Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, had the chance to speak with the operator of the Ashland Veterinary Center, Dr. Randall Spare, at the recent Hemphill County Beef Conference in Canadian, Texas. They discussed the importance of maintaining a high-quality product for beef consumers.
Hays pointed out a statement that Dr. Spare made during his presentation at the event titled “The Value of Artificial Insemination to a Commercial Cowherd,” in which Dr. Spare insisted that all beef producers are involved in the food production business. Such a statement might have been considered controversial in the past.
“As ranchers and cow calf producers, we are literally at the grass level and we are doing menial tasks every day, but when we are making genetic, health, or nutrition choices, we need to understand that somebody is going to buy our product. Somebody is going to eat that steak, and we want them to have the very best experience,” Dr. Spare compelled.
He emphasized the importance of ensuring that consumers enjoy their beef-eating experiences so that they will be willing to pay its higher price over and over again.
Utilizing the genomic information available today, producers can better understand the commercial cattle in their pastures and measure their value to the beef industry.
“Some of them might not be good, but the important thing is that we know,” he underscored. “We’ve got to know what is in our pasture, know what we are producing, and be able to objectively describe that to someone else.”
He highlighted the importance of teaching others how to succeed with genomics and considering the success of the next person down the line who buys a producer’s cattle, whether it be a stocker operator, a feedyard, or a consumer. “If we can describe those cattle to them before they buy them, we are going to realize their fullest value,” he insisted. “We have a tremendous opportunity today. There is a tremendous amount of money in our product, and we need to take advantage of that and invest it back in ourselves right now.”
He discussed how genomic testing can help previously unknowing producers understand what is underneath the hide of their cattle before they are harvested, and underlined the importance of purchasing good, tested bulls.
“We need to find the bull that does the best for us today,” he said. “A lot of these Angus bulls in 2025 are bringing ten to twelve thousand dollars, and that is a tremendous investment, but at the same time, we have fed cattle that are bringing thirty-eight to four thousand dollars. It doesn’t take us too long to pay for that bull. The more we make investments in those cattle while they are still on the cows, the more likely we are to realize that investment, the longer we own those animals. If our equity allows us to own them until harvest time, we are going to get that full investment out.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
