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Double-H Monthly Thoughts

Last Updated: Sunday -- May 25, 2008 -- 2:30 pm

Past Double-H Monthly Thoughts Columns

Double-H Monthly Thoughts - February 2008 by Howard Hecht

Marketing Your Beef Cattle Operation

Double-H Charolais is currently celebrating 40 years in the Charolais industry. During that time, we have learned a great deal about marketing beef cattle, whether it be to the commercial cattle operation or to fellow purebred breeders.

Over time, we have learned the importance of being willing to change and adapt to new technologies or ideas. This also applies to techniques for marketing your program. It is also important to not lose site of the basic concepts for getting the word out about your herd.

The following is a 10-point marketing plan that has worked for our herd over the years, and some ideas you should consider implementing:

- Send A Personal Letter: Whether checking up on your past customers to see how their purchases from you have worked out, or informing a prospective customer of an upcoming consignment or animals available for private treaty, a personal letter is an effective way of getting someone’s attention

- Join and become active with your state breed affiliate association: This is a great way to network, meet new breeders, and spread the word about your herd

- Advertise in your national breed publication or other magazines: Costly, but there is no denying the market penetration of these magazines and the potential return on your investment. You can even piggyback off your state affiliate by pooling resources and putting a "state directory" in your national publication to cut down on costs through volume discount.

- Place a local ad: Inexpensive and often enables you to reach new area breeders you have not met

- Visit your past customers’ herds: This is easy to do and shows you care about how their program has progressed. You may also find offspring from a past “sale” to them that you’ll want to purchase for your own herd

- Internet email list: You can get an email address for free through gmail.com or hotmail.com. The laws of physics may not allow you to travel to every one of your customer’s farms. Email is a fast and easy alternative to keep in touch with customers and prospects over long distances. You can even attach a picture or two of an animal you may be marketing.

- Create an Internet website: You can create a basic website through your Internet provider or hire someone to create a deluxe website to market your herd. Don’t underestimate the power of the Internet. We have sold embryos to all corners of the U.S. and into North America through our website since 1996.

- Attend Shows or Sales in Person: This is another great way to network, not to mention to see some great cattle at places you may not be exhibiting. Remember to bring along a picture of that great, young herdsire prospect you will be selling. You never know who might be interested in visiting your ranch to see him in person!

- “Snail Mail”: Using the United States Postal Service to mass-mail flyers about an upcoming consignment sale is often as effective as any other form of advertising. Make sure you include pictures of your top entries and don’t forget to include EPDs and other performance information! Some breeders prefer to have that physical “piece of paper” they can fold up and put in their back pocket for reference when onsite at the sale.

- POTS = “Plain Old Telephone Service”: POTS is arguably one of the most effective way of communicating with customers. You can gauge interest by their tone, but also catch up on how their herd is doing. Relationship building is important in building and retaining your customer base, and speaking with a fellow breeder over the phone will go a long way in marketing your program.

Marketing your beef cattle operation is an important aspect to your program’s success. Don’t wait around for your buyers to return unsolicited, or someone else will fill your customers’ void in your absence.

To comment on this article, email Howard at BrassBone1@aol.com.

Double-H Monthly Thoughts - December 2007 by Harlin Hecht

EPD’s are an excellent tool for selection of breeding stock, in fact they currently are the best tool we have. They are now many times more accurate than when they first came out for the Charolais breed many years ago as more and more data has been accumulated.

Have you ever heard a purebred breeder say “I have a cow with a -5 milk EPD and she is one of the best milkers I have.”? This could be a very true statement as EPD’s are just what the abbreviation stands for, Expected Progeny Differences. This means the average expected for this cow’s progeny is 12 pounds less of growth at weaning from her milk production than a +7 milk EPD cow (breed average). Since this breeder’s cow is a heavy milker she is above average for an animal with her pedigree. If she truly does produce higher weaning progeny than her contemporaries, her milk EPD should go up over time.

We had an excellent example of this in our own herd several years ago. We purchased a breeding interest in a bull named Stoli who was a Reserve National Champion. He produced show winners all over the country. When it came time for his daughters to milk they really failed us. Some had adequate milk, but most were far below the average of our herd. Other breeders noted this too and semen sales dried up. (He had been one of the hottest selling bulls in the nation.) Stoli’s milk EPD’s went from +14 pedigree estimate when we bought him to -13 today. (.76 Accuracy) That is why today we use high accuracy donors and sires to avoid EPD fluctuation.

After that experience we decided to change over our cow herd. We purchased some of the best milking females in the breed who had some of the best EPD’s for other traits as well. They had to have excellent type to go with their EPD’s or we didn’t want them. Now we are able to provide seed stock to the Charolais world through our extensive embryo transplant program. We currently have 18 cows with a milk EPD of +19 or higher, putting them in the top 3% of the breed for this trait. While this may not work in desert areas of the country, it works extremely well in the Midwest where forage is plentiful and higher weaning weights are desired. In addition we are closely monitoring our birth weight EPD’s and have a large number of cows in the top 5% of the breed for weaning and yearling weight. Most of our donors are in the top 1% of the breed for Total Maternal EPD’s.

