“I think it's really rewarding to see years of hard work,” said Tom Houret of La Grange, California,” or days of hard work or just even hours of hard work, come together into something you can be proud of.”
For Houret, that means looking out over the pastures, full of a herd that is in it for the long haul.
“On the cow calf side of the operation, we spend a lot of time investing in progressive genetics,” Houret said. “Making sure we take the time to select the right bulls to put in the operation, and always trying to better the cow herd and see if we can do things a little bit differently to maximize value.”
He makes those breeding decisions with more than just weaning weight in mind. Regardless of the market, beef is a relatively expensive center-of-the plate item.
“You know as consumers are asked to pay more for this protein, you know we need to make sure that we're doing our best to provide a high quality product for them,” Houret said. “Obviously no one wants to sacrifice quality but still pay a high premium for it.
He’s found success balancing maternal, feedlot and end-product traits in the same herd.
“The Angus breed provides a pretty deep genetic pool. I think we can get a lot of quality out of the product that we deliver,” Houret contends. “You know it can be very consistent, it feeds well, it does good on grass, I think maternally you can get all of the characteristics that you want.
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