When spring comes, the animals that haven't performed well are shipped. He knows his bull customers want cattle that will put on muscle and replacement heifers that will produce milk and reproduce. That's where the money is for the commercial man. Grubbs places a lot of emphasis on high-performance females, believing that is the secret to producing reliable herd sires, like the ones some of his customers have kept in their herds for 10 years. He wants females that show longevity, good structure and milking ability.
Reproductive efficiency is another key.
If our cows aren't bred back, we ship them. Because of his focus on females, Grubbs encourages his customers to retain replacement heifers from the calves his bulls produce. For females to stay in his herd they must have performance data in the breed's upper percentiles, and he looks for good udders and fleshing ability. The best way to determine a cow's productivity is to see how many pounds of calf she weans and how long it takes her to regain weight, he says. If she stays thin the rest of the winter, she probably isn't the kind of cow you want to sell a bull out of.