As the bitter cold of winter descends upon farmlands, dread creeps into the minds of some farmers. The cost of extra feed and hay, the worry of calving in frigid temperatures or the trouble of breaking ice on frozen ponds can all add stress to cattlemen this time of year. But Dave Loftin skates through winter with relative ease. He attributes his less-stressful winters to his Beefmaster cattle and his low-input farming philosophy.
Dave, his two brothers and his father, all work together to run Loftin Beefmasters. The family owns 125 acres in Reeds Spring, Mo., and Dave owns 10 acres in Nixa, Mo., where he weans calves and keeps open heifers. The Loftin’s have been hooked on the Beefmaster breed for 25 years. Developed in the 1930s in South Texas by a man named Tom Lasater, Beefmaster cattle are a cross between Hereford, Shorthorn and Brahman. The cattle were chosen by using the six essentials; weight, conformation, fertility, hardiness, milk productivity and disposition. “Beefmasters will give you the best of both worlds. They have a really good momma cow and the crossbred heifers are some of the best heifers you will ever find. They will also give you a really good steer for you to sell at the feedlot,” said Dave.
The size of the Loftins’ herd has varied through the years. They ran a high of 35 momma cows at one point and now are at a low of 10 momma cows. The consecutive droughts of 2011 and 2012 hit their operation hard. “I didn’t want to get into debt, carrying the cattle, even though we spent years developing the bloodlines,” said Dave. The family decided the best avenue for their farm was to retrench. They sold the bulk of their older cows and kept young cows and heifers. Their goal was to rebuild with a lower-maintenance herd. “We really wanted to concentrate on the low-input of things, because Beefmasters will do it for you. And then I’m not out of pocket buying a lot of feed or dewormers,” said Dave. In fact, the Loftins rarely use chemicals to protect their animals from worms, their goal is building a herd that can sustain without it. Dave also says they only keep heifers that show a natural resistance to flies, a trait that goes back to the Beefmaster foundation herd. He also relies on another farm animal to keep flies at bay. “My fly control is chickens, they will scratch out the cow pies and then the fly larvae doesn’t hatch,” said Dave. The chickens eat the fly larvae. Dave said this gives his chickens protein and a vivid yellow color to their eggs.
The Loftins do not feed their momma cows any grain. When Dave weans his calves he gives them two to three pounds of grain just to keep them bucket trained. Dave said his Beefmasters can thrive without a lot of additional grain and supplements. When snow covers the ground, he feeds, “the cheapest fescue hay he can find.” But even then, Dave said his Beefmasters don’t need it to flourish. “Last month when we had 10 inches of snow on the ground I put a round bale of hay out for them in a ring and they never touched it. I saw them rooting in the grass, as long as the snow wasn’t as deep as their eyes, they would root around and come up with a mouthful of grass out of the snow,” said Dave.
The Loftins’ AI their cows to bulls that display a good disposition and are a solid color; either red or black. But most importantly Dave searches for a bull that will produce calves that fit into his farm plan. “I look for bulls that are from ranches that use a low-input philosophy. I try not to get one that has been pampered, raised that way, and his momma raised that way. So I look back on the history of the bull,” added Dave.
Busy work and life schedules force the Loftin family to choose this low-input farming philosophy. For years Dave traveled as a lighting and design consultant for large churches and theaters. He currently works at the Branson Convention Center as the Convention Services Director.
Through the years Dave has figured out what works best for his cattle operation by checking out other farms. “The most important thing I have learned is to go visit as many breeders as you can… and learn as much about the different operations as you can, because if you visit 50 ranches you will find 50 different ways of doing things,” said Dave. He advises pinpointing the things that will work for you and then adapting those things to your farm in order to achieve the most efficient operation possible.
