Angus Queen Makes Jac?s Purebred King

Behind every successful cattleman, there’s a good heifer. At Jac’s Ranch in Bentonville, her name is Toreby Queen B903.

A 2,300-acre purebred black Angus business, Jac’s employs animal scientists, ultrasound equipment and wireless biological monitoring devices to ensure production of only the highest quality breeding stock. None of that technology, however, has contributed as much to the 1,200-head operation’s national renown as one charismatic cow from rural northwest Missouri.

Lamar Steiger, who managed the ranch from 1984 to 1996, and current Jac’s Show Manager Pat Haley, agreed Toreby Queen is “the cow that made Jac’s Ranch famous.” One of four daughters of the original great foundation cow, Toreby Queen, that were acquired by Jac’s in 1994, B903 has developed into a 1,700-pound genetic marvel that’s produced more than $60,000 worth of offspring.

Her personality and progeny are a testament to what the high-end registered cattle business is all about — finding that one “home run animal” that improves the quality of its owner’s and other ranchers’ herds. Ultimately, it’s about better beef for the consumer.

According to the American Angus Association (AAA) in St. Joseph, Mo., the number of new Angus registrations in Arkansas for 2003 was up 71.8 percent to 4,387 from 2,554 in 1993. Registrations were up nearly 6 percent last year from 4,148 in 2002.

Jac’s registered 537 new head in 2003 or about 12.2 percent of all the new Angus in Arkansas. It registered 390 new additions in 2002 and 251 in 1993.

Jac’s expects to sell about 80 bulls at its annual spring sale on March 13 at the company’s headquarters on Arkansas Highway 72. The sale starts at noon at Jac’s on-site auction arena which holds about 350 people. The public is invited.

Jac’s annual Family Tradition Sale for production females is always the second Saturday of October, but about 20 mature cows and 20 open heifers will also be available this month.

Jack Shewmaker, who retired in 1988 as president and vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., owns the privately held ranch which is a division of the Shewmaker Family Ltd. Partnership. He’s a general partner of the parent entity, and son Dan Shewmaker is a limited partner and general manager of the ranch.

Jack Shewmaker’s wife, Melba, and their daughters Shari Steiger of Bentonville and Emily Brener of Centerton, help promote the business and are limited partners. Don Steiger, whose 300-acre farm was part of the first land bought for the ranch, is also still a Jac’s fixture.

Lamar Steiger said Jack Shewmaker dabbled in cattle for years, but as a “cattle industry visionary” the executive went completely into the Angus business with the 1985 purchase of the entire Garney Ranch herd from Afton, Okla., that totaled about $600,000. At the time, the Garney herd was one of the Top 25 in America.

Big Business

Dan Shewmaker said Jac’s annually auctions off about 500 Angus evenly split between bulls that fetch an average of $1,800 each and cows that average $2,000 (or about $950,000-$1 million total).

The ranch has other revenue, including the sale of cow embryo flushes or bull semen from champions such as the $15,000 Pinecreek Traveler 1107 which goes for about $30 per straw (about the size of a drink swizzle stick). The average cost for a straw of quality bull semen is about $20.

Jac’s also has some commercial cattle, which are primarily used as surrogate mothers, and there are other assets.

It costs about $1.50 per day to feed one Angus. Before counting labor or other fixed costs, the feed plus health and insemination overhead runs about $735,000 per year. The farm, which employs 12 people full time plus five additional summer part-timers, goes through 1,500 tons of corn silage (chopped and packed plants) and 337.5 tons of hay every year.

Dan Shewmaker said the partnership is diversified and that good cow prices and hard work have the most to do with whether or not the ranch has a strong year. He said Jac’s has for several years been on the verge of producing that one “home run” cow or bull that the entire industry wants to use.

Jac’s has a customer base of 300-400 buyers in 20 states, and even an AAA spokeswoman said Jac’s has “some really sound, functional cattle that are getting noticed.” Apparently, the illustrious Mr. 1107 and an up-and-coming heifer, No. 7917, are turning heads nationally. Haley, the show boss, said six bulls from 7917 (pictured below) are for sale in March.

The 1,800-pound 1107 was bought three years ago, and Shewmaker said he’s already paid for himself “many times over.”

“He looks like a steal today,” Dan Shewmaker said. “Actually, we may have come close to producing that home run with Toreby Queen. If she isn’t a home run, if it didn’t go over the fence with Toreby, she was a darn good triple.”

Building the Herd

Lamar Steiger said about a decade after he and father-in-law Jack Shewmaker were piecemealing the ranch together from old farms — sometimes for as little as $200 per acre — he picked Toreby Queen B903 because of her strong weaning weights and a litany of other carcass data. None of the Jac’s brass could remember what B903 cost, but the consensus is she wasn’t particularly high-dollar.

