Tigers in a Louisiana swamp?

No, not really. They're really Tiger Stripe cows and because of excessive rains lately, Gorman Farms, located 5 miles south of Ringgold, LA, is in kind of a "swampy" situation. They have been using CattleMax software for about 1 1/2 years and are an F-1 operation with approximately 365 cows in their herd at present, but looking at the prospect of having to reduce their herd due to wet conditions preventing planting and even running cattle in some of their hay pastures.

Using artificial insemination exclusively, they breed Steiner Brangus bulls to F-1 Tiger Stripe cows to produce replacement heifers for sale to other cow-calf operations. Seven Steiner Brangus bulls are used for cleanup following the artificial insemination of the cows. Bull calves are made steers and sold through a special premium calf sale in San Saba, TX.

The Gorman family has been in the cattle business for almost 60 years and has been through many peaks and valleys during that time.

To help smooth out some of those peaks and valleys in the cattle business, Tango Transport, Inc. is an additional business operation, and is a truckload van carrier running about 800 units.

Trace Vaughan, Office Manager for Gorman Farms, uses CattleMax software to keep the cattle records and produce reports for management to help make decisions about the cattle operation. She says, "We like the number of different reports available and the ability to customize the reports to fit our situation."

Robert E. Gorman, owner, advises other users of the software, "Be sure you make the commitment to keep complete and accurate records - you'll appreciate having the TRUE and COMPLETE results."

Gorman Farms utilizes many of the reports available in CattleMax - medical, cow/calf, gains test, cattle inventory, AI reports, palpation reports. And, Trace says, "The report I need at the time is probably my favorite report - I just can't specify one report as the one used most often!"

Future Beef first recommended CattleMax software to Gorman Farms. Prior to beginning to use CattleMax, records were kept in file folders and notebooks. And now, Robert says, "We recommend CattleMax to all our potential customers. We'll show them detailed reports on our cattle and this opens the discussion about CattleMax software. We send our potential buyers all current information on the cattle, as well as historical information as far as treatments, etc. from the time the calves are born."

For a long-time cattle operation like Gorman Farms or for any cattle operation, Robert says, "If ranchers want to compete in today's market, we must 'replay our tapes' and obtain and use the latest technology to be successful."

Gorman Farms' website is currently being updated, as they've made a move from Hall Summit, LA to Ringgold, LA. Go to http://www.GormanFarms.com or call 318-894-2426 for more information.