High Tech Cattle
Fifth generation rancher combines high-tech breeding with high levels of nutrition to produce quality cattle.
Seth Christensen
Weston, Idaho
Seth Christensen doesn’t claim to be a nutritionist. He readily admits that he can’t look at the label and do a scientific analysis of the minerals and vitamins listed there.
“I’m very, very comfortable with cattle. I’m very, very comfortable with genetics,” he says. “I understand the importance of good nutrition and a good mineral program, but I wouldn’t be someone who can break all this down front, back and sideways from a scientific standpoint,” he adds.
“What I can tell you is that whether or not cows get pregnant and what kind of calf they wean is the difference between whether or not I can pay my bills. And since we’ve been on Riomax, we have had our highest weaning weights we’ve ever recorded and we have had our highest conception rates we have ever recorded. Whether that is due to Riomax, our nutrition, a myriad of other factors or anything else, I don’t know,” he admits.
“But what I can tell you is I’m not about to change.”
He owns Christensen Genetics, a high-tech cattle operation near Weston, Idaho, in the southeast corner of the state, just across the Utah border. While Christensen’s agricultural roots run five generations deep, he’s the first in his family to focus on cattle rather than farming. It’s a first generation, high-tech outfit that specializes in selling confirmed embryo transfer pregnancies featuring fullblood Akaushi heifers, leasing Angus bulls to commercial beef producers, as well as selling semen and frozen embryos.
“The folks who buy our confirmed embryo transfer pregnancies are generally people who are building new herds, so they’re putting together a new set of cows.” These people generally have done well in other industries, he says, and come from an agricultural background or simply have dreamed of owning a ranch, a few cows and enjoying a more pastoral life.
“They buy a couple of hundred acres and want to stock it with some high-end cows, so we provide those cattle for them. That is what those embryo transfer pregnancies are, which is the most common thing we sell.”
That is accomplished by super-ovulating a fullblood Akaushi cow, collecting the embryos and implanting them in commercial black Angus recipient cows. Technology allows Christensen to sort the resulting pregnancies by sex. Many of the recipient cows carrying female pregnancies go to his customers’ operations while many of the recipient cows with male pregnancies stay home.
Those bull calves will become part of Christensen’s bull leasing program. “The bull lease program serves primarily commercial cattlemen that pay for the use of those bulls and like getting the highest-end bull they can at the most reasonable price, and then being able to rotate those year over year.”
The Akaushi breed, also known as Red Wagyu, originated in Japan and is known for exceptional marbling and flavor. Interest in the cattle is growing as consumer demand for top-quality beef continues to expand, he says.
It was the breed’s carcass qualities that first attracted Christensen to the cattle, “but we have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the cows and are seeing some real applications for F1 Akaushi cows, especially running the high desert country surrounding us in Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.”
Not only do the F1 replacement heifers make good cows, there’s a growing market for the F1 feeder cattle, he says. For some ranchers, adding Akaushi genetics to the mix opens the opportunity for direct-to-consumer sales. That’s an attractive option for young producers or the next generation coming into the operation and taking the reins from their parents, he says.
For other ranchers, the F1 feeder calves find a ready market with existing branded beef programs. Two of the most prominent are HeartBrand Beef in Texas and Snake River Farms, part of Agri-Beef.
Riomax Seals the Deal
Just as he’s sold on the value of Akaushi genetics, Christensen is sold on the value of Riomax. “It’s all market driven,” he says. “This is what feeds my family. This is what I do all day, every day. There is not a second source of income. There is not a job in town.”
That means conception rate with every embryo flush is critical. And that’s where Riomax helps him pay the bills.
He first learned about Riomax from a neighbor who also runs an embryo transfer program. The neighbor told Christensen about his success with the orange tubs and, based on the recommendation of someone who had no skin in the game of whether or not he bought the product, Christensen gave it a shot.
While it wasn’t quite the shot heard ‘round the world, it was revolutionary for Christensen Genetics. “It’s spot-on as far as the consumption,” he says. That’s important for several reasons, one being that he doesn’t have to spend unnecessary time patrolling pastures and replacing tubs.
He admits the tubs are expensive and people think you’re nuts spending that kind of money. “That’s pretty expensive relative to running down to the farm store, spending a hundred bucks, maybe 200 bucks, and you’ve got four or five colors to choose from. But when (the Riomax tubs) last like they do and your daily consumption is what it says it’ll be, our cost isn’t any more than those cheaper tubs. I don’t have to put out two, three, four, five, six tubs. I put out one tub and it sits there and when it’s done, I put out another.”
Conversely, with other products where consumption is a lot higher, “I think there’s a benefit in not having cattle fly through the tubs and needing to replace them all the time, which inherently means you have cattle left without mineral and vitamins when those other tubs run out.”
In addition to higher conception rates and higher weaning weights, Christensen has seen additional benefits to including Riomax.
The High Desert of the Northwest isn’t the easiest place to be a cow. “It’s really cold in the winter, really hot in the summer and not a whole lot of rainfall,” Christensen says. Annual precipitation is around 14 inches and temperatures range from 20 below in the winter to 100 plus in the summer. “If you were to drive across our part of the world, you’d see a lot of rocks, a lot of sagebrush, not a ton of grass.”
However, the region he calls home grows a lot of alfalfa. “Which is really good,” he says. “A normal operation is going to feed hay for five to six months of the year.”
Then there’s this: “We are a challenging setting for these animals because we are a fall calving herd in Idaho. The calves are going through an Idaho winter on nothing but mama’s milk and fighting the cows for hay. So to get them to gain well and wean at a high level is a challenge.”
Alfalfa hay, which is high in protein and energy, is a big help. When combined with Riomax, the hay gets even better as the cows and calves squeeze every ounce of good out of really good hay. And, while the cattle eat plenty of hay, they don’t overconsume, he says.
“The word that you hear consistently as people talk about Rio is ‘content.’ And that’s what they are. I would definitely say the cattle have thrived,” he says.
RANCHING AIN'T EASY.
FOR ALL THE WORK THAT YOU DO, YOU DESERVE
MORE IN RETURN.
15 - 30% FORAGE SAVINGS
3 - 10% INCREASE IN CONCEPTION RATES
10 - 40 LBS. INCREASE IN WEANING WEIGHTS
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