Brangus Adds Diversification To Kansas Operation

The Hurla family is a traditional Kansas agricultural entity in most ways, as they raise hay, crops, and cattle. But where they differ from their central Kansas neighbors, is in their choice of cattle breeds, as they breed Brangus and have for almost two decades.

“In 1988, Dad went to Brinks Brangus in Eureka, Kansas and purchased bulls. He continued adding Brangus bulls from their operation, while they were located in Kansas, to put on our predominantly Angus based commercial cow herd. Then they moved to Franklin, Texas and became known as Camp Cooley Ranch®. For a couple of years after, we tried to find Brangus bulls elsewhere, but then in 1996 we made the trip to Texas and have been buying our bulls from Camp Cooley ever since,” describes Vince Hurla.

Today Hurla Farms runs 250-300 momma cows. There are two herds of about 150 each. One is a crossbred herd with about half of the cows carrying 50% Brangus blood. The other herd traces back to the original Angus cows and is about half Brangus x Angus now. The herds are split for fall and spring calving.

The Hurlas like the hybrid vigor they get with the calves and they like the maternal traits the Brangus breed offers.

“Initially we sold our steer and bottom end heifer calves at the local sale barn and buyers hesitated. We have fought a lot of perceptions in marketing our product locally,” says Hurla.

In 1996, he attended a Camp Cooley Bull Sale and purchased a couple of bulls. He attended a seminar the day before the bull sale on the changing dynamics of the cattle business and how Camp Cooley customers could continue to be productive.

“We became involved in Camp Cooley’s cooperator program in 2001, as we realized we could take advantage of their expertise in every area and especially in marketing,” explains Hurla.

Today Hurla Farms is involved with Camp Cooley in their buy back program of the steer calves. These are purchased by Camp Cooley and fed in Kansas at Irsik and Doll Feedyards.

“We have been able to utilize the harvest data and make bull buying decisions in the last few years based on the data. While total-balanced numbers, are still important to us, we are also selecting bulls with favorable intramuscular fat numbers. We have selected a number of CEO of Brinks sons to use. Through our association with Camp Cooley we have a stronger market for our steer calves.

In the past we could not easily sell any of the heifers, but again by being involved with Camp Cooley, we are able to annuallyparticipate in their Customer Appreciation Sale in April. This has provided a broad audience from across the country for our heifers and brought us exposure that we could have never had selling from home. In addition, we are able to capitalize not just on their marketing expertise, but also their name recognition and advertising dollars,“ explains Hurla.

This past April, Hurla brought 30 commercial Brangus heifers, sired by Camp Cooley bulls and out of cows by Camp Cooley bulls to the sale. These heifers were 13 months old and brought an average of $1,088. This was the third year for Hurlas to sell in this event.

“Our 30 head can’t compete with big offerings, but by selling in this sale we were part of over 1,000 head that sold in one day ,with similar genetics, so we were part of something big that does attract large numbers of buyers, many who make volume purchases. The steer mates to these heifers have fed exceptionally well with impressive gains, feed conversion, dressing percentage and quality grades. Camp Cooley provided us with that data that we could post on our pens at the sale which helped to add value to the heifers,” he says.

In addition the Hurlas are able to attend programs and seminars held in conjunction with Camp Cooley events, which has helped them stay competitive and a part of agriculture.

“Their programs give us valuable information and contacts within the industry. In addition, the cooperator program gives us access to their other partners like Purina, Fort Dodge and others,” he says.

Hurla feels his dad made a positive decision in the 1980s to incorporate Brangus and admits that they have not convinced many of their neighbors to switch, but that they do comment favorably on their Brangus influenced cow herd.

“Most people ask us how they take the cold. We don’t have any more problems than our neighbors do. When the temperature drops to 10-15 degrees at night during calving season up here, everybody is up in the night checking on newborns, regardless of the breed, “ stresses Hurla.

The Hurla family operation is located at Paxico, Kansas, which is 20 miles west of Topeka. It includes wheat, soybeans, milo, corn, alfalfa hay and broom and native grass hay.

“My mom and dad, Bernard and Laverne, started this operation and they remain very active in it today. My brother, Roy, and I are proud to be able to be involved and we realize that agriculture requires doing things differently, these days. Our involvement as a Camp Cooley Ranch® cooperator is one of the ways we are doing things differently. We have to make the cattle segment profitable and this program provides us many avenues to do that,” he concludes.