SEAGRAVES HEREFORD FARMS
POCAHONTAS, ARKANSAS
Our operation consists of 80 purebred Hereford females, made up of both Polled and Horned genetics, and 100 crossbred females that are rigidly culled each year based on performance, fertility, udder quality and structural soundness.
Our breeding philosophy is different than that of many purebred breeders. We treat our purebred females just like our crossbred females, if she doesn't do her job she finds a new home, no matter what bloodline she is or how much she cost. We are a profit driven operation, if they don't pay they don't stay. We believe with this approach our cattle will always be profitable for the commercial cattleman.
We are one of the few breeders in the state of Arkansas who utilize the whole herd TPR (Total Performance Records). A voluntary system of registration and performance tracking which measures fertility, longevity, and reproductive efficiency. When our cows calve we record the date, birth weight, calving ease, udder score of the cow, sex, and ID in the herd. Calves are weighed again at weaning and as yearlings and all information is sent in to the American Hereford Association to track the lifetime productivity of each cow.
Our cows are moderate in terms of frame, but we have not sacrificed pay weight because we have simply bred cattle with extra length, depth of rib and volume, and increased muscle. When selecting females we pay close attention to udders and cull hard in this area. We are in search of smaller udders and teat size with richer milk and more butter fat. We also select females with fleshing ability and a sound structure, as we believe this coincides with longevity. We also make a conscious effort to select cattle that are fully pigmented, conservatively marked, and red necked if possible. Females with excessive white go into our baldy program.
We AI to proven bulls from production based programs. Your won't see us chasing the latest fad from the "Show Ring" we want productive females that can show, not show females that can't produce. We also utilize embryo transfer, but we do not flush heifers as we believe a cow must first prove herself as a productive female before making the donor pen.
These are the fundamentals of our program. We welcome visitors anytime.