Customer Success Story: A-Bar Ranch
Snuggled in the Northeast corner of Texas near
Texarkana, A-Bar Ranch is home to the 750 “mama
cows” that are the backbone of a successful
commercial cattle operation. Owned by Truman Arnold,
A-Bar Ranch is a subsidiary of the company that runs
Truman Automotive Company and Century Bank.
For the past 20 years, Jimmy Curtis has
managed A-Bar Ranch and maintained quality
commercial cattle. Part of Curtis’ secret to his
success is a good record keeping system, which he
has found with CattleMax.
He has now used CattleMax for two years, after
a recommendation from Mike Hnatt with the ShoWorks
fair software.
“My only regret is that I should have used it
earlier,” Curtis says.
Today, along with several other changes,
CattleMax is an integral part of A-Bar Ranch.
“I hardly use paper at all for records, except
for the worksheets I print from CattleMax,” he says,
“I have it loaded on my laptop, and I take it to the
chute and ride with it in my truck—it goes with me
everywhere.”
Another change came six years ago, when Curtis
enhanced production at A-Bar by breeding their cows
to all Charolais bulls, which he says has improved
the herd. Curtis has also implemented the use of
electronic ID, giving all of their calves an EID tag
at birth.
Overall, Curtis says he appreciates the ease
of use CattleMax offers.
“It’s real easy to catch on to and work with,”
he says, “I really like the layout and the reports.
I even use the custom reports, and print out
information for my boss—he’s big on reports.”
Curtis says that every truck at A-Bar keeps a
printed copy of the herd inventory from CattleMax to
make sure every animal is where it needs to be. He
also says he really likes the calving worksheet,
which helps keep track of expected calving dates,
and then to record calf information.
Curtis says Herd Update is another feature
they use frequently to move a group of cattle to a
different pasture all at once instead of updating
each individual record.
Curtis has already completed the requirements
to become a CattleMax Certified User, and says he
plans to receive the Expert Certification soon.
“For anyone who doesn’t have it [CattleMax],
it’s well worth the money,” he says, “I recommend it
to everyone I talk to. This is the right kind of
program for anyone running any size herd of cattle.”
For more information on A-Bar Ranch, contact
Jimmy Curtis at 903-244-2459.
