Turtlerock Cattle - Jeff Liston

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We see pictures of tremendous looking bulls in promotions and pasture shots. I have a running list of probably 10-12 who...
07/05/2024

We see pictures of tremendous looking bulls in promotions and pasture shots. I have a running list of probably 10-12 who I think would be great to breed to. But when it comes to actually using them- can we afford to? The pictures here are of Signature, our 3 yr old who had a 5.7 # ADG and 4.4:1 F:G conversion on feed efficiency test. His dam has 25+ yrs of our breeding. His first 2 sons both had better F:G than he did. The other picture is that of one of his first daughters being bred to 2260, our fall yearling pasture bull. 2260 has 5 generations of feed efficient tested bulls/cows in our program. He had individual stats of 5.3 # ADG and 3.25:1 F:G conversion. The resulting offspring is VERY likely to have outstanding feed efficiency along with all of the other traits associated with genetic efficiency, such as docility, natural thickness, balance, health and longevity. Comparably many of these great looking bulls, who I think would result in great looking calves on our pasture, might also require great big feed intakes to look this way. My challenge is for anyone picturing/promoting one of these naturally thick, sound walking bulls to put their sons on feed efficiency test and let us know how they did. This would help us decide to use them or not, and help the owner decide as well. Bell curve distribution would expect a few to be quite good, a few not so good, and most about industry standard of 6-6.5:1 F:G conversion. This is really the choke point of where things stand in the beef industry right now. Can the cattle business become more profitable without lowering intake and increasing growth? Can you take a chance that 10 years from now knowing what costs go into your product will not be a very important part of their value? The genetic efficiency trait of feed efficiency needs to be included in the beef industry ASAP. Speed of change has never been greater, but change without long term planning is not good either. We are obviously strong believers in the value feed efficiency can add in the pasture and the feedlot. Feel free to pm or call with any questions or ideas you have whether it concerns our genetics or just the general concept of identifying genetic efficiency for your management, resources and market goals.

07/05/2024

After putting a 2.5 gallon of DEF in the pickup I realize that sometime in the next couple of weeks I will stand in front of the automotive shelf which has 3 prices for different DEF products. They will be around $10, one around $16 and one somewhere around $21. Over the past years I have literally spent hours picking them up one by one, reading the container print, setting them back down and maybe sometimes going through them again. I have never bought the highest price, but probably have gone about 50/50 on the cheap and medium price- depending on what the current balance on the card is..... I was told that all DEF is virtually the same and probably comes from the same spout. Anyone out there was expertise to help a guy out? Which one and why? Thanks

Since we're not sure who all knows what we have been working on for the past 15 years here is a short summary- Feed Effi...
04/11/2021

Since we're not sure who all knows what we have been working on for the past 15 years here is a short summary- Feed Efficiency is the biggest area of neglect in overall genetic efficiency in the cattle business. There has been no real progress made in Feed:Gain conversion in the past 30-40 years. It is still at 6 to 6.5 # of DMI to 1 # of gain. We have selected for feed efficiency along with a balance of all other important traits for many generations in our herd. We have reduced our cow maintenance inputs by 25% over this time. We can show where a 5% feed savings per generation is possible, and that translates to economic gain and profit not only for the person raising the cattle, but their customers as well. We have commercial customers who are seeing the impact in their herd where there is less fed and more gained- with no drop in fertility, performance or frame size.
We are currently collecting a couple of our past test group winnners. Semen is now available. The first is 177 bull - AAA # 19081297. Here is a rundown on the bulls behind him-
ADG F:G
Grandsire- W124 (AAA # 16895411) 4.76 3.02
Sire - B55 (AAA # 18219112) 5.61 4.44
177 himself (AAA # 19087297) 5.45 3.85
This 3 generation feed efficiency lineage has an average of 5.27 # ADG and 3.77:1 Feed:Gain on feed efficiency test. Additionally B55 was on our grass gain test and had a 4.18 # ADG on fescue pasture with no supplement. 3 generations of superior feed efficiency performance.
The other bull is 611 (AAA # 18629346). He is a maternal brother to W124. 611 had a 5.77 # ADG and 4.08:1 F:G conversion on test. Bigger framed, higher IMF than 177, so a person can choose which of these bulls is best based on your own management, resources and marketing target.
There are a lot of reasons why folks have cattle. Our program has a focus on economics which will help our commercial customers stay in business. We can talk about the added value of docility, longevity and better health that parallels feed efficient balanced cattle, but bottom line is, there is profit to be made which is being ignored if a person does not include feed efficiency in breeding decisions. And keep in mind that the feed efficiency done right correlates to improved pasture efficiency as well- this is not just for the feed yards.
When you look at the first calf heifer calving for the first time, you hope you made a good decision a year ago when you bred her. But you are also hoping that you made a good decision 4 years ago when you bred her mother to have her. There are few shortcuts to sound and economical cattle- so when you are thinking about what genetics you want to have in your herd 5-10 years from now- do you think that feed efficiency may be one of the important traits? Do you think that cost of feed and other inputs are going up or down? Do you think that your customers, whether that be the sale barn calf buyers or the seedstock breeders you will attract, will be able to look to you for the feed efficient genetics they can depend on?
We think that this is a trait and area where there will not only be a big emphasis from cost and social/political pressure, but it helps out in so many other areas as well- Feel free to contact us for information about the bulls we are collecting right now, our program or any other questions or ideas about feed efficiency and other traits which are important. The semen is priced at $30 on both bulls. It is being collected and will be shipped from Hawkeye Breeders, Adel, IA. This is a great time to start on your path to having a feed efficient herd. Call or pm to Jeff Liston - cell: 641-891-1270

