8 minute read
Balance Builds Business
Balance Builds Business by B. Lynn Gordon
photos courtesy Delaney Herefords
Delaney Herefords takes a balanced approach to breeding cattle.
In Southwestern Minnesota, just a stone’s throw away from the South Dakota border, and surrounded by productive row cropland is one of the nation’s top Hereford breeders and hardest working ranch families you will meet.
Jerry and Shelly Delaney and their family, sons Marty, Michael, Nick, and daughters Katie and Jaci are devoted to the Hereford breed and wouldn’t have it any other way. “Hereford was and is our choice,” says Jerry, who grew up with Herefords when his dad, the wellknown and one-of-kind, Jack ‘Pops’ Delaney introduced Jerry to the registered cattle industry. Jack started his long run in the Hereford business in 1936 when his first Hereford heifer received a purple ribbon at the Minnesota State 4-H Show. The establishment of Delaney Herefords, Inc., Lake Benton, MN, began in 1969 when Jack and his wife, Dorothy, and their six children chartered their way in the purebred cattle industry and built the Delaney name which today is synonymous with high-quality Hereford genetics.
Changing Terrain
Familiar with their pastureland being surrounded by quality soybean and corn crops, they now see the rolling hillsides speckled as far as one can see with large wind turbines. More than 200 turbines have been built on and along the Buffalo Ridge, where Delaney Herefords calls home. The uniqueness of the higher elevation found in this region became a perfect place for wind-generated power because of the consistent and higher-level winds that pass through the area. This added wind, along with 25 inches of rainfall and about 36 inches of annual snowfall, adds an extra wrinkle in the management of a cow herd. Sons Michael and Marty, work in the wind energy industry but help out with chores, working cattle, harvesting, and other busy times around the farm. Daughter, Katie, is busy as managing editor of The Stockman magazine and raises Angus cattle with her husband and daughter Jaci, lives on a nearby farm, and assists with the extra preparations during sales, field days, and special events. Shelly often finds the kitchen table full when her children regularly stop by for her delicious home-cooked meals.
-Jerry Delaney of Delaney Herefords Inc.
The Delaney and Atkins families together in the Yards in Denver. below (l-r) Nick, Michael, Marty with parents Shelly and Jerry Delaney.
“Herefords fit the best in our unpredictable environment. They need to be hardy, fleshy and be able to adapt to the sub-zero winter temperatures and mud we deal with in the spring,” says Jerry. Nick, who is full-time on the ranch, commented the past two years has been more difficult than usual for cow/calf production in the upper Midwest having to fight mother nature and the curveballs she continues to throw. “The Hereford cow sure has the opportunity to shine in these times,” says Nick.
Pulling together enough grassland to calve out 185 females and managing 1,500 acres of cropland, where the focus is to provide feed for the herd primarily, keeps the Delaney’s busy. But this doesn’t change their focus on sound, efficient, fertile females from cow families who must prove themselves to remain in the herd and produce a calf with both performance and eye-appeal.
Female Foundation
The Delaney’s have a keen focus and stringent culling practices to build foundation genetics jointly with their long-time partners, Pete and Laura Atkins, Atkins Herefords, Tea, S.D. “We couldn’t ask for better partners, with the same passion for this breed and good cattle as we have,” says Jerry. “They have been instrumental in the overall success of our program.”
JDH AH Ms 34X Victor 33Z 45C ET is the leading cow in their donor program. 45C topped the 2016 National Western Stock Show Mile High Sale selling for $62,500, and her siblings and offspring continue to make a difference. Full brother, AH JDH Munson 15E ET, a member of their 2018 Carload and Junior Bull Calf Division Champion in Denver is carrying on the quality line of genetics.
Childhood friends and business partners, Jerry Delaney and Pete Atkins pull no punches about keeping each other in check.
A daughter and son of 45C also sold in the 2019 Mile High Sale and another brother and sister duo will be their 2020 sale features. Three of her sons will make up their stout pen of 3 entry for the upcoming January event. “Her sons are probably the best we have ever produced, and they will also be lead-off bulls in our January 2020 bull sale,” says Nick. 45C and Munson are representative of the outstanding herd sire JDH Victor 719T 33Z ET that is now also proving himself in the AHA’s young sire test program, demonstrating he has more than just phenotypic style but also performance.
JDH AH Ms 34X Victor 33Z45C ET is currently the lead donor in the Delaney program. She has left her mark, producing cattle that satisfy the needs of purebred and commercial breeders alike.
-Jerry Delaney, Delaney Herefords Inc.
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Embryo transfer is extensively incorporated into the program allowing for the ability to build on maternal strengths of cows like 45C and other leading females. About 25% of the calves born annually are the result of embryo transfer, but their focus doesn’t deviate from a high producing cowherd with balance.
