cattle management software

Jim and Carol Thorpe call themselves “novice ranchers,” but they have certainly taken advantage of resources available to producers in their area to utilize best management practices in their operation.

“We have benefited significantly in climbing that initially steep learning curve with assistance from the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service), county extension agents, publications, good neighbors, and membership in the New Mexico Cattle Growers, the Society for Range Management and the Quivira Coalition,” Thorpe said.

Located in eastern New Mexico, JT Land and Cattle sits on 12,000 acres of open range that Jim and Carol have stocked with 230 Angus and Angus-Brangus type cows with Hereford influence. Their ranch, best described as “midway in the middle of nowhere between Albuquerque and Amarillo,” receives 14 inches of annual rainfall, and has a stocking rate of 40 acres/AUY.

Through NRCS suggestions and the assistance of EQIP cost-share programs, he said they have been able to steadily increase grazing capacity through installing fencing, water improvements and brush control practices.

Thorpe said they have become involved in certified natural beef programs, as well as age and source verification, and other producers using a record keeping tool such as CattleMax should explore these programs.

“You can leverage the ability of having calf birth records to sell into source and age verified programs,” he said.

Their ranch duties are split into two categories. Jim said he is charge of “facilities,” including the water system, fences, corrals and vehicles, while Carol manages the “ranch personnel,” or the many cows, horses, dogs, chickens and “assorted other critters” that call JT Land and Cattle home.

Jim said they acquired the land and entered the cattle business in 1999.

“We took the opportunity to become novice ranchers after the sale of a family business and have learned the truth in the old adage that you can really make a small fortune in ranching—provided you start off with a bigger one!”

Soon after, Jim and Carol began using CattleMax to manage their cattle records.

After seeing an ad for CattleMax in Livestock Weekly, Jim said they requested a CattleMax trial CD and liked the program.

“Before CattleMax,” he said, “We built an Excel spreadsheet which worked well at first until it got overwhelmed with successive years’ input.”

They have learned that CattleMax makes it easy to change your record keeping as your operation changes.

“We started off with the Commercial Edition, and last year took advantage of the upgrade offer to the Registered Edition,” he said, “Even as we are not a registered operation, we like the enhanced features, such as cow pedigrees. This helps in selecting replacements and planning breeding groups.”

Thorpe said they use the cow-calf pasture report most often, but their favorite features in CattleMax include the ability to get the decision information they need quickly and easily. He said they appreciated being able to quickly access cow progeny records, see past calving records and easily change the status of a group of cattle all at once.

“Using CattleMax to track [the cattle] and their progeny has been a key to our making progress,” he said, “For example, in selecting replacement heifers, a beautiful heifer might be selected during a traditional gate cut, but the CattleMax records might show that her dam has an undesirable udder. Having this information helps to keep from making the same mistake twice.”

Jim Thorpe said that the power of CattleMax as a management tool is what really aids his cattle operation and helps save time.

“As the celebrated business guru Deming once said, ‘You can’t manage what you don’t measure,’” he said, “CattleMax gives today’s cattlemen a one-stop tool for tracking all of the measurements necessary for successful herd management in a competitive marketplace.”

To learn more about JT Land and Cattle, visit them online at http://jtlandandcattle.com.