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Cooperative Herds |
Pharo Cattle Company
is much more than one family and one ranch. In reality, we could
be described as a multi-family owned and operated seedstock producer.
The demand for Pharo Cattle Company
bulls has increased tremendously over the past several years. In order
to meet
this demand
and to
keep our prices affordable,
we thought it necessary to increase the number of bulls offered in our annual
bull sales. This task is not as easy as it sounds because we refuse to sacrifice
quality for quantity!
The Solution. Over the years our seed-stock program has evolved
into a network
of outstanding cooperative producers. We’ve been able to increase our numbers,
without sacrificing quality, by selecting the best bull calves from a few select
cooperator herds. I’m referring to producers who have philosophies, genetics,
and breeding programs very similar to our own. For the most part, these are breeders
we have been working very closely with for several years.
Biographies for most of our cooperative producers can be found on the next few
pages. These producers have signed a contract with Pharo Cattle Company. In so
doing, they have agreed to abide by some strict guidelines, including the following
philosophies.
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Philosophies Behind Our Bulls
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1. Honesty and integrity will never be compromised.
2. We will manage the natural resources placed under
our control in a sustainable manner.
3. The breed of cattle is not nearly as important
as the breeding program and the philosophies that
produce the cattle.
4. Cows are run in a real-world environment, as tough
or tougher than the environment most commercial cows
are run in.
5. We let the environment sort out the good ones,
while we show absolutely no sympathy for open, late,
or dry cows.
6. We will never make an excuse for a cow. A cow must
produce and wean a calf every year to remain in the
herd.
7. By limiting feed resources, we try to apply sufficient
pressure on the cowherd to force out the unadapted
and infertile animals — at least 10 percent
each year.
8. In addition to growth and performance, we select
for some other vital economic traits like fertility,
calving ease, moderate cow size, fleshing ability,
structural correctness, disposition, and longevity.
9. Replacement heifers are developed on a low-cost,
forage-based diet with minimum supplements. We only
want the most efficient and most adapted heifers to
make it into the cowherd.
10. A bull calf must be born unassisted from an efficient,
moderate-sized cow that has never missed in
order to make it into one
of our bull sales.
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Bull
Selection. When
we go into these cooperative herds we are extremely selective. Performance
is important, but we also select
for calving ease, structural correctness, disposition, fleshing ability
and thickness. In addition to all this we require that the bulls’ mothers
be efficient, moderate-sized cows that have never been pampered.
We can’t afford to make any mistakes because our reputation
is at stake. We only want the best of the best! As time goes on,
and
as these
herds improve we have been able to select more and more of their
bulls for our program. |
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