TREY CUEVAS’ PATH TO T3 BRANGUS

by Deanna Nelson-Licking

Mississippi Brangus breeder Trey Cuevas’ passion for cattle started when he was a young child, showing Brangus cattle in 4-H and FFA. While in high school, the cattle took a backseat to baseball, a sport he went on to play in college. Following graduation Trey wanted another hobby. “My dad was out of the registered cattle business but had around 100 commercial females. I purchased registered stock and tried to put together the best herd I could. Larry Fitzgerald and Terry Loftis really helped me get to where I am today.”

Trey and his wife Holly have been married for seven years and have a four-year-old daughter, Harrison Kate who loves the farm, and they live in Purvis, Mississippi.

T3 Brangus is focused on improving their herd through artificial insemination (AI) and collecting embryos from top donor females and transferring them to recip cows. The intensive AI and embryo program has paid off for the Cuevas’ as they sold the bull, T3 Broadway 30E, for $67,500 to ST Genetics and a 23H Big Town heifer for $80,000 to Tuna Rosa Ranch. They also bred and sold T3 Ms Three D 30D for $25,000 as an open heifer to Quail Valley Farms and then later partnered back on her for $65,000 with L.G. Herdon Farms. That cow is now one of the dominant donor cows in the breed today. “It is awesome to have your stamp and logo on a female of that quality,” Trey said.

Trey was working in the sporting goods industry but being constantly on the road and never being home was tiring. He was given an opportunity to come into the trash industry. “I have masters in sports management and sports advertising and now I’m talking trash. I didn’t go to college to get into trash but I love it.”

His position with Waste Pro USA requires Trey to be there five out of seven days but when it counts, he is home with his cattle. “Breeding, embryo work, and calving, I’m there. The trash industry is like the cattle industry, things are never the same, and you never get complacent. Also, it is a service industry, dealing with people day to day just like the cattle industry. Both teach you how to work with people, and deal with different types of personalities.”

Trey’s father, Ricky Cuevas, handles most of the day-today management. “It is always good to have a father there to oversee everything, make sure things are being handled like you want.” Trey employs three full-time guys and in the busy season, will hire four to five day workers. “Finding good help can be hard but luckily we have been good to our guys.”

T3 Brangus runs about 175 fall calving females and roughly 225 spring calving cows and heifers. Trey focuses much of his time studying the best breeding matches for his females, flushing top females, and implanting his own and purchased embryos in his herd. His heifer program is also focused on AI breeding as well. “It is costly, but we see the results in the end, building on good foundations and cultivating the bottom of the triangle of our program. We have been hot and heavy on the embryo work, so we are going to back off a bit to let them succeed on their own, as I believe fertility is the biggest asset for a cow-calf outfit.”

Trey still has pasture breeding rights to Broadway and Tinseltown. “To still have those bulls walk in the pasture it’s always a bonus. We will put embryos in registered females, I can get carried away putting in embryos, so we need really good clean-up bulls.”

They sell cattle through the Salacoa Valley Farms sale, Quail Valley Farms sales, and a number of other Brangus video sales throughout the year. He also will buy quality cattle that he feels will improve his genetics. “If I buy a $20,000 female, I’m thinking, ‘How quickly can I pay her off to make a profit by selling enough progeny to get to making money on her?’”

“T3 Brangus has a good product, I don’t go to these sales with a poor cow, those kind go to the stock yards. Selling cattle is like an oil change, the customer is going to need

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Ricky and Trey Cuevas at their first Brangus sale in 2010.

(continued from page 37) another oil change and if you do a good job he will come back. My family operates a catfish restaurant and my grandfather always told me they will try you one time, if they like it, they will tell everyone and if they don’t like it they will tell everyone,” Trey said.

T3 Brangus traditionally puts up around 1,800-2,000 round bales of hay, but with 2021 being a really wet summer, haying has been more difficult. “We believe in creep feeding our calves, especially during breeding time to get the mothers in the best shape for breeding back.”

They wean on a grass ration and grain to help mature the heifers for breeding. The calves are preconditioned and backgrounded for 45 days and they usually sell a pot load of steers and the low-end of the heifers to a local order buyer and they also sell some through the local sale barns. In addition to the consignment sales, they also sell some private treaty. Trey is interested in maybe retaining ownership of his calves in the future and following them as they are fed and working with the IBBA Commercial Marketing Committee’s feeder program. “The point is to be able to prove that Brangus cattle are heat tolerant and grade well in order to sell them to the public eye. We all need to be collecting the data on the calves and publish how they yield and to see the numbers, so we don’t get docked because of the ear.”

A large part of Trey’s marketing method for his females and bulls is Facebook and social media. Cattle Solutions and Wade Fisher help with videoing and photographing the cattle for specific sales and catalogs. In addition to all his other interests and duties, Trey was recently elected to the Board of Directors with the International Brangus Breeders Association Eastern Region and is also on the Board of the Southeast Brangus Breeders Association.

Trey feels that the key to his success is doing his homework and asking the questions he needs to ask to get it right. “We use a lot of bulls, I used to use the highest selling bulls, but is he great? Yes, but is he proven? No. I need to wait until bulls are proven, I don’t mind being a year behind everyone else, by using bulls that work. The catalogs are full of new bulls, we never hear about the older proven bulls but occasionally I do use some young bulls.”

Trey feels that producers can work to improve their herds. “Watch the bulls through the year and ask breeders what they think of the calves. I don’t believe you only have to buy from one person, if it fits your herd go for it. Just don’t be afraid to ask questions. By breeding to proven bulls you are setting yourself up for less mistakes.”