I have found that among the breeders who criticize EPD’s, most are either the ones who don’t understand them, or they are the ones who have poor EPD’s in their herd. Select for top EPD’s along with correct type and cull ruthlessly and you will be sure to rise to the top in Charolais circles.

In the future DNA testing for certain markers will possibly replace EPD’s as a selection tool. However, I believe that the cattle with top EPD’s will more than likely show these markers and again rise to the top of the breed.

To comment on this article, email Harlin at doubleh@lakedalelink.net

Double-H Monthly Thoughts - June 2007 by Harlin Hecht

The following article was reprinted with permission from the Charolais Journal from the April 2007 issue. It featured AICA Breeder Perspectives for active Charolais breeders between 1987 and 1991, including responses from Roger Curfman of Griggsville, IL, Charlie Smith of Sugarland, TX, Kevin Wiley of Perry, OK, and Double-H's Harlin Hecht.

The following are Harlin's responses to the respective questions, answered Spring 2007:

1. What factors have contributed to the success of the Association and its members?

Whole Herd Reporting has done a lot to increase the accuracy of EPDs. Many additional performance records have come in to make EPDs much more reliable than they were in the 1980s. We have found that we can rely more heavily on EPDs that we did in the past and our customers (both purebred and commercial) are doing so as well in fact they are demanding them and will do so even more in the future.

2. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, what do you see as the most important decision made by the Association’s leadership to solidify the breed’s future?

In the 1980s, selling our building in Houston for mega bucks to Shell Oil and moving the office to Kansas City really financially solidified the association. We were able to buy land, put up a new building, and still have money to put into investments. Also, increasing the number of scholarships given each year to our juniors has to have a very positive effect on our future position in the industry.

3. Where will emphasis need to be placed in the future for the Association’s continued success?

Merchandising will be the key. We need to continue to promote the Charolais attributes to the commercial cattlemen and feedlots as well as to the consumer. We have the type of cattle the consumer likes to eat and the type that makes money for the other two sectors. We just have to be sure they are aware of what is available to them.

4. Large-framed cattle were the industry norm during the 1980s. How did your operation adjust as frame scores moderated?

I believe our first move was to add thickness to our cattle without doing much to moderate frame. Finally, in the early 1990s we made some dramatic changes in our herd. We bought a group of cows with excellent type, along with some of the top EPDs in the nation. Then we started an extensive ET program to propagate these exceptional genetics. This move mad e our herd what it is today: a herd with top performance, top EPDs and the type desired in the show ring. In the 1980s when we selected for size in the show ring we could say that show ring cattle were also performance cattle. Today we have to be careful when selecting show cattle that we also select for performance or the breed could be split into two groups: show cattle and performance cattle. We believe it is possible to have both in one animal and that is what we are striving for.

5. Over the years, providing customer service to commercial operations has become increasingly more important. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, did your marketing/production strategies change to better accommodate your customers’ needs? If so, how?

We feel we have always been customer oriented to do what is right for each of them. We started by having large groups of young people to our farm for field judging contests. Many of them selected show heifers, herd sires, or semen from our program to start their own herds. We always try to find out before a purchase what the customer wants and needs and then match the animal to them. Being honest with your customer has to be the No. 1 trait of any long-term, successful purebred breeder. My motto has been, “You can take 20 years to build a reputation, but you can lose it in 20 minutes.” When we held production sales we again took individual customers through the herd and helped them select animals that would fit their program. The same strategy was employed at our bull sales whenever a customer came to us for advice. We have also helped customers with management options like developing feed rations, fitting cattle for shows, etc.

6. What has been your involvement with AICA and your state/area affiliate?

I have been a director of the Minnesota/Wisconsin Charolais Association and have served several terms as president. Other family members have also been heavily involved as Howard is a past president and Mark and Dale currently serve as directors. On the national level, we first became involved when our sons joined the AIJCA and started going to the Junior National Shows and Conferences. I always said this was the best week spent by them each year. Howard and Mark eventually each became president of the AIJCA and Dale was a director and was named Herdsman of the Year. I served nine years on the AICA Board of Directors, took a 15-year leave and was recently re-elected to the board. In the past I served as both AICA Board Secretary and Treasurer, as well as chairman of the Rules and Ethics and Breed Improvement committees.

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Double-H Charolais Harlin & Susan Hecht Family 16732 283rd Avenue Paynesville, MN 56362 Phone: 320/243-4386 Fax: 320/243-4287 email: doubleh@lakedalelink.net

Last Updated: Sunday -- May 25, 2008 -- 2:30pm

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