The Sugg family has a long history in Carroll County, arriving in the 1800s. The Hereford breed arrived when Jeff Sugg’s grandfather first introduced them onto their farm near Berryville, Ark., in the 1950s. Since then, Herefords have been their cattle of choice. The family has seen the breed improve over the years and by using good breeding and genetics, they continue to improve their herd.
The breed exhibits traits of being market ready at an early age and has good finishing ability. Through the years, Hereford breeders have enhanced the fertility, reproductive performance, disposition and crossbreeding advantages of their cattle.
It’s those very characteristics that cause Jeff to retain registered Herefords. It’s not just because of his family’s long history with the breed. He said, “Their gainability and feed conversion ratio and their ability to cross with so many other breeds,” make them desirable.
The Suggs try to maintain a herd of 100 registered cows. They use both AI and several herd bulls for breeding. They breed for spring calving, which begins in mid-February. They sell most of their registered cattle as bulls, with some breeding heifers sold as well. Jeff said, “We raise and sell commercial heifers and registered heifers and we sell 25 to 30 registered bulls a year, just private treaty, off-the-farm.”
It takes the entire Sugg family to work the farm. The Sugg farm consists of 997 owned and 1,000 rented acres with some in timber.
The Sugg Family, in addition to their registered Hereford herd, also raises a commercial herd of over 200 momma cows. They sell some commercial heifers for breeding, but most of the herd is backgrounded and sold as truckloads off-the-farm. Jeff said, “We’ve got a good base – don’t have any trouble selling our bulls, just mainly from reputation. We try to treat people right and be honest about it. People appreciate that. Most of them are repeat buyers.”
The Suggs also have four chicken houses where they raise broilers for Tyson. Jeff hires no outside help. He and his wife, Missy, work full time on the farm. Their three children have chores, too. Jeff and Missy agree that the farm is a great place to raise kids. Adam is 18, Emily is 16 and youngest son Luke is 13. Adam laughs and says they’re “slave labor,” but adds that it’s not so bad because he has his own truck.
With the Sugg family’s love and history with the Hereford breed and three generations of the family still living on the place, it looks like the land will be producing registered Herefords for a long time.