Semen for sale on one of the Angus Breeds Elite Feed Efficiency sires. And here is why we can make this statement- Here ...
03/12/2021

Semen for sale on one of the Angus Breeds Elite Feed Efficiency sires. And here is why we can make this statement- Here is our pasture bull, High Prime 4037 AAA # 15056826. He was calved over 16 years ago. Why would we be putting a picture and information here on Facebook for a bull that old? Because until another bull shows up with better EPD's for efficiency- he is arguably still the best all around feed efficiency bull found in Sire Evaluation for DMI feed efficiency. If you do a search using his -.19 DMI EPD and his +189 $B he is the ONLY bull you will find. If you use his DMI and his +290 $C, he is the ONLY bull you will find. Same goes for his DMI and $W (the only bull), his DMI and CW (the only bull) and for the combination of his DMI with his -1.25 PAP and +13.9 HP, or DMI, HP and YW, or DMI, HP and WW all of those combinations being the only bull found. He has hundreds of progeny on record for performance and ultrasound. We have hard data on sons of his being superior in feed efficiency testing. So If you think feed efficiency will be important any time in the next 5-6 years, and want to keep your cattle functional and problem free, this is a bull who needs to be used. He is a 6.5 frame, 2,400 # bull who has superior EPD's for DMI, PAP, CW, $F, $B AND $C- and delivers in the real world.... We have priced his semen at $15 through 3/31/21 in order to encourage folks to get started on their own genetic efficiency program which will include feed efficiency along with other economic and profitable traits through using High Prime or other feed efficiency bulls we have in our herd. PM or call with any questions- we sincerely feel that improving herd feed efficiency is the biggest untapped change which can, and out of necessity, will be made in the beef industry. Jeff Liston c: 641-891-1270

Fall yearling heifer and fall yearling bull enjoying end of November weather on stockpiled pasture.
11/25/2019

Fall yearling heifer and fall yearling bull enjoying end of November weather on stockpiled pasture.

Last time through pad rotation before winter and weaning
11/25/2019

Last time through pad rotation before winter and weaning

10/15/2019

Jeff and Lisa Liston here. We have been working on feed efficiency in our Cow herd for several generations of choosing our top performing feed efficient genetics. We now have predictable, consistent results in the Bulls we test for efficiency, and a 25% reduction in cow maintenance costs for winter feeding. The top 80% of bulls tested last winter had 4.7 # ADG and 4.3:1 Feed:Gain conversion. We have our fall yearlings home from efficiency testing now. The top 80% had 4.78 # ADG and 5:1 Feed:Gain conversion. The top yearling tested this summer had a 5.56 # ADG and 4.4:1 Feed:Gain - either number excellent and put together in a league of its own. Most of our herd now traces to our W124 bull. He had a 4.76 # ADG and 3.02:1 Feed:Gain conversion. We throw around a lot of hard data numbers as we describe our cattle because this data is so unusually superior to beef industry standards or any major stud bulls. Feed efficiency has not yet gained the importance it deserves, so if you are interested in "getting ahead" of the trend and being relevant to the business ahead of virtually everyone else, give us a call to visit about our program and what we have found so far. Traits such as docility, good health and even longevity are all interconnected with our feed efficiency program. We have also done some grass gain testing to see which genetics work well on pasture as well as a silage base feed test environment. Results are more than interesting and important for anyone planning to stay in the cow business going forward. We would love to visit with you anytime about our bulls, semen available and how reducing inputs can be valuable to your program. Our cell is 641-891-1270 for calls or texts, and we will be working on our Facebook site now to see if we can figure out how best to utilize it to get word out about feed efficiency.

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1234 606th Avenue
Lovilia, IA
50150

Telephone

+16418911270

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