Santa Gertrudis Source October 2024

PRODUCER Q&A Continued from 37

YANCEY STRAIT, STRAIT RANCHES, STREETMAN, TEXAS

Strait Ranches’ Santa Gertrudis herd was established in 1951 by Y.C. Strait in Big Wells, Texas. Today, Strait Ranches is owned by the Y.N. Strait family of Streetman, Texas. Strait Ranches is driven by the need to produce fertile, functional, efficient beef cattle. Their Santa Gertrudis cattle have been selected to perform in the tough environment of South Texas. Q: What selection criteria or data is most important to your customers? A: First and foremost, our commercial customers expect us, as seedstock breeders, to continually seek improvement. My dad told us, “The only reason seedstock operations exist is to improve commercial cattle.” Our buyers want us to use all available technologies to improve these cattle, but they also expect us to cull animals that are not fertile or have bad udders, feet or legs. Our buy ers typically want the following (in this order): 1. structurally sound, fertile cattle; 2. cattle that perform and grow (heavy weaning weights); and 3. cattle that meet environmental or producer-specific requirements. Q: How do Santa Gertrudis cattle excel in the areas of fertility, function and efficiency? A: Fertility is the key to success in the cattle industry. To maximize production and revenue, cattle must reproduce with as little downtime as possible between calves. The Santa Gertrudis breed and its breeders have placed tremendous emphasis on fertility by requiring early breed-up on heifers and quick breed-back after calving.

Functionality leads to structurally sound animals, which leads to the longevity of a cow herd. Historically, Santa Ger trudis cattle have been forced to be sound, considering the environments in which they have been used – typically in hot, humid environments and/or in locations that require significant traveling to water or forage. Due to the envi ronment, natural selection has ensured that our cattle have remained sound. As breeders, we must continue emphasiz ing feet, legs, udder soundness, etc. I think Santa Gertrudis cattle are extremely functional. Efficiency is bred into these cattle, as they were developed to perform in the harshest environments. We recently fed a set of steers with a dry matter conversion of 5.7 to 1 and a cost of gain of $0.897. Q: What does the Santa Gertrudis breed need to do to remain viable and grow in the future? A: The breed needs a combination of marketing, research and education, coupled with genetic improvement, to remain viable and grow. We must continue to identify our strengths, educate our consumers and breeders, and mar ket the benefits of the Santa Gertrudis breed. As breeders, we must continue to improve our cattle every single day. We must be diligent about culling unsound cattle and those that don’t meet any other performance standards we have in our herds. Research is paramount as it can clearly outline the benefits of Santa Gertrudis without bias.

BIERI FARMS Est. 1946 Santa Gertrudis Herd No. 474 Our herd has been closed to outside females for more than 40 years. Our herd sires come from King Ranch, Wendt Ranches Partners, LLC and Briggs Ranches Partners, LLC. If you sold too much or missed the sale – at private treaty we offer: Find the Highest Quality Females at the Right Price  OPEN GERT FEMALES – $2,000/head ( 10 available)

BIERI FARMS Angleton, Texas (979) 292-9856 (c) SGBI Herd No. 474

www.BieriFarms.com

38

SANTA GERTRUDIS SOURCE

OCTOBER 2024