Avoiding Tunnel Vision

Written by Terry Ropp, OFN Contributor

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John Paul and Cissie Pendergrass take risk management into consideration in their day-to-day farm operations

John Paul and Cissie Pendergrass, from Charleston, Ark., met at the University of Arkansas during an Alpha Gamma Rho and Kappa Alpha function. John Paul quipped, “I immediately changed her into my way of thinking, and we’ve gone on from there.” They are avid Razorback fans and consider their attendance at games as their common hobby.
After college the couple returned to the Pendergrass business. Father, John Frank, and son were reunited on the already successful stocker cattle business and began to expand. John Paul said, “My dad’s enthusiasm is the key to what made this happen. He could have put the brakes on, but that’s just not the way he’s made.”
When John Paul returned to the ranch, his dad was running 600 to 700 steers twice a year. The current operation has about 4,000 head on close to 3,000 acres with buying and selling being a continuous process. Most Fridays they buy calves through video auction. They background calves at this facility and then send them to Kansas and pay on the gain by the head. Once the calves reach about 700 pounds, they are sold as feeder cattle or placed at a commercial feeder yard they have an interest in.
John Paul said, “The key to backgrounding is risk management in areas such as market conditions, weather, cattle health and who you do business with.” He went on to add that a successful operation cannot have tunnel vision and needs to learn what others are doing, especially in other geographic locations.
One aspect of risk management is buying calves with a known vaccination history because calf health is better. He explained that sale barn calves are kept to a minimum because co-mingled calves present constant health challenges. They require more medicine and have a higher death rate. The Pendergrass solution is to buy most of their calves directly from ranches they are familiar with.
Another aspect of risk management, according to John Paul, is to try to never startle the calves because startled calves can sustain unnecessary injuries. John Paul said, “The cattle are the people here.” Part of the system is to use horses rather than vehicles like 4-wheelers when working the claves. Consequently the Pendergrass’ have six geldings. They saddle two or three every morning to ride the pens and check the pasture cattle for any that may need doctoring. Calf stress levels are also kept to a minimum by making sure shade, whether natural or man-made, is available, a critical element during the hot sometimes scorching summers.
Cattle nutrition is an obvious component of a successful backgrounding operation. One aspect of nutrition is the pasture. John Paul believes a natural mix is best because it is already adapted to local environmental conditions, including the 40” plus annual rainfall and the hot, sometimes dry, summers.
The Pendergrass brand custom mixes its own supplementary feed running the formulae by the Animal Science Department at the University of Arkansas. The exact combination is determined according to cattle needs and the cost of ingredients. John Paul said, “We are at the time of the year when the grass quality is lower so we feed every day.”
Father and son work well together. John Frank is in charge of the day-to-day operation, buys feed and does most of the feeding. John Paul, on the other hand, is in charge of buying, selling and risk management. They currently employ two hired hands, a minimum for ranch needs. After a quick lunch of vegetable beef chowder and berry pie, John Paul pushed back his chair and said, “Around here we all work.” And then he did just that.