Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

In the land of tall fences that cost $20,000 per mile to build, cattle feedyards and farms are a little hard to come by. As in much of Texas, the area around Uvalde has become a haven for wildlife and recreation, prompting construction of high fences in prime areas, not to keep wildlife – namely deer – out, but to keep them in. With these new industries comes a different culture to an area with deep roots in agriculture. For Ralph Hesse and his family, staying up with a changing business climate from their little corner of the world is a constant.

Survivors
Anyone in the industry who finished building a brand new feedyard in 1974 has to be a survivor, and Hesse is rightfully proud of Chaparral Feeders and its history. The cow-calf operations that were part of the landscape back then are gone, replaced with deer farms and hunters. Land prices for tillable vs. non-tillable acreage have flip-flopped. Scrub-brush areas are now bringing twice as much as dryland farms.

Back in the ‘70s Hesse and his partners built a “custom cattle feedyard,” but today, Hesse and his family, who bought their partners out, own 90 percent of the yard’s cattle.

“There is no incentive [to custom feed],” Ralph Hesse said. “If you don’t own the feedyard, you can’t afford to feed.” Hesse is honest about the business today. “The glamour has left the business,” he said. “Just owning cattle doesn’t pay the bills.”

That doesn’t mean that the Hesses aren’t optimistic about their position. Hesse serves as company president, 33-year-old son Harper manages the day-to-day business, and Hesse’s wife, Connie, oversees the office.

Adapting to their environment
Originally, the feedyard fed light heifers – finishing them at a mere 600 lbs. – and had access to a number of processing plants across the area. Today, the yard specializes in lightweight steers and heifers, 90 percent of which are backgrounded before going into the feedyard. “We background the cattle for 45-60 days and then feed to about 1,225 lbs. in 220-250 days,” Hesse said. “The key is efficiency. One change we have made this year is that we are trying some Schwertner Select cattle. We have several hundred head on the property and are anxious to see how they fit the bottom line.”

One of the most drastic changes for all of the feeders in the area is their market, which has been reduced drastically to one major player. Sam Kane in Corpus Christi kills the majority of cattle fed in South Texas feedyards. Hesse described his marketing technique: “I pick up the phone, call Sam Kane and ask for Alfred,” he said. “You hold as long as you want, and if he does not come to the phone, you hang up and call back later. We fax them the show list with the number of cattle we have for sale that week. Nobody ever comes out to look; we just send them.”

Problems can arise if there are too many finished cattle at once in this corner of South Texas, but area feeders work to stagger placements and assure a timely market. For the rest of the world, this marketing system would be a nightmare. Here, they are glad to have a market.

Fed cattle prices in their area are usually a dollar back from the Panhandle. “With the kind of cattle we feed, that seems fair,” Hesse explained.

Hesses ’ ration ingredients are as local as they can make them. They installed a corn steam flaker, enabling them to maximize usage of locally grown corn, which farmers deliver to the feedyard on an as-needed basis. The family also farms their own ground – 2,000 acres – raising a variety of crops including vegetables, corn and silage. They’ve been bagging their corn and silage for 20 years. “Whatever you put in that bag comes back out the same,” Hess said. “It makes sense for us.”

Down the road
Chaparral Feeders was one of the first in the country to begin testing incoming cattle for persistently infectious bovine viral diarrhea (BVD-PI). Harper said the system works well and is worth the extra effort. “We are seeing a reasonable percent testing positive,” he said. “We isolate the calves that test positive and feed them together. We started testing three years ago and I think that the real result is in our feed consistency. It certainly has increased.”

Ralph Hesse is watching the development of the new farm bill very closely, anxious to see what the final version will bring to the industry. Only ten percent of their cattle come from Mexico, but he is anxious to see how the processors will respond to COOL regulations.

Water is a valuable commodity in South Texas. Hesses drilled only 65 feet to tap into the Uvalde aquifer, which to this point has been unregulated. However, water from the nearby Edwards aquifer is selling for as much as $5,000-$6,000 per acre foot.

Labor is often a challenge for many businesses and feedyards are no different. Attracting and retaining good employees can often be a primary goal of many business owners. The Hesses value their employees. Interestingly, in spite of their close proximity to the Mexican border, Chaparral Feeders doesn’t often get applicants from across the border, nor do they get inspected by border patrol.

Meanwhile Ralph Hesse and his family will be the first to tell you it is a good life, out in the high fence country.