Genetics, teamwork and innovative marketing are creating a promising program at 4M Black Herefords
LOWELL, ARK. – An unfinished, thousand-piece puzzle of fishing lures lies on the coffee table of the McJunkins home, as rain pours outside the window.
Jigsaw puzzles like this don’t come with instructions, only a vision – and for the McJunkins family, that’s no different than raising cattle. And, just like piecing together a puzzle, raising a niche breed of cattle takes patience, persistence and an understanding of the value of each piece.
At 4M Black Herefords, raising cattle is as much intuition as it is strategy. As Black Herefords find their place in the industry, the McJunkinses are focused on building a reputation of quality. Through genetics, family teamwork and innovative marketing, they’re piecing together a promising program.
Jonathan and Danyelle McJunkins run 4M Black Herefords with their two sons, Jake and Teigan in Lowell, Arkansas. Just outside the hustle and bustle of Northwest Arkansas, the modest operation boasts 25 registered Black Hereford brood cows.
For the past eight years, Jonathan McJunkins has been carefully curating his seedstock herd of registered Black Herefords. With his strategic and entrepreneurial spirit, he is the ideal producer for improving a breed that’s still carving its way into the industry. While some long-time producers may look over into the rolling hills and see a herd of “just black baldies,” in fact, the herd displays a culmination of McJunkins’ well-thought-out breeding program and the careful genetic pairings that create the consistency of his registered Black Herefords.
McJunkins has been involved in agriculture all his life. Between judging and showing in 4-H and FFA and now having a registered herd – cattle have always played a part.
“Judging cattle makes it easier,” he said about his experience in these programs shaping how he runs his operation now.
Being able to look at an animal and quickly identify its most desirable traits is a key aspect in creating consistency down the line. Although his father didn’t make a living from livestock, “he kept us engaged in agriculture and cattle especially,” McJunkins said.
So, why Black Herefords over an established breed?
“It’s the superbreed,” McJunkins said, “it’s an Old English Hereford crossed with a high production Black Angus. You can’t get better than a black baldy. It’s just, ‘how do you get that consistency?’ and that’s where Black Hereford comes in.”
“You can drive through some of our calves and see that bull is throwing the exact same calf, and it hardly matters what the dam is. I think that’s where Black Herefords are getting their name – just the consistency out of the sires,” McJunkins said.
The Black Hereford is a hardy, docile and sustainable breed. Strategic genetic selection plays an integral part in creating the consistency and quality in offspring that 4M Black Herefords strive to achieve. By manipulating both phenotype and genotype, the McJunkins are focusing on improving the quality of ribeye, docile nature, calving ease and weaning growth.
There’s no doubt the focus on herd genetics plays a key role in the farm’s success, but McJunkins isn’t the only one adding a piece to the genetics puzzle at 4M. Danyelle shares a deep appreciation for how genetics contribute to a strong program through her work raising French Bulldogs, a breed that requires a high level of genetic understanding. Proper genetic selection is essential in improving structure and health to produce quality animals in both species.
Even though they’ve both made great strides in improving their stock, McJunkins said he would tell his younger self to “spend the money and buy the right genetics first. Don’t try to grow it, it takes too long, you spend more. Go out and spend double on that bull.”
While McJunkins oversees herd management decisions like breeding, health and feed – like grinding and rationing their own feed, Danyelle keeps up with record keeping and marketing. The kids have jobs too – Jake maintains the daily feedings and head counts, while little Teigan is responsible for naming new calves.
And you can’t forget about the frustrations of good family corral working. “You’ll never forget those situations,” McJunkins said, “just trying to figure out how to work different groups of cattle with speed – everybody’s got a different job than they did last time. It’s teamwork really, more than anything.”
While the McJunkinses’ teamwork and strong herd genetics create a nearly seamless operation, Danyelle’s innovative marketing tactics show buyers how well the pieces come together at 4M Black Herefords.
“We did our best on TikTok this year – she sold three bulls in a week,” McJunkins said.
Although Facebook gains a little traction, TikTok’s algorithm creates a space where 4M can reach a widespread audience quickly. Due to the increased exposure this year, “we had folks fighting over bulls,” McJunkins said, “It was nice to work for so long and have something be demanded.”
According to McJunkins, it’s not just the quality of the stock that sells their cattle, it’s the person doing the marketing too. While Danyelle’s primary focus might be marketing her bulldog litters, the same process of posting frequent updates as stock grows and throwing up live streams in the field has worked well for the cattle too.
“What you see is people like to follow a bull,” McJunkins said, and Danyelle makes that happen.
Not only does this kind of innovative marketing lead to more sales, but it builds relationships too – a fundamental piece of building a trusted brand. This is especially true for a brand with its sights set on producing enough stock to warrant its own production sale.
In the end, it’s not just the genetics, teamwork or the marketing that make a registered program work – it’s knowing how each piece fits together. Not every piece is obvious at first, but with time, patience and the right perspective, the McJunkinses are building something worth standing back and admiring. They’re certainly a family with an eye for the bigger picture.
