Spring Tours 2009

Mission Statement:
To provide leadership, service
and educational programs
for the promotion of
North Carolina Angus cattle.

North Carolina Angus Association Spring Tours 2009
DAY ONE

March of each year brings North Carolina Angus spring tours! 2009 tours were planned by President,
Dean Crocker, Eddie Leagans, T.W. Wall and John Cassavaugh. Thank you for making the plans, getting
the directions and lining up the meals and the stops. Although it rained and rained, as always it was good
to visit our fellow cattle breeders and spend time with our good cattle friends.

We started off on Friday for lunch at Brewer Farms, Ray and Suzanne Brewer near Lexington. Ray
and Suzanne live on the farm where Ray grew up in the Reedy Creek area of Davidson County. Their
brood cows are on a North Carolina Century Farm 15 miles away from their home. This farm is part of
828 acres Suzanne’s great grandfather purchased in 1899 and is the only part still being farmed by
family. Until becoming secretary of North Carolina Angus, Suzanne did some artificial breeding; now she
only breeds their heifers. Until 2002 they also had a herd of commercial cattle, but because of the
drought conditions they decided to sell the commercial cattle and focus on registered Angus. Ray said
that except for one cow, every brood cow is A-I sired.

Ray credits Phil Goodson of Springfield Angus with getting them started in the registered female
business. After talking to Dr. Goodson in 1994, the Brewers attended his sale that December and
purchased a bull and their first four females. Females have been added from several North Carolina
herds. Their last bull was purchased from Quaker Hill Farms in Virginia and this bull was second in their
feed-efficiency test. He has greatly improved the EPDs in their calves and Ray is very pleased.
After a lunch of “Lexington style BBQ and fixins”, we viewed the cattle . The drizzle let up long enough
for a trailer ride down through the farm.

Everyone loaded up and headed to Steve McMahan Farms in Mocksville. Steve has a bull sale every
year in January and has a very good reputation for some top notch bulls. He said the last four years the
sales have really began to grow and the 2009 sale was better than the last two years. He does his sale a
little different than most. The bulls are on display in the pasture and everyone gets a bid sheet. Before
the sheets are turned in, you list the bulls you’re interested in bidding on. Steve (the auctioneer) begins
going down the list until the final bid is placed. He has many repeat buyers, some as long as 15 years and
most of his advertising is done by “word of mouth”. He has several buyers who return year after year for
one or two bulls. One repeat buyer has an agreement with Steve that, his bull stays there for Steve to
use as clean-up bull before he picks him up. Most of his customers are in a six county area around Davie
County. Steve said that the commercial herds are reducing as older breeders pass away and the family
disperses of the herd.

Steve said that several years ago he bought a creep feeder but didn’t use it, his bulls are hand fed.
His customers like the good gentle disposition and fact they can take a bucket of feed and “lead them
anywhere”. Most of the bulls on his sales are around 15 months old.

Phil Rucker, Davie and Yadkin County Extension Agent, said that Steve has served on most every
advisory committee in Davie County. He said that Steve is always looking for information and a better
way of doing things. He uses soil samples to determine the fertilizer he needs for his forages and always
does his homework, whether studying semen catalogs for A-I or working with the Volunteer Ag District
committee. Steve says he guesses he’s guilty of not saying ‘no”.

I can’t forget to mention the wonderful homemade beef stew that they serve for lunch in their cabin.
Steve is a retired firefighter from the City of Winston Salem with over 30 years of service. Steve’s
program is to stay in the middle, if you make a change and it’s not right, tweak it a little at a time. He
says that if a cow doesn’t calve every year, she’s gone. His wife says she’s glad she’s not a cow. As the
showers let up, we carpooled to view his cattle.

Steve has several GAR Solution calves; before his bull sale in January he sent a letter to his buyers
guaranteeing these bulls for two years from the date of the sale against “curly calf”; the Solution bulls
were top sellers in their group.

We met for supper at the Sagebrush Restaurant in Mocksville. Our dinner speaker was Seth Church.
Seth and his partners, Shelmer Blackburn and Rodney Shepherd formed Champion Cattle Company in
2004. They have background locations in Wilkes County and Northern Virginia. They have feedlot
locations in Pennsylvania and Kansas/Nebraska. They originally purchased their calves from livestock
markets and feeder calf sales; in 2008 they changed their focus to purchasing “farm raised pre
conditioned calves” They are interested in buying large or small quantities of calves directly from the
farmer. Seth passed out a data printout of some calves from Steve McMahan Farm which were recently
slaughtered. These calves were feed for 120-126 days before slaughter. Of the 37 calves, 32 graded
choice, showing an average daily gain of 2.63 pounds. Champion Cattle Company is looking for North
Carolina born and bred Black Angus calves to fit in their feed lot program. The ability to receive the
slaughter data will enable producers to see what they’re doing right and what they may want to change.
As we leave the restaurant it began to pour rain again, we will meet at 8:30 in the morning for our
Saturday tours.

This site is sponsored by...

NC Angus Association, Inc.
Suzanne Brewer, Executive Secretary
3942 North NC Hwy 150 • Lexington, NC 27295
Phone/Fax: 336-787-NCAA(6222) • Email:
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