Our focus at Manzano Angus is breeding profit-oriented cattle. Females have to be moderate (1100-1200 lbs), low-input and turn into efficient mothers. Our challenging southwest environment makes it critical to select for functional cattle that breed back and keep their flesh even in the toughest years.
Thank you for your interest.
-The Gardner Family
La información en español
Why do we say the “Manzano Difference”?
Fertile
Thirty years of selection for moderate milk, fleshing-ease, and fertility has built a cow herd that gets bred even when things are tough. In 2019, 97.6 percent of our cows were bred, including first calf heifers, despite only receiving 50-60 percent of our annual moisture.
Efficient
In our country a mature cow should wean about 50 percent of her body weight. Cows that wean a lot more than that usually are too milky and end up open or late. Cows that wean a lot less than that are too big, eat too much and don’t give you enough calf.
Moderate
There are a lot of GIANT Angus cows. This fall our mature cow weight averaged 1156. In wetter years the cows have been heavier. Some really dry years they have been lighter. Study after study show small cows to be more profitable than big cows. Commercial cattlemen don’t need bulls out of 1500+ lb cows.
Performance
Our customers routinely sell calves in the fall that weigh over 600 lbs and finishing cattle that efficiently grow to 1400 lbs. We strive for a balance between cow size and performance.
Reliable Calving Ease
Consistency is important in calving ease bulls. We stack proven calving ease genetics together and breed for shorter gestation lengths. We also strive for easy-calving females without being big framed. We calve our heifers on pasture and check them daily (not hourly), just like many of our customers.
Practical Selection
Feet, Udders and Disposition: We are constantly evaluating, selecting and culling to prevent problems for our customers.
Management
The environment needs to sort the cattle. Our cows run year round on grass with minimal supplementation. We expose nearly every heifer for a short breeding season, allowing the environment to select the breds. Our herd sires cover large, multiple-sire pastures. The stronger breeders cover more cows.
EPDs
$B and CW (and the new $C) are terminal numbers that reward big, late-maturing cattle. Big, late-maturing females take more feed to get bred the first time and every time after that. Ideally, we prefer below average BW, average growth EPDs, below average Milk and Mature Weight EPD’s. We are not willing to sacrifice the right kind of cow for a certain EPD.
