Prime Time Summer 2018

varies from 6,200 to 9,000 feet in elevation and requires an athletic type of cow. “Our cattle have to be able travel,” he says. “Sometimes it’s several miles between water sources.” The Oakley, Idaho, rancher says he was “skeptical” when he first learned about the benefits of using Akaushi genetics, but now five years later, Marchant says he wished he would have “jumped in faster.” “I vetted the idea pretty hard before AI’ing our first 100 cows,” he says. “It honestly looked too good to be true, but we have had nothing but success with the Akaushi cattle.” After seeing remarkable improvements in his calves the first year, Marchant was a believer. He purchased two Akaushi bulls from Heartbrand ® Beef and then added four more to his battery the following year. Marchant has marketed his calves to Heartbrand for the last several years and has been especially pleased with their performance. Carcass data shows his cattle have routinely graded 65-70 percent Prime since introducing the Akaushi genetics in 1/4 Vertical, 4 color Prime Time Comanche Cattle Company Summer 2018

Dyer re- tains owner- ship of most of his cattle and then sells them to Heartbrand Beef before processing. Because the Akaushi cattle are all-natural,

Jim Dyer’s “El Padrino” is the first certi- fied polled 15/16 bull in the breed and is now available for semen purchase.

they can take longer to reach an optimal marketing weight in the feedyard, but Dyer says the Limousin’s feed efficiency has helped keep his Akaushi-Limousin cross- breds’ cost of gain (COG) at or below that of the purebred Limousin cattle he has fed. Low COG combined with Akaushi’s excel- lent carcass traits have made Dyer’s profit- ability especially impressive. “If you’ve got a Prime carcass versus a Select carcass, you have a lot more market- ing options,” he says. “We average a $15- to-$20 per hundredweight premium for the fat cattle we market to Heartbrand Beef, so there is definitely some real advantage to using the Akaushi genetics.” Paul Marchant, Idaho Paul Marchant has been running cattle in south-central Idaho for 23 years. His 400 commercial cows, primarily Limousin crossed with Red or Black Angus, graze on a combination of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management ground during the summer. The rugged rangeland

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Comanche Cattle Company Proven Akaushi Genetics Selling registered, full-blood Akaushi cattle through private treaty.

Paul Marchant’s cowherd and Akaushi bull graze south- central Idaho’s rugged terrain.

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www.akaushi.com • Summer 2018