“Back then, Angus cattle were bred to be tall, boney, flashy and fairly lean,” Steiger said. “Some of the guys made fun of those cows. But B903 had something else. She had the unusual ability to be sexy while still bringing to the table some real beef.

“There’s just some pretty animals that have that light in their eyes. That was Toreby.”

It takes an extra meeting room at Jac’s 1,800-SF office to house all the trophies and ribbons won over the year’s by the ranch’s cattle. Just through three shows Jac’s attended during 2003, it recorded three grand champion females, one reserve champion bull, eight division champions and one reserve division champion.

Jac’s also won the Arkansas Angus Association’s first Breeder of the Year award in 2002. But unlike their resident bovine diva, the Shewmaker family tries to avoid being showy. Prize heads and hoofs may have put Jac’s on the purebred map, but its peers say the Shewmakers really built their reputation with handshakes.

“They’re very ethical, very good sound business people,” said Murle Gilbreath, who with his wife, Judy, operates the 500-head XX Bar G Angus Ranch in Cincinnati (western Washington County).

“I guess we compete some, but we’ve bought half-interests in cattle together over the years and we’ve always done exceptionally well. You can take their word to the bank.”

Cody Bright, Jac’s herd manager, said without the extensive EPD (Expected Progeny Difference) data that’s now collected on every Angus, the traditional eye test looks for a solid frame, even wear on hoofs, straight udders and general uniformity.

“If a cow doesn’t move well,” Bright said, “it’s going to be inefficient.”

A cow’s gestation period is the same as a human’s, Dan Shewmaker said, so the herd sees a generation of development each year. He said Haley and Bright are charged with making the decisions that will impact the herd’s quality for years.

Commercial Influence

The USDA’s estimated farm gate sales for Benton County cattle and calves in 1997, the last year for which individual county data is available, was $19.95 million. In Washington County, the same figure was $19.78 million. That gave Benton County 5.28 percent and Washington County 5.23 percent of the state’s $378.011 million total.

The detailed 2002 USDA Agricultural Census isn’t expected to be published until June. If the counties still represented the same percentage of 2002’s $409.27 million in sales, Benton County’s tally would have been $21.6 million and Washington County’s would have been $21.4 million.

The 2002 county estimates would give each a more than 8 percent increase in sales since 1997. Washington and Benton counties are the state’s No. 1 and No. 2 cattle growers, respectively, producing on average nearly double the amount of cattle and calves as most of the state’s 73 other counties.

Dan Shewmaker said commercial cattle sales affect breeding operations indirectly because more money for farmers means they can spend more to improve their blood lines. He said industry experts such as Charles McVean of the cattle futures and commodity trading firm McVean Trading and Investments LLC in Memphis, say the beef supply imbalance that’s bolstered prices lately should continue for the next couple of years.

“The real reason why Angus cattle in particular are holding their value is consumers recognize quality cuts of meat, and Angus is recognized for its marbling and quality,” Dan Shewmaker said. “The consumer is willing to pay a little more for that quality.”

More Than Science

Tom Huls, president of the 452-member Arkansas Angus Association, runs the Sugar Springs Ranch in Lincoln with wife and veterinarian Dr. Diane Balich. Huls and Balich, the organization’s 2003 Breeder of the Year, said Jack Shewmaker’s avid promoting of Angus meat has really helped the breed as a whole.

“Jack, with his connections to Wal-Mart, has really been proactive for Angus beef,” Balich said. “I think they helped get Wal-Mart excited about the high-end brand, and that has helped spread the word to consumers.”

Dan Shewmaker, who also works for the U.S. Air Force through the Department of Homeland Security as the emergency preparedness liaison officer for Missouri, said two now retired meat buyers for Wal-Mart deserve the most credit for helping build the Angus brand. Ken Parnell and Joe Leaton, Dan Shewmaker said, “have done as much as anyone in the industry as innovators of promoting high quality beef.”

Dan Shewmaker, 43, is a former F-16 U.S. Air Force pilot turned retired colonel from Fort Smith’s 188th National Guard Fighter Wing and a reservist. Steiger said Dan Shewmaker and former Jac’s manager Frank Jackson have taken the business to a new level since Steiger left to join the ministry.

“It’s about turning green grass into red meat at a profit,” Steiger said. “The trick is knowing what cows are going to be popular next year, and Jac’s has some of the top people in the industry at figuring that.”

TAB CHART

Benton and Washington counties are by far the largest cattle producers in Arkansas. Here’s a look at cattle and calf totals in the six-county area:

County — 2003 — 2002 — % Change

Benton — 116,000 — 112,000 — 3.6%
Washington — 113,000 — 111,000 — 1.8%
Carroll — 75,000 — 75,000 — 0.0%
Madison — 62,000 — 64,000 — -3.1%
Crawford — 31,000 — 31,000 — 0.0%
Sebastian — 31,000 — 30,000 — 3.3%
Total — 428,000 — 423,000 — 1.2%