Page 21 - MWC 2-2-2023s

Docility, Consistency, Fertility and The Midwest Cattleman · February 2, 2023 · P21

Efficiency Drive the Demand for Red

Angus in Arkansas

by Megan Underwood, Communications Intern
Charles Looney, Ph.D., has with Tom Hess who serves as able. The sta-
worked at the University of the program association and tion research-
Arkansas Ag Experiment stocker calf manager. es the gain of
Station in Batesville, Ar- When Looney arrived at stockers and
kansas, for more than three the station, the herd was a strives to pro-
years, working with the es- mixture of Charolais, Her- duce cattle
trous synchronization and eford, Brangus and nearly
artificial insemination pro- every other breed imagin- continued on
grams in the herd. Looney page 25
has a rich background in re-
productive physiology with
more than 40 years of expe- AnnuAl Production SAle
rience and founding his own
company, Ovagenix.
“I am an Arkansas native, Friday, March 17, 2023
so I wanted to come back and
finish my career here. Giv- at the Ranch near Elmdale, KS
ing back to the people of Ar- 100 - Age-Advantaged Red Angus Bulls
kansas who have given me
so much to begin with,” ex- 100 - Red Angus & SimAngus Yearlings loaded
plained Looney. with Calving Ease & Cow Herd Traits
The station operates on 100 - Fall Bred & Open Spring Yearling
700 acres of pastures for Commercial Red Angus Replacements
cows and an additional 1,200 12 - “U-Pick-Em” Elite Registered Open Heifers
acres of pasture for stocker
cattle. The station utilizes
both spring and fall breeding
seasons with an average herd
size of 350 head per season
and normally breeds 60-80
replacement heifers to retain
and sell from the herd – all
steers are retained to be used
for research trials. Batesville
is located in the northeast
corner of Arkansas with the
forage being mainly fescue of
novel varieties. The stocker
cattle graze on wheat until
they reach yearling size, at
this time the station will ei-
ther retain ownership in the
feedlot or sell them.
“Due to the amount of fes-
cue available and the spring
breeding season, we thought
Red Angus would be a much
better breed choice,” said We’ve got the Cure for High Input Costs!
Looney.
The advancements of the Feed costs devour the lion’s share of a cow/calf operations’s annual budget. Mushrush Red
herd through Red Angus Angus genetics are designed to produce more pounds per acre with less feed, fuel and labor.
would not have been possi- Check our website for updated sale information: MushrushRanches.com
ble without a strong team
of knowledgeable individu-
als. Don Hubbel III was the
station director who really
championed the idea of Red 2346B N Road ∙ Strong City, KS 66869
Angus at the Batesville Ex-
periment Stations. Hubbel 620.340.7461 (Joe) ∙ 620.340.9774 (Daniel)
retired this year and handed info@mushrushranches.com
the reins to Shane Gadberry, MushrushRanches.com
Ph.D., who now serves as the RANCHES Follow us on FB at Mushrush Red Angus
director. Nate Moss works
as the program technician
and cow-calf manager along