In 1999, George Jackson purchased six cows and one bull. Nine years later, he has 135 breeding cows, 10 bulls, and 110 calves on the ground this season, spread across a combined 1300 acres on five places in Taylor and Callahan County, TX.

And he says CattleMax is what has allowed him to expand his operation and do things he otherwise would have been unable to accomplish.

He says, "You can have 500 cows, but if you don't know who's who, you've got problems."

Jackson first heard about CattleMax at the TSCRA Trade Show, and ordered it soon after. With a background in finance, he is a self-proclaimed "record nut". He says he went back to day one of his operation and recorded every handwritten note and transferred each spreadsheet. Now he has complete historical information on his entire herd.

Transferring all of this information was not easy. He says his Excel spreadsheets had information scattered across different sheets, making it difficult to find things. Jackson says he can't imagine keeping his expanded herd in his old spreadsheet format.

"Now that it's all [in CattleMax], it's very easy to keep up with," he says, "It's all there if you can find it and make time to put it in."

Jackson says CattleMax has not only helped the quantity of cattle in his operation, but the quality as well.

"We were historically a strict cow-calf operation. Every spring when the calves came off the mamas, we just took them to auction and sold them," Jackson says, "Now we're getting away from that, keeping calves through the winter on wheat pasture, and trying to sell the heifers as bred."

The breeding cows at Jackson Cattle Company are primarily commercial Brangus, with a few registered, but Jackson is using all registered bulls to build quality heifers.

Jackson says, "CattleMax tells which bulls are doing a better job putting weight on calves, and which aren't. When we know about every cow, bull and calf, it sure makes our job easier."

With the beginning of a new calving season, Jackson also appreciates that CattleMax helps him keep up with the age of his calves and the weaning and vaccination processes. He says it also helps him make breeding and culling decisions.

"When I want to put a bull with a heifer, I know how old she is, and where she came from. It also helps me keep up with cows that aren't producing," he says.

Jackson says he uses CattleMax daily to track and update his herd.

"I really believe in [CattleMax]," he says, "Not a day goes by that I'm not in there updating records or looking up something I need to know."

Jackson says he plans to add more "mama cows" to his herd this spring, thanks to good cattle records.

For more information on Jackson Cattle Company and their quality bred replacement females, contact George Jackson at 325-669-2775 or georgej@clearwire.net.