Archive for May, 2010

Posted on May 23, 2010 - by Russell

Dunsworth Tornado Destruction Relief Effort

            On May 10, 2010, the Dunsworth family of Shawnee, OK, was devastated by a tornado that ripped through the area. Ashton Dunsworth is a past TLBT President. Their home, vehicles and farm equipment were a complete loss. Many generous members of the TLBAA family have banned together to aid this family in their time of need. Santa Terecita Ranch has donated a heifer to be auctioned with all proceeds going to the Dunsworth family.  Lynn Starritt will be accepting the bids for the donated heifer. She can be reached by email lynnsdanes@aol.com or (915) 252-4118.
An account has also been set up at the Dunsworth’s local bank, where members can donate to help in their rebuilding efforts.
First United Bank
Care of Howard and Jackie Dunsworth
4439 North Kickapoo
Shawnee, OK, 74804
Contact the TLBAA for account information.
During the 2010 World Show a donation bucket will also be available for members who would like to help this fellow TLBAA family in need.

Posted on May 22, 2010 - by Russell

A Matter of Marketing

If the commercial man is your target, you’re aiming for a bulls-eye hit.

By Richard D. Carlson

            It would be easy to say the world knows how great our Texas Longhorn cattle are, but that is simply not true.  Many of the world’s greatest inventions are only successful business ventures because of the talents of two men, the inventor and the marketer.     
            The inventor, normally a purist at heart, constantly felt the marketer was degrading his product.  He couldn’t understand anyone having to promote his gadget because he believed it was so great an invention the public would beat down his door to buy it.
            So, Mr. Inventor said to himself, “Why pay the promoter so much money when he isn’t needed at all?”  Mr. Inventor made 5,000 gadgets and said, “Here they are world!”
            One year passed and Mr. Inventor had 4,999 gadgets on the shelf – his wife bought one.  What Mr. Inventor didn’t know was everyone would love his gadgets if they knew the product and how useful it was.
            This story has certainly been put in its simplest form without consideration to the many avenues and methods of marketing, but it merely illustrates a point.
            Texas Longhorn cattle are outstanding, but we must properly and constantly present them to the world.  Marketing our cattle is not the problem.  I believe every one of our 3,234 members feel we must promote the Longhorn to be ultimately successful.
            How to market and who to market them to becomes our target range.  If we simply scatter our firing across the field, we will hit very little; if we zero in on specific targets with a definite goal in mind, then we will begin seeing results.
            Who uses our product?  The commercial cattleman?  You bet.  He is the basis of our total cattle structure.  No purebred cattle breeders of any breed will have a constant demand for his cows and bulls unless “Mr. Commercial Cattleman” believes in his own mind that the purebred market will help improve his profitability.
            If your “specialty breed” will make the commercial cattleman money, he will accept the breed.  It may take him time to accept you, but if your “specialty breed” lives up to its promises, his acceptance will come in time.
            It is generally at this point in time the investors become interested in the “specialty breed.”  The investor will then stay with the specialty breed until the commercial cattleman finds something better and then he will leave this “specialty breed” as quickly as he came in.
            The investor is needed in the operation to bring constant attention to the cattle.  When an animal sells for $100,000, this is news and the magazines will run the articles free because people want to read about it.
            It is at this point we must not lose sight of the maker of the specialty breed, the commercial cowman.  No matter how successful we as breeders of Texas Longhorn cattle become, we can’t forget where we came from and who will ultimately pass judgment on us. 
            The genetic base of the Texas Longhorn is, as Dr. Stewart Fowler puts it, a gold mine.  The commercial cowman doesn’t really care if our cattle are colorful or big horned.
            Horns and color may be important to us, the purebred cattle raisers, because they are readable yardsticks with which we can measure successes in breeding within our specialty breed.
            However, you and I know that the cattleman doesn’t care if his Angus is black or his Longhorn is colorful.  His interest is in whether or not the specialty breed will make him money.  This sounds simple, but he must be convinced that the Longhorn will make him more money than any of the other specialty breeds.
            Mr. Brinkman, a well known and successful Brangus breeder, recently stated in an article (I am paraphrasing), “So goes the bull market, so goes the breed.”  I will not accept the concept that our small horned but good conformation cow should sell for $600.  They will sell for $1,200 when the purebred breeder knows the marketplace demands his bull calves.
            Even if every breeder steers the lower half of his bulls, which he should in order to weed out inferior bulls, and demands $850 for yearling bulls and $1,200 for 2-year-olds, then the mother cow is still worth at least $1,200.  Three calf crops of one heifer and one steer and one bull will more than pay for the mother cow.
            The demand for the mother cow will be there for many years to come, when we convince the total cattle industry that our product works and works every time.
            Over the past seven years or so, commercial cowmen have been becoming more aware of the benefits of using Longhorn bulls on their first-calf heifers.  When they try it, they know it works.
            The general focus of the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America (TLBAA) marketing today still needs to put out to the industry that Longhorn bulls work.  Calving ease is a reality in Longhorns, although many other breeds claim it.
            When 30,000,000 heifers in the cattle industry have crossbred Longhorn calves, then we will know our marketing job has been well done.  We know our product works for calving ease and we have the research to back it up – we just need to keep telling the world!
            Once that crossbred calf hits the ground, our marketing becomes even more difficult.  We need to gather feedlot data.  Our crossbred Longhorns are doing the job in the feedlot and we must market it to the cowman.  If the cowman knows he’ll have the market for Longhorn cross calves in the feedlot, then he will need more Longhorn bulls to keep production going, so the cycle continues.
            Calving ease data, feedlot data, disease resistance data, fertility data – we must gather it, condense it, and use it!  The F1 Longhorn cross mother cow is fast becoming reality.  She has the ability to contribute to the cattle industry all of the above genetic qualities the cowman is looking for.  If we build her foundation well with the commercial cowman, she will become known as the cow that gave profit back to the cattle industry.
            Mr. Commercial Cowman, buy a Longhorn bull for your heifers and give the “touch of life.”  Texas Longhorn cattle are giving life back to the cattle industry once again.

Source:  The Longhorn Scene, August 1985 issue, Opinion Corner, pages 63-64

Russell Hooks: This article was printed 25 years ago but the content still rings true in today’s Longhorn industry. That is why I felt like it should be made available to the public.

Posted on May 17, 2010 - by Russell

2010 Longhorn Youth Camp

2009 Youth Camp

Participants at the 2009 Longhorn Youth Camp