Tour Stops

Wednesday, May 21

Four L Hereford Farm

FourLHerefords.com

Four L Hereford Farm, Atwood, Tenn., owned by Tom and Gail Lane, has been performance testing since 1963 and the progress made in the past five years is more than the previous 40 years combined. The focus at Four L is to provide top commercial bulls, in quantity, to its customers. The bulls sold last year won numerous state and national shows for their new owners. Ultrasound data is collected on all of the bulls and the data is made available to commercial customers.

Four L recently hosted its fourth annual production sale at the farm, where it offered bulls with breed-leading expected progeny differences (EPDs) that will breed uniform, high-performance calf crops for their new owners. Four L is particularly excited when its customers get not only top-performing bulls but award winners, too.

Four L has experienced much success in the showring the last several years and is proud to have earned recognition for the on-going development in its breeding program as noted by the judges at a number of national shows, including the grand and reserve champion bull at the 2007 Keystone International Livestock Exposition (KILE) and reserve champion bull at the 2007 American Royal and numerous premier breeder and premier exhibitor titles at KILE, National Western, American Royal and Ft. Worth.

GH Rambo 279R, the two-time Canadian national champion bull, will be on display during the tour. Four L is a partner on this exciting young sire that is bred to have great carcass potential.

Triple L Ranch

Triple L Ranch, Franklin, Tenn., has been involved in the Hereford genetic improvement business for 43 years, stressing performance and maternal traits.
Forty-four years ago, Wallace and Ann Lee purchased the first part of the farm. After having a small commercial herd, they purchased the first Hereford cattle in 1964. Triple L Ranch is truly a family operation with second and third generations of Bill, Steven, Carol, Abby and 10 grandchildren living on the farm.

The Lee family has been performance testing its entire herd for 38 years and was recently honored by the American Hereford Association (AHA) as a Gold Total Performance Breeder.

Triple L Ranch has always sought to propagate the best genetics through artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET), and now the cow herd is approaching 200 head.

For the last 12 years, the family has worked to improve carcass value through the use of ultrasound data in its breeding program. The result of this effort is the Triple L cow herd’s expected progeny differences (EPDs) are above the Hereford breed average in every category with carcass ribeye area (REA) ranking in the top 15%.

The Triple L breeding program is unique in that it is based on stacking the pedigrees with proven donor cows and Dams of Distinction. Herd bulls bred by Triple L Ranch are working successfully in some of the top performance purebred and commercial herds in 36 states. Triple L-bred cattle have proven to excel not only in the pasture but also in the showring. The Lee family is planning its Tradition of Excellence Sale XV, scheduled for Sept. 11, 2008.

Thursday, May 22

Burns Farms

Burns Farms, Pikeville, Tenn., is a family owned and managed operation that has been raising registered Hereford cattle for more than 50 years. The farm consists of 450 cows managed on 1,600 acres. Three hundred cows are registered Herefords; the rest are Hereford-based commercial cows.

Burns Farms primarily services commercial cattlemen across the Southeast, selling 50-75 commercial bulls a year, along with several black-baldie and Hereford commercial heifers. All steers produced are backgrounded to 800 lb. on the farm before they are marketed by the truckload. Burns Farms is also active as a registered breeder, exhibiting cattle at shows across the country.

Burns-bred cattle have been champions at the state, regional and national levels in both junior and open shows. The Burnses’ balanced approach has enabled them to market cattle to every segment of the industry.

In recent years they have identified a few sires that have helped accomplish their genetic goals. They added K&B 927 Advance 2490 in 2004 after he was calf champion at the National Western. He has become a trait leader in four traits and is siring light birth weight high performance calves. His daughters are great-uddered, performance cows that are going to be the base of the Burns herd for years to come. At the 2006 National Western, the Burns family purchased MHW Chekota 512 to continue to add balanced performance. His first calves were born this fall and are the best set of calves the Burns family has ever raised. Burns Farms is excited to add BR CSF Wallace, the reserve champion bull at the National Western, to its lineup. He is a bull that can do it all. He has the genetics, EPDs and phenotype to make him a breed changer. The goal at Burns Farms is to produce stout functional cattle that have the phenotype, performance and consistency to succeed for both registered and commercial cattlemen.

Whaley Polled Herefords

“Home of great Victors” has been Whaley Polled Herefords motto since the beginning. Truman and Starr Whaley, Dalton, Ga., began their herd as a small commercial breeder and then moved forward with a few Angus cows before switching to the Hereford breed. The Whaleys manage their cattle operation on a farm, nestled in the north Georgia mountains, that has been in the family for more than 77 years. They are the third generation to farm the land.

Whaley’s Victor-based herd has some of the oldest genetics in the Victor pedigrees. The Whaleys have learned from some of the best polled Hereford breeders in the Southeast — the late J. E. Strickland, Pine Acres, Ga.; the late J. L. Hadden, JLH Polled Herefords, Ga.; and Charles Smith, CES, Wadley, Ga.

