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Long-term success starts with the female at EG Land and Livestock

published: July 15th 2020
by: Martha Hollida Garrett
source: Southern Livestock Standard

 

 

            Tiger Striped and Brangus influenced are the cattle of choice for Emanuel Glockzin, Jr. He has been utilizing these crosses successfully for more than three decades on his ranch, known as EG Land and Livestock Company.

Today, EG has locations throughout Texas in Brazos County and neighboring Grimes and Burleson counties. The program has evolved from an initial land and cattle purchase in 1988 to over 2,400 females, with about half being Tiger Striped and half Brangus influenced. Glockzin is quick to point out the virtues of his cowherd with profitability, longevity and fertility topping the list.

“We average right at a 95% conception rate with all natural breeding, which sets our females up to have success till the calf is weaned. We like how efficient these cattle are in terms of foraging and milking ability. We expect them to wean a calf in that  600 pound range and breed back efficiently,” he explained, adding that another plus is the reproductive longevity of his cowherd and their ability to thrive in Texas weather conditions.

The females are all bred to registered Angus bulls and in recent years, they have acquired Angus genetics from 44 Farms, Express Ranches, and the Alliance Foundation.

“The buyers of our calves want black hided calves and they like the carcass merit the Angus breed delivers. We select bulls with weaning weights around 800 pounds and weigh 1,100-1,200 pounds as yearlings. Then we also look hard at the milking ability EPD and want it above 20,” he said.

They utilize 105-110 bulls a breeding season. The bulls are turned out at the end of February and first part of March, then gathered back up in July. They expect a bull to cover 25-30 cows each.  Annually, they replace 15-20 bulls.

“Usually Chad Ezell, my manager, or  I,  personally attend sales and select the bulls. We have also made purchases online after studying the catalog and videos in-depth and on occasion, we have utilized representatives from the sale to select our bulls,” said Glockzin.

Calving season begins in November and is staggered through the first part of April.  Calves are initially worked at about 90 days of age.

For EG’s replacement needs, they purchase the Tiger Stripes and use some of their own heifer calves, which are roughly more than half Brangus. Depending on the year, they may also buy some of the Brangus type.

 They annually select about 200 of the top heifer calves to retain for either their herd, or to sell in the special commercial replacement female sales held in conjunction with the San Antonio Livestock Show and the Houston Livestock Show. They sell them as pens of open, 15-month-old females in these prestigious sales. Heifers from EG Land and Livestock have earned honors at both of these high profile sales through the years. Most recently, in 2018, 2019 and 2020, their heifers won first place in the other Brahman crosses division at San Antonio.

They also sell some of the retained heifers locally and in sales hosted by Johnson Cattle Marketing. Another marketing avenue for their females is to local 4-H and FFA youth, who wish to compete in the pen of female competitions hosted by county fairs. Glockzin's grandkids, who also live in Brazos County, exhibit some of these as well.

The remainder of the heifers and the steer calves sell through Superior Livestock Auction. Glockzin has utilized the online video company for close to 20 years. They are marketed through Superior’s Value Added programs for source and age, as well as non-hormone raised calves. 

“This has been a very good partnership for us. Our calves have sold all over Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. We have a number of repeat buyers and we like the logistics of marketing this way,” explained Glockzin, who added that they sell their first truckload around Nov. 1 and then a set sells every 30 days till the end of June.

EG calves are weaned and retained on the ranch for preconditioning for 60 days. They  begin this phase on a starter ration from ADM. They are then switched to a shelled corn and ADM protein supplement ration, which has cottonseed hulls added as 5% to 10% of the ration. The calves, on the average add about 250 pounds during the 60 days and the target sale weight is 850 pounds. On weaning day, they are moved to the preconditioning barn and pens, which was built to eliminate stress on the calves and be efficient for the ranch crew and truckers.

“Our Superior representatives, Gerald and Will Yeager video the calves at this location. We can weigh them on the spot and it was designed it so we can easily load out 10 trucks in a half day. Once the calves sell on Superior, we ship them about two weeks later,” explained Glockzin.

            “EG has lots of repeat buyers through Superior due to how well their cattle perform in the feedlot. This program is a great example of how adding proven bull power nets return on the calf crops. I applaud Emanuel for how he strives to improve his calves genetically and that he also takes advantage of many of value added programs offered by Superior,” commented Yeager.

All of the EG ranch locations are mainly Bermuda grass pastures. They also raise and bale  their own hay for the cowherd.

“We stay busy. I’m fortunate to have had the same manager for 20 plus years in Chad Ezell. He joined us shortly after graduating from Texas A&M University and grew up in the Wharton/Hallettsville area. He and his crew deserve a lot of credit for how the cows look and how this ranch runs,” said Glockzin.

Glockzin has spent almost all of his life in Brazos County around the Bryan area. He grew up showing broilers and commercial steers and graduated from Texas A&M University with a poultry science degree in 1972. He paid for his college education by raising stocker calves and broilers. He was part of the 1970-1971 National Champion Texas A&M Poultry Judging Team.

After graduation, he worked for his family’s custom hay baling operation and continued his stocker operation. He left Brazos County for two and half years to work in the poultry industry, but returned in 1976 when he purchased  a lumber yard in nearby Calvert, Texas.

His purchase lead him to enter the construction industry a few years later, where  he began to build and manage single family homes and apartments through a USDA program. His company, Brazos Valley Construction, Inc. has built units throughout Texas.

Glockzin is an avid supporter of Texas agriculture, especially the 4-H, FFA and youth livestock shows. He serves on the Brazos County Youth Commercial Heifer Show and Sale Committee and the Junior Commercial Steer Committee for the Houston Livestock Show. Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences presented him with the college's Outstanding Alumni Award in 2017.

He and his wife, Elaina have two adult daughters, Betsy and Vicky, who both showed commercial steers and broilers as youngsters. Both are Texas A&M graduates. With their husbands, Bryan Brown and Pete Kramer, they have added six grandkids to the family.

“My poultry judging experience and my degree still get put to use helping the grandkids pick and cull their broiler projects,” Glockzin said..

Four grandkids are old enough to show and compete in broiler and commercial heifer competitions. The oldest granddaughter, Cassity will be a freshman at Texas A&M this fall and was a member of the first place livestock judging team at the 2020 San Antonio Livestock Show.

These eared-cross females have proven their value to Glockzin and he looks forward to each calf crop that’s ahead for EG Land and Livestock.