meet your neighbors Photo by Julie Turner-Crawford
All in with Longhorns By Julie Turner-Crawford
J Bar J Longhorns focus on improving the genetics of its growing registered herd After retiring, Rusty Clark was looking for something to do. He had spent a career in the marine industry, but it was time to try something new, something different. “I have always been intrigued by Longhorns,” Rusty said. “One day, I was visiting a friend who had Longhorns, and I thought I needed to get one, a trophy steer; one of those steers people drive by and look at. I got one, and he just stood out there in the pen. My wife said he needed company, so I bought four heifers and a bull.” That was in 2009, and Rusty and his wife JoAnne now have about 50 head of registered Longhorns on their Camden County, Mo., farm, outside of Richland. “I’ve always done things I know nothing about,” Rusty said. “Learning is good for me. I don’t know everything, but I have learned a lot. They are incredible animals. Each one has its own
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personality. I enjoy going out in the field Rusty purchases outside cattle to help and talking to them, and you never have create the genetic diversity he wants to an argument.” achieve in his herd, but he has some of A trait that appeals to Rusty is the diver- his foundation females, which he said sity within the Longhorn breed. will never leave the farm. Rusty took a “They aren’t all the same color,” he said. chance with two embryos sired by one “When you look out in the pasture, you of those top-selling bulls and implanted see different colors and not just a bunch them into Angus recips. of black cows.” “I got a heifer and a bull coming,” J Bar J Longhorns is a seedstock produc- Rusty said, adding that the two sires are er and works to grow and develop trophy homozygous black and white, which is horn animals. the current popular color pattern. “The horns are really where the value is. Rusty said conception rates with emPedigrees are a big deal,” Rusty said, add- bryos and AI have been meager or have ing that half ownership of two failed in the past, so the use of those of the top Longhorn sires in practices is limited. the country, which are sire “I have never had an embryo and son, recently sold for a take in a Longhorn,” he said, combined $500,000. “You can adding that AI is more time conbuy pedigrees or you can raise suming than natural breeding them; I want to raise them.” and still utilizes a clean-up Richland, Mo. In addition to retaining heifers bull. The J Bar J bull battery and some bulls, gives Rusty the diversity he is Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com
looking for within his herd, so he likes to let nature take its course. While Angus are known for easy calving, Rusty said the Longhorn beats the breed, hands down. “We have to watch it,” Rusty said of his recip females. “An Angus will only dilate to 90 cm, whereas a Longhorn will dilate to 120, so you seldom have to pull a calf; I haven’t pulled one in 15 years. I have a neighbor who said if I ever had trouble to call him because he as everything we need. I have not the first inkling how to do it.” The maternal traits of a Longhorn are very strong. “They will hide their babies,” Rusty said. “I have thought a calf died because I couldn’t find it for four or five days, and I look hard for those calves. The next thing you know, there it.” J Bar J’s calving season is mainly in the spring, but Rusty has made some adjustments. “In Texas and down south, they like to birth in the fall, so you have to be careful when bringing in a cow because you don’t want it to birth in the winter here,” he said. “I like my calves in March or April, but I will have some August and September calves this year. I breed at 18 or 19 months, but I had a nice set of heifers I didn’t want to wait until June to breed. That would have been six months lost.” When purchasing cattle from outside the Ozarks, Rusty brings them in the spring, which gives the animals time to acclimate to the Ozarks weather before the winter chill starts. Longhorns also adapt well to forages in the Ozarks. “Fescue is about all I have,” Rusty said, adding there is also some Timothy and Ladino and red clover in his pastures. “I brush hog once the seeds come out. The seeds bother their eyes, and that’s where the toxicity comes from.” The herd, however, is not fond of clover but will eat it in the hay, which he bales from his 192-acre farm. His rotational grazing also allows Rusty to manage forges well and easily move cattle. Genetics are an essential part of Longhorn breeding programs, but Rusty said the Longhorns are a little behind other breeds. “There aren’t a lot of people who MAY 23, 2022
