That's the objective of what we're trying to do," Adams says. "Everything is a gamble in the cattle business. It's all about playing the market."

Next to his cattle, his ranch-raised horses are something Adams takes great pride in. His dad started raising his own horses in 1936 after purchasing Son of Sheik and 10 mares from the Matador. He also bought Son of Plaudit, who sired Question Mark, Adams says. Plaudit was owned by the Phillips family. Both of those studs were Palominos. The ranch uses about 30 head of geldings or more on their operation today.

"Dad showed horses all over the country and then he sold a big bunch in one pop and made a ton of money," Adams says. "I’ve never made any money selling horses because I always keep the good ones for myself.

"I’ve ridden a few fair ponies," he continues. "I’ve had my share of fun riding out here in the rocks. Being able to get on a good horse at daylight and ride out and see what's going on, that's what keeps me going. I would love to ride every day, but I'm too tied down today with other demands."

Adams has seen lots of change in his tenure and most he's embraced, but there is one change he's not ready or willing to accept. That change has to do with encroachment of urban folks into the countryside.

"The country itself, in and around Wabaunsee County, hasn't changed much, but the people have," Adams says. "People are invading us from everywhere. When I was a kid there were still people running teams up and down this road. Now you wouldn’t believe the traffic. Cars running 70 to 80 miles an hour all the time," he says.

"They all think they can get $500 an acre out of this grass," he continues, "but if you have to work it, it’s worth maybe $200 at the most. But people keep bidding this land up. It's happening all over the country.

"If I wanted to sell this land of mine, I could cut it up into 10 to 40-acre blocks and it would bring several thousand dollars an acre, but no one is ever going to force me to do anything," he says.

Adams lost his wife two years ago but he is fortunate to have six children. His four sons work with him; three are on the ranch in Meade County and another works with him at the headquarters operation.

The number one thing passed to him by his father and now from him to his own kids is the importance of honesty.

"I think if you’re honest, you work hard and are fair, you’ll be successful in what you do, whatever you do," Adams says. "I’ve tried to instill a good work ethic in my children. 'Course, if you’re going to be in this business, you’ve got to work."

Adams knows the future is largely unpredictable, but he says it doesn't do any good to worry about what the future holds for his children.

"My sons are going to have to make it on their own just like I did," he remarks.

Adams is particularly concerned about the growing interest on the part of South Americans to send their beef to the U.S. The fact that they can raise it much more cheaply than those in the U.S. has him concerned.

But then, he says, that's all the more reason to become proactive, to become involved in change and meet the challenges of the future head-on. And Adams plans to do just that.