Operations Manager: Jared Wareham
Location: Lowry City, Mo.
History: “A group of us worked together on an informal basis for years and borrowed an idea from another company that used a slotting system where the number of slots determined the percent of ownership,” explained operations manager Jared Wareham of the co-op. “We like to the organizational idea and developed our version to create a genetics production and marketing system for registered bulls and commercial bred heifers. An advantage of the slot system is that belonging is not determined by the size of the prospective owner’s operation meaning a group of owners of diverse sizes could market under a single brand: New Day Genetics. Another advantage of using slots is that the company structure is flexible so that opportunity continually exists for new owners to join. The charter group hatched the idea in 2014 and became an LLC in Missouri in 2015.”
Procedures: “The heart of the operation is staying connected to our customers so we know what they need and how to better fulfill those needs by supplying what we call X Factor range ready bull and bred heifer hybrids. Our primary breeds are Angus, Red Angus and Simmental, with 80 percent of our production being hybrids and 20 percent purebreds. Experimentation is an ongoing developmental process with custom-made bulls for larger customers being a new offering. Current experimentation is investigating secondary genetic contribution from Balancers and Brahmas. Production methods among the owners are similar with individual differences determined by the owners land, facilities and personal organization. Nonetheless, the goal is the same: superior ranch ready cattle for fescue country. Marketing is the single most overlooked aspect of many cattle operations. Ranchers understand and are ready to invest in genetics which makes sense. However, an equal amount of sweat equity and customer service needs to be invested in marketing. Methods of marketing need to be sensitive to changes in customer habits for identifying where they purchase breeding stock.”
Philosophy and Future: “Our philosophy is to be box free. We will continue to brainstorm genetics, procedures and marketing as we strive to meet constant changes in the industry and customer needs. A current and seemingly long-term modification is reaching customers through social media because even cattlemen are on Facebook. While the average age of the owner may be rising, schools are heavily populated with young people wanting to enter the industry while others have newly entered. We need to be reaching those people through social media while continuing to reach the core majority through more conventional methods. Although we are becoming Facebook ninjas, we never forget that the core of everything is face-to-face contact with people and constantly refine our customer service to best meet needs. We further anticipate an increase in our made-to-order bulls option and in our market area which is now Arkansas and Missouri. Currently we are developing an outreach to Virginia, another fescue state, and anticipating development in other parts of the country.”