Taking what they observed from those genetics, the Whaleys have blended an out-crossing of the great Remitall Keynote sons and the Pearl 67G family with their Victor base. They purchased the Grandview/Triple H herd in 2006, following the death of Stanley Hathorn. His genetic foresight has now been blended into their herd, giving them a broader base with the addition of his great bulls.

The Whaley’s will host their annual production sale, An Affair to Remember, in December.

Leonard Polled Hereford Farm

What began as an FFA project 59 years ago has led to the fifth generation walking into the showring this summer at the Junior National Hereford Expo (JNHE). Leonard Polled Herefords (LPH), Chatsworth, Ga., is located 90 miles north of Atlanta in the north Georgia mountains.

Sherman and Peggy Leonard own LPH with their grandchildren Matt and Krissi McCurdy, and Seth Ridley, each group having its own small herd. Great-granddaughter McKayla Ridley has also started a small herd.

The LPH herd consists of approximately 110 cows. The family uses AI and ET extensively and raises black baldies to use as recipients for the farm’s ET program. LPH is a Total Performance Records (TPR) breeder and collects ultrasound data.

The Leonard grandkids enjoy participating in Hereford youth activities. Matt served on the National Junior Hereford Association board of directors and was selected Herdsman of the Year at the 2006 JNHE.

The Leonard family will be hosting their production sale on Friday, May 22 and will be chartering a bus from the hotel in Cartersville for any tour attendees who wish to attend the sale.

JWR Land & Cattle Co., Dallas, Ga.

JWR Land & Cattle Co., Dallas, Ga., is owned by the Wesley Rakestraw family — Sharon, John, Josh and Jake Rakestraw — and managed by Tom and Tammy Boatman. The farm is located 40 miles northwest of Atlanta near Rockmart, Ga.

The JWR cow herd consists of 160 Victor-based Herefords that are mated to outcross-pedigree Hereford bulls.

The Rakestraw family uses AI and ET to mass produce its best genetics. The farm is flushing its top 10 cows and putting in approximately 75 embryos per year. The cows are managed on 300 acres of owned land, plus an additional 300 acres of leased land. The grass is a fescue, orchard and clover blend.
At JWR everyone strives to produce replacement heifers and herd bulls that are efficient producers, showring winners, donors, and breed and herd improvers for the farm’s clients. For the last four years, JWR has bred a champion or reserve champion division winner at the JNHE.

The JWR crew hosts an annual production sale, Blending the Best, the first Saturday in May. This year will be the Rakestraw family’s sixth annual event.

Debter Hereford Farm

Debter Hereford Farm, Horton, Ala., has been in the business of raising registered Herefords for more than 50 years and will be hosting its 36th annual bull sale in October. The four-generation family ranching operation, located in north central Alabama, has been doing basically the same thing with its program since 1948, and that has been utilizing solid performance cattle.

The Debter family — Glynn, Perry and John Ross — focus on selling bulls, and in 2007 Debter Hereford Farm posted the second high-selling Hereford bull sale in the 76-100 head category, selling 81 bulls and averaging $3,907.

Family members have taken active leadership roles in the beef industry. Glynn is a past president of the AHA Board of Directors and during his term helped develop performance standards for the Hereford breed. His son Perry served as president of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association in 2005. Debter Herefords is a past recipient of the Beef Improvement Federation’s Seedstock Producer of the Year award.

During this tour stop, attendees will enjoy some “commercial commentary” from several of Debter’s commercial bull buyers.

Tennessee River Music Inc.

2008 marks 25 years in the Hereford business and 25 Dixieland Delight production sales for Randy and Kelly Owen and children, Heath, Alison and Randa, of Tennessee River Music Inc. (TRM), Ft. Payne, Ala.

TRM is located high in the beautiful mountains of northern Alabama. The Owens have had tremendous success throughout their 25-year span of breeding some of the most sought after polled Hereford genetics in the Southeast and across the U.S. But their commitment to youth and agriculture is paramount and serves as the cornerstone of the family's cattle operation.

Randy and Kelly have been generous supporters of the JNHE, and Kelly serves on the board of directors of the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA).

TRM has seen many of its cattle achieve stardom in the showring, and the farm’s presence has been a mainstay since the early ’80s. Although the family loves to show, they don't necessarily breed their cattle to be show cattle, instead they show what is representative of their breeding program.

One of the highlights of the Rollin’ Through Dixie tour will be the grand finale event, “Music on the Mountain.” Join Randy and Kelly as they host Hereford enthusiasts with an entertaining evening of live music, dinner and auction — all to benefit Hereford youth and HYFA.

For more information, contact Amy Cowan at (816) 842-3757 or