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genetics. He began by renovating a pasture with
improved Bermuda grass, then turned out a large con-
temporary group of heifers and asked them to survive on
grass. He culled females with big appetites and high
maintenance needs. He did this year after year. This
methodology became the rise of an enduring selection
process for Cow Creek Ranch, which would focus forag-
ing capacity rather than fed-on capacity, on optimums
rather than maximums, and environmental compatibility
rather than popular genetic lines. In the end, he devel-
oped a moderate size, foraged-based cow herd that
worked for the ranch, rather than the ranch working for
the cows.
While the genetic conversion was taking place in the
pastures, so was the marketing position and emphasis of
Cow Creek Ranch. Reznicek believed that, in general,
seedstock providers focused on production and outside
of production sales little attention had been given to
marketing plans.“The whole focus of Cow Creek Ranch
became to provide a product for the commercial cattle
industry,” said Joe.“No breed can sustain themselves
from within. The sole purpose of any breed is to service
commercial cow/calf operations with viable, functional
bulls. If we did that, all other things would evolve from
that foundation.”With that mindset, Cow Creek Ranch
implemented unique marketing strategies to attract cat-
tlemen to their product.
So in 1988, to communicate the Cow Creek Ranch
message to potential buyers, they launched a company
newsletter, The Ear Mark. The newsletter was believed to
be the first of its kind in the Brangus business. The same
year, they initiated a joint venture bull program to assist
Brangus seedstock breeders in marketing their bull
calves to the commercial market.While these are main-
stream ideas in today's cattle business, they didn't exist in
1988.
In 1995, Cow Creek Ranch initiated a commercial
bred heifer sale in which Cow Creek Ranch customers
market commercial heifers sired by Cow Creek Ranch
bulls. Another first for the Brangus breed. This year, 2012,
will mark the 18th consecutive year for this customer
sale.
The mind of Joe Reznicek never lay idle.
While driving home
from herd visits in Florida in 1992, Joe began thinking
about a genetic product that could be used on Florida
cow herds with heavy Brahman influence. He knew
Angus bulls weren't the answer because of the environ-
ment. In 1993, he decided to breed Cow Creek Ranch's
registered Angus cows to Brangus bulls and call their
progeny Ultrablacks®. Cow Creek Ranch began actively
marketing them in 1996. Cow Creek Ranch trademarked
the Ultrablack name in 1998. Ultrablack bulls became
viable breeding pieces in the Southern tier of the country
and a flagship marketing draw for Cow Creek Ranch. In
2005, Cow Creek Ranch sold the Ultrablack trademark to
the International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA).
Ultrablack cattle are now a part of the breed registry of
the IBBA and are globally recognized in most all sub-
tropical continents including South America and
Australia. Cow Creek Ranch eventually would become the
largest breeder of Ultrablacks in the U.S.
The wheels of the Cow Creek Ranch engine contin-
ued to turn.With the challenge of building a commercial
bull market and an eye on profit and loss, economy of
scale came into play. Cow Creek Ranch needed to grow
cattle numbers to attract volume bull buyers, but that
required more land. North Carolina offered few options
for economical expansion, while west and south of North
Carolina was affordable rangeland still within the existing
Cow Creek Ranch customer base. In 1994, they moved
their operation to Aliceville, Alabama. Allen and Joe main-
tained their business arrangement until 1999 when Joe
and Joy Reznicek purchased the Cow Creek Ranch in its
entirety.
Cow Creek Ranch in
North Carolina is
established by
G. Allen Mebane.
1985
1988
1989
1995
1994
1998
Cow Creek Ranch
moves its
operations from
Mocksville, North
Carolina, to
Aliceville, Alabama.
Cow Creek Ranch
trademarks the
Ultrablack name
with the US Patent
and Trademark
office.
Joe Reznicek is
named “Brangus
Breeder of the
Year” during the
50th Anniversary of
the Brangus breed.
Cow Creek Ranch
launches
The Ear
Mark
, a ranch
newsletter, the first
of its kind in the
Brangus breed.
Cow Creek Ranch
holds its first com-
mercial bred heifer
sale which allowed
Cow Creek Ranch
bull customers to
sell heifers. The sale
is in its 18th year
and was another
first in the breed.
ight now many in the cattle business are longing
for someone to hand us a roadmap to our future.
The traditional and fairly predictable six or seven-
year cattle cycles of the past certainly made decision-
making, let's just say, more comfortable. No matter how
intelligent we are or how far we reach back in history,
the current state of the beef cattle industry seems to
have a pattern of its own. We are on what economists
would define as a random walk, past movements or
trends cannot be used to predict future movements.
The question many are asking is how do we maneu-
ver through exorbitantly high input costs while keeping
our fingers crossed that the cattle market will stay high
enough to cover our overhead. Statistics are telling us
that many in our industry are negotiating the challenge
by driving straight to the sale barn with their
cowherds. We have witnessed record herd liq-
uidations like we've never seen. While fed
placements are up due to sell-offs, cow-
calf businesses are down 10 million
head since 1996 (peak production prior
to 1987), making it the smallest
cowherd since the 1960s. We can only
rely on sell-offs for a limited time
before it pulls down inventories even
more. That's the old news.
I just returned from South America visit-
ing ranches in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
To say it was an eye opening experience is
an understatement. What I observed impacted
my thoughts of the cattle business here in the U.S. as
dynamically as it did of the South American cattle
industry.
What profoundly struck me was realizing the U.S.
beef cattle business is operating with a mature business
model. In 2010, 35.4 million total calves were weaned,
the smallest U.S. calf crop since 1950. Yet, annual total
tonnage of beef harvested has not declined during the
same period. Why? Several reasons. One, decades of
low cost corn coupled with improved feed conversion
have allowed cattle to be fed more days to achieve
heavier, cost-effective weights. Secondly, U.S. cattle pro-
ducers have maximized production through genetics
and management while minimizing costs with inexpen-
sive commodities. We've fertilized grazing lands with
relatively low-cost fertilizers to produce maximum
pounds per acre. All this while paying labor fair wages
with fair benefits, and in cases of family-owned opera-
tions their pay is their lifestyle and ability to manage
debt. We have spent decades achieving maximum pro-
duction while operating as efficiently as possible. But,
in today’s cost structure that leaves us little wiggle
room. Our model is heavily dependent upon grain,
fuel and fertilizer and traditionally provides
low returns. Young people are recognizing
these challenges and few are entering
production agriculture, and those who
desire to must have a sack of gold to
get started.
On the other side of the equator,
South American cattle ranches
are run-
ning at half-throttle. That is to say
they have barely tapped into available
natural resources. As a continent, South
American's do not fertilize their pasture-
lands, cross fence, creep feed, implant calves
(forbidden by law) or measure carcass traits.
Many operations have yet to explore genetic improve-
ment. Vast countryside lies dormant and is readily
available for renovation into pastureland. Labor is
cheap and you can run a cow on grass year round with
no grain supplements. My point is South America has
underdeveloped beef cattle systems with tremendous
upside potentials for growth. These circumstances are
E M
THE AR ARK
A Publication of Cow Creek Ranch
a division of Southern Cattle Company
Volume 23, Number 1
Spring 2011
R
Keeping Our Eyes Wide Open
BY
J
OY
R
EZNICEK
Cow Creek Ranch
develops Ultrablack
cattle to market to
cattlemen who
need bulls with less
than 3/8 Brahman.