Guthrie Ranch, owned and operated by Jim and Linda Guthrie, has been using CattleMax software almost from the beginning. They began with CattleMax version 1 and have upgraded with each new release.

The ranch is located near Lindale, Smith County, TX, on 265 acres of owned and leased land. Jim and Linda manage their cow-calf operation, full-time now, since Jim's retirement from the U. S. Air Force as a Colonel in 1988. He then spent 17 years in the aerospace industry. And, in addition to the cattle business, they harvest and sell timber from their property.

Guthrie Ranch's cattle operation consists of 75 registered Gray Brahman cows, growing from a start in 1992 with 12 cows and a bull. Gradually building their herd, the Guthries began a crossbreeding program in 2000, using registered horned Hereford bulls on the majority of their cows. The Golden Certified F1 Braford females the ranch produces are in high demand as replacements for commercial cattle producers.

The ranch uses top quality Hereford bulls purchased from leading Hereford breeders. In 2001, their pen of bred F1 heifers was selected as National Champions at the American Brahman Breeders Association National F1 and Brahman Female Sale.

The Guthries first learned of CattleMax software when visiting with Penny Miller at the Cattlesoft booth at a trade show. They took a trial version of the software home with them, and purchased soon after. Prior to using CattleMax, cattle records were kept, handwritten, in a loose-leaf notebook.

Jim says, "I used a 'pocket book' supplied by my breed association to keep calving and weaning data and kept everything else on notebook paper."

The Guthries say they have recommended CattleMax to a number of people during "cow talk" discussions at sales, shows and at the coffee shop.

The favorite feature of CattleMax, according to the Guthries, is the herd update, but beyond that, just the convenience of having all their cattle records on the computer in one place.

"That's extremely important to me," says Jim. "I can quickly access information that used to require me to fumble through pages of handwritten data in a notebook."

His tips for other CattleMax users?

"Number one: Be sure to enter all your data in CattleMax (breeding, calving, medical, measurements, etc). The more data you keep in CattleMax, the more useful it will be in the long run," he says, "Number two: If you think of a feature or improvement, suggest it to Cattlesoft. Over the years, Cattlesoft has implemented several changes we had asked for, which made the program even more useful and friendly to use."

"We use the cow and calf worksheets to help keep track of things when we're vaccinating and keeping track of calving," Jim says. "I use CattleMax to help in making management decisions, like deciding to cull animals or comparing bull performance, etc. I also use it to provide lists and data to potential buyers. CattleMax is a tool we use regularly on our ranch and couldn't operate without it. Also, I can't say enough about the quality of service we have received."

For more information on the quality F1 replacement females at Guthrie Ranch, contact them at 903-882-7880 or jwguthrie(at)hughes(dot)net.