Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Fiberglass rod in hand, Waukeenah cattleman Hubert Hightower walks among his small herd of purebred Angus bulls, petting one and the other on the head and rubbing their flanks, as if they were big dogs.
The rubber-handled, rubber-tipped rod that he carries serves two purposes, Hightower explains. One, it calms the animals when he touches them with the rod, so that he can approach and caress them. Two, should a bull become aggressive, the rod serves as a weapon to bop it on the nose and cause it to back off.
The chances of one of Hightower's bulls becoming aggressive are slight, however, as docility is one of the
genetic traits that he breeds into them.
A retired 73-year-old railroad worker, Hightower could well be taking life easy on a front porch rocker if he chose. Hightower, however, prefers staying active in pursuit of his post-retirement goal.
“I want to be the premier purebred Angus breeder in the Southeast,” Hightower says modestly.
It's no farfetched dream. Hightower, in fact, is well on his way to achieving his goal, if his bulls' performances in university-sponsored bull test programs are any indication.
The objective of the tests, in brief, is to evaluate the performance potential and breeding soundness of the bulls consigned to the program over a period of months in preparation for their auction. Consigned bulls are sorted by groups, put on the same diet, and their performance evaluated periodically, particularly their average daily weight gain. The bulls also are screened for structural soundness and disposition throughout the process. Bulls deemed structurally unsound or of poor disposition are disqualified for the auction.
In mid January, one of Hightower’s bulls won the 19th Annual Florida Bull Test Sale (FBTS), an event sponsored by the Marianna Beef Research Unit of the University of Florida/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center near Greenwood, FL.
Hightower's bull, the 39th to sell at the auction, was the top-ranked in the purebred category, selling for $6,700 – $1,900 more than the next highest, which sold for $4,800, and $2,600 above the third highest, which sold for $4,100.
“What made my bull's quality so good?” Hightower asks rhetorically. “I'll tell you. Genetically, he was well balanced. He was the best genetic bull there. I had him DNA tested in 18 traits and he tested at 440, which puts him in the top 25 percent of the breed. Of the 25 traits in the Angus breed, my bull ranked in the top 30 percent of the breed. He tested in the top 23 of the 25 traits.”
The bull, Hightower says, was purchased by an Alabama cattleman named Nigel Wells, who plans to use it “to clean up” his herd. Meaning that the animal will be used to inseminate cows that prove immune to artificial insemination.
Noteworthily, this wasn't Hightower's first success at a bull sale. Another of his animals was the top indexed Angus bull in the 2016-2017 FBTS, selling for $3,900, that year's highest price. And last year, he had the second highest selling bull at $4,300.
Never mind that he has also been doing increasingly well in Georgia test sales, which he says are tougher competitions. One of Hightower's bulls ranked 26th in the 2016 Tifton Bull Test Sale, sponsored by the University of Georgia. The bull sold for $5,000. In the 2017 Tifton competition, another of his bulls ranked as the sixth highest index at the auction. And in this year's coming competition, set for March 6 in Irwinville, GA, a Hightower bull is ranked at number four.
“So I feel I've done pretty good in doing all this in the last five years,” Hightower says, noting that when he started his breeding program in 2012, he knew little to nothing about breeding.
For Hightower, the learning curve has been steep, but also steady and rewarding, his confidence level in his ability ever on the rise.
“My plan is to develop the most balanced animal that I can,” Hightower says. “I am for balance in the traits of production, maternal, carcass and values, not chasing just one trait. There is no perfect animal, so I'm trying to develop animals that have as many traits in the top 30 percent EPD percentiles of the Angus breed.”
EPD, Hightower explains, stands for Expected Progeny Difference, which is a predictor of how an animal’s future progeny is expected to perform, compared to the progeny of other animals in the American Angus Association (AAA) database.
Hightower's passion for his vocation is readily evident. Both knowledgeable and well versed in the language of the trade, he can quote figures, statistics and data on the different tests and the science of breeding until the average person's head spins.
“EPDs are expressed in units of measure for the trait – plus or minus,” he explains. “Interim EPDs may appear on young animals when their performance has yet to be incorporated into the AAA National Cattle Evaluation (NCE) procedures. This EPD will be preceded by an 'I' and may or may not include the animal's own performance record for a particular trait, depending on its availability, appropriate contemporary grouping, or data edits needed for NCE.”
To reach his goal, Hightower collects data on each calf born on his farm. That means each newborn animal is weighed within 24 hours, named, tattooed, its sire and dam recorded, and the information sent to the AAA for registration. Followed by a later weaning report to the AAA, updating the EPDs (the animal’s weight, height, scrotum circumference, etc.). He additionally has an ultrasound made of each animal to determine the amount of its marbling, rib-eye in square inches, back fat thickness and rump fat.
All of which effort is to ensure the best traits in his animals, and which for consumers translates ultimately into the highest quality meat and premium steaks.
“It's a lot of work to do this and develop these bulls,” Hightower says, noting that he regularly attends seminars, does research, and reads the industry literature to further educate himself; never mind periodically examining catalogs to identify the best breeds in the country and buying the best bull semen available. Which semen he uses to artificially inseminate his cows and raise the quality of his breeding stock.
Hightower laughs when the complexity and scientific nature of breeding and his obvious relish and expertise in the process is pointed out. When he started out some five years ago, Hightower says, he barely knew the first thing about breeding. He initially trusted in the knowledge of experts who in time proved less than adequate. That's when he decided to educate himself, which he has been doing ever since. And finally, he says, “the genetic dividends are paying off.”
No one can doubt Hightower’s seriousness or commitment to achieving his goal.
“I make sure each of my animals has the performance details,” he says of the bull he consigns to the test sales, meaning that he provides all the necessary data on the animal's DNA test for genomic percent rank, plus information on the animal’s birth, weaning, yearling, scrotum, hip height and ultrasound.
“Without all this information I can't achieve my goal of producing the best-balance animals,” Hightower says.