Lee Leachman is CEO of Leachman Cattle of Colorado, a ranch just north of Cheyenne, Wyoming, but with land in Colorado as well. Leachman’s operation markets more than 2,000 bulls and 2,000 females each year and is currently one of the five largest seedstock breeders in the country.
A third-generation seedstock producer currently raising Black and Red Angus, Charolais and Stabilizer Composites, Leachman discussed many topics affecting ranchers including how technology is improving the cattle industry, and his vision for a more efficient cowherd.
Leachman’s operation is a member of the URUS Group, which encompasses Alta Genetics, GENEX, and Trans Ova. He strives every day to improve the quality of the cattle he raises and the beef they produce. His ranch uses machines that can predict which animals will generate a more heavily muscled carcass while the animal is still on the hoof.
“That’s important to me as a bull raiser,” Leachman said. “I envision that we’ll have an EPD [expected progeny difference] that will be pretty accurate, that will predict the saleable meat yield from a carcass. So, if you make a 900-pound carcass, and this one has 5% more you can sell, that is worth quite a bit.”
Such a development would create greater efficiency by building better cattle at a lower cost, increasing profitability.
Leachman predicts more coordinated supply chains, specifically, retailers like Walmart would go to a ranch and contract a direct supply chain.
“I think that is going to increase because the retailer wants a very consistent product and to be able to tell the story of that product,” he said. “You want it to meet demands close to 100% of the time.”
While Leachman admits that the commodity system is really good, he believes it lacks the precise consistency that high-end supply chains demand.
Comparing beef’s quality with pork, Leachman said, “Beef is a great product because you put that marbling in there and it gives you a flavor that’s unbelievable – the closest thing to it is bacon. Bacon is pretty good, but after that, the rest of the pork and swine products are lean, and you have to put a good sauce on them and cook them very carefully. Beef is the other way; we can throw it on the grill, and as long as we don’t overcook it, if it is highly marbled, it is a great product.”
Leachman is proud of the progress made in producing consistent marbling in beef, but believes that it was done at the detriment of efficiency in red meat yield and looks forward to finding a balance between the two.
If anyone can do it, Leachman Cattle can. The company has already created the $Ranch index to predict a bull’s daughter’s profitability, assuming calves are sold at weaning, the $Feeder index, which predicts a bull’s offspring’s profitability in the feedlot and on the rail, and the $Profit index, which predicts the profit from conception to harvest.
Leachman and his team are now working towards a predictor of added yield grade on a beef carcass.