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Runnells-Pierce Ranch herd is heavily Simbrah influenced

published: October 19th 2007
source: American Simbrah Breeders

John Runnells, III,  comes from a long line of good cattlemen and he knows what he likes and what works in his commercial program. Runnells is a partner in Runnells-Pierce Ranch, Bay City, Texas with his dad and two sisters. The ranch originally was part of the Runnells-Pierce Ranch and today the large operation is almost strictly commercial and is heavily Simbrah influenced.
    Runnell’s great great grandfather was Abel “Shangai” Pierce, who came to the Texas Gulf Coast area from Little Compton, Rhode Island before the Civil War. He started ranching and would drive cattle north to the railheads in the late 1800’s. He quickly recognized that cattle with Bos indicus influence were more insect and parasite resistant and they were more resilient to the fever tick. Pierce, would partner with the O’Connor family and together they initiated one of the original and largest importations of Brahman cattle from India in 1906. Pierce would die before the cattle arrived, but his efforts and that of his family after his death, paved the way for genetic improvement and growth of the American Brahman breed.
    The operation with its 100 year plus history was divided in 1956 and Run-nells grandmother ob-tained the portion he manages today. They continued to raise Brahmans and in the early 1980’s added Herefords to raise F1s. They followed with a number of other breeds, looking for just the right combination to withstand the tough Gulf Coast heat and humidity, yet produce pounds. One of the breeds they tried was Simmentals. In the mid-1980’s, they purchased the entire bull calf crop from the Breck Ellison Farms herd in Tennessee.
    They followed with fullblood bulls from Canada and Texas breeders. The Simmentals on the Brah-man females worked and Runnells-Pierce became one of the largest herds of registered Simbrah in the nation.
    Gradually they began to convert the registered program to a commercial cow-calf operation, but maintained the Simbrah female as their nucleus in addition to maintaining a small herd of registered Brahman females, which they still have today. Over the years the program has exported Brahman females to 22 foreign countries and into 17 states.
    As fullblood Simmen-tals became increasingly difficult to find, they added Charolais breeding and did like the steer calf produced on the Simbrah female. They still run some Charo-lais and Simmental bulls, but maintain mostly Sim-brah bulls.
    “When we had trouble finding Simmentals, we decided to try some Simbrah bulls and we liked the results. We were able to produce steers that still have the pounds and retain  the Brahman influence we need for our replacement females. Beef is a four letter word that is spelled  m-i-l-k. These females have ample milking capacity, good udders and we like the disposition of the Simbrah. We are pleased with the weight per day of age we get, as we sell by the pound,” stresses Runnells adding that with Simbrah they are able to grow pounds faster than they ever could with any of the English based breeds.
    “Simbrah helps us get to our weaning weights fast-er,” he emphasizes adding that they wean calves at six to seven months of age and they will have calves reach the 650 pound mark.
    Runnells has recently purchased a majority of his bulls from the LaMuneca Cattle Company program and out of select sales. He buys most of his bulls as long yearlings and is very conscious of performance data in his selections and likes moderate birth weights. He pays strict at-tention to scrotal measurements of the bulls and prefers 38-40 cm measurements as yearlings.
    “We raise our own replacement females so fertility is important. We also pay attention to EPDs and feel they are a tool that needs to be utilized in conjunction with visual ap-praisal,” he explains.
    "We have enjoyed do-ing business with Runnells-Pierce Ranch.  John is the kind of progressive cattleman that seedstock producers appreciate doing business with.  He understands performance, knows what he wants, has tough minimum standards but most important knows that  quality costs, but it also pays.  John is willing to pay top dollar for those bulls that meet his stringent requirements because he knows they will make him money" describes Carlos X. Guerra, La Muneca Cattle Co.
    Runnells expects a lot of his bulls and likes to get six to eight years of service out of his bulls. He removes his bulls from pastures at the end of breeding season, so that they can rest and receive extra care to be ready for the next breeding season.
    They run one bull to 30-40 mature cows as their pastures range in size from 200 to 2,000 acres. Everything is gathered by horseback and the land varies from coastal prairie to live oak bottomland. The headquarters is just 30 miles from the coast, so heat and humidity are the norm. The western part of the operation borders the Colorado River and the eastern part Caney Creek.
    Their calves are marketed primarily through local sale barns. They have participated in some video sales and also have sold calves by private treaty.
    “We have been pleased with the overall performance of the Simbrah breed and find they excel in our environment,” he concludes.