Standout Sires
Like 33Z, AH JDH Cracker Jack 26U ET put Delaney Herefords on the map. “33Z and Cracker Jack, have had huge impacts in other herds through A.I., and offspring purchased from these sires. Offspring of these sires went on to do good things for other breeders,” says Jerry. “Progeny from Cracker Jack won the triple crown according to Nick, taking championship honors at Denver, the Junior National, and American Royal in the same show season.
At the National Western Stock Show, Delaney Herefords exhibited the 2015 Grand Champion Carload of Hereford Bulls and have had Reserve Champion Carload in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019 and Champion Pen of Heifers in 2018.
JDH Victor 719T 33Z ET
AH JDH Munson 15E ET
The depth of Delaney genetics is most evident in their consistent success in the National Western Stock Show Carload Division. For the past ten years, they have ex- hibited a Carload (10 bulls) in this highly competitive division. Exhibiting a solid, high-performing set of bulls, excelling in WDA, EPDS, eye-appeal, and structure, year after year for a decade is a feat in itself. “We don’t have a large cowherd in numbers, so picking 10 bulls out to represent our genetics and be competitive brings us great pride,” says Jerry.
Jerry recalls exhibiting a carload of Horned Hereford bulls in 1978 or 1979 back when he was still in high school and made the trip with his dad and brother John. For several decades Delaney Herefords competed in both Polled and Horned divisions, and they have stood the test of time. “Some of the big ranches that exhibited over the years have dispersed or retired, but we are still in it, now with the next generation. This has allowed us to gain and keep that pen on the main alley in Denver,” says Jerry, which helps with marketability because customers can find us easily and know we are always in the same place.”
AH JDH Cracker Jack 26U ET
Marketing Matters
The National Western Stock Show has been a very successful marketing tool, and they have chosen to build off the momentum they gain about their breeding program in Denver and moving their annual bull sale up from April to January five years ago. Their annual bull sale features 40 deep quality, high performing bulls along with 40 bred females.
Delaney Herefords and Atkins Herefords will host their 10th Annual Sale on January 27, 2020 at the farm in Lake Benton. Leaving a legacy and a foundation for the next generation is the mission at Delaney Herefords.
“Our entire focus is on balance, we take a balanced approach on performance and genomic numbers along with phenotype,” says Nick. “Our customers need a fleshy, high performing bull because when they sell their calves in the fall, they get paid on pounds, so pounds still matter,” says Jerry. However, he states, we offer that without giving up structure, disposition, and eye-appeal. Herefords have always walked their pastures in southwestern Minnesota, because of the value of a Hereford bull when used on an Angus cow to allow commercial customers to get that added paycheck from hybrid vigor, along with opening up the doors for increased carcass weight, ribeye size and potential qualification for Certified Hereford Beef® Program.
The Delaney’s also host an annual online fall female sale featuring ten elite heifer calves targeted to junior members or herds looking for that outstanding maternal power. Gaining visibility through other market outlets include being long-time members of the Minnesota Hereford Association, regular exhibitors at the Minnesota State Fair, South Dakota State Fair, and Minnesota Beef Expo, as well as consigners to the Go-Pher the Purple sale, since its inception. Jerry and Shelly’s children were active in the National Junior Hereford Association, competing at the Junior National Expo, state junior shows, and 4-H. “We don’t have a junior member of age right now,” says Shelly, “but we have a whole new crop of grandchildren that will be representing the Delaney clan again soon.”
Trendsetters
Understanding the Hereford breed has followed trends in the beef industry, some of which Delaney’s have been sure to value, especially those that will pay off for their customers. “We have actively incorporated genomically enhanced EPDS into our program, because they return so much value by telling us accuracy in a shorter period of time,” says Jerry. “The AHA’s Baldy Maternal Index (BMI) and new sustained cow fertility (SCF) EPD are good tools we can use to get a better handle on marketability, and maternal influence,” says Nick.
Michael, Jerry, Nick, and Marty Delaney during clean-up of the original show barn. High winds took down the barn in July of 2017 and a fire, just days later, took what was left, including the majority of Delaney’s show tack.
With a rich history in the Hereford breed, Jerry and Shelly Delaney and family are carrying forward what they have learned ver the years, passing on their knowledge, work ethic, and vision to the next generation, and the end result will be long term viability for Delaney Herefords.
learn more delaneyherefords.com
The Delaney Herefords/Atkins Herefords joint bull sale will be he January 27, 2020 at the Delaney Herefords Sale Barn, near Lake Benton, MN. Turn to page 27 for additional sale information.
