Fostering Family and Following the Science – Bradshaw-Weiss Angus
“It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.” – John Grogan once said about animals. Animals, they say, are great for families, and no one knows that better than Scott Weiss and Erin Bradshaw Weiss of Aubrey, Texas.
The renowned exhibitors are widely known for sharing their love of horses, particularly one world-famous Tobiano stallion named John Simon, with their daughter, Jessie. In fact, their photos of Jessie and “John” have gone viral since Jessie has clearly inherited horse-crazy gene from her parents.
So it was only natural for them to continue to expose Jessie to the wonderful world of animals, including their latest venture into raising registered Black Angus cattle, Bradshaw-Weiss Angus.
“It’s really cool to see what horses and cattle can do for kids,” explains Scott, who says both he and Erin grew up exposed to agriculture and animals. “As a whole, this has reopened my mind to the hands-on 4-H and FFA gives the kids.”
Case in point – the Weiss family has a bottle calf in the barn, due to a dam that passed away when the baby was five days old, and three-year-old Jessie has taken over the role of bottle feeding the calf in the barn (see photo on the right).
In fact, Bradshaw-Weiss Angus is indeed a family-run business, also involving Terry and Tammy Bradshaw, since Terry has raised registered Angus since 1972, and Scott reveals their love for the cattle industry is a common bond. “I just love the animals, and Terry is the same way – it’s Terry, Tammy, Erin, Jessie, and I all doing it together,” he says.
Terry explains, “It’s always great when we can instill in our kids and/or grandkids a love for livestock. No better place to spend time together.”
Besides, Scott says – beef feeds the world, and he wanted to be part of something that matters around the globe. “Beef is necessary, and at the end of the day, running a commercial or registered herd can be sold for cash in at price per pound- they can be taken to a sale barn or sold private treaty, but there’s cash value. Our end goal is to create prime beef, and 90 percent of our bulls produce prime.”
The Science of It All
When people breed horses, there’s no doubt emotion can come into play – after all, the way horses make us feel remains a powerful factor in our love of the equine.
The amazing aspect of raising cattle, even though it’s clearly also a labor of love, surrounds science, which is so much more prevalent in raising cattle when compared to raising horses.
“We IVF, we flush embryos, and we are able to see the ribeye size and marbling at weaning age through carcass ultrasound – it all comes back to science,” Scott explains. “We’re searching for the one percentile animal, and when I pull a blood or a tissue sample when they’re calves, I can get the EPD back and see the one percent. That’s the neat thing to me about the cattle; you’re not going with a judging standpoint with the cattle, we can improve the herd with special genetics. You can see the return they bring through the science.”
EPDs are “expected progeny differences,” more technology that has been used to improve beef cattle for approximately four decades, according to Penn State Extension. They’re predictions of desired traits in the herd, using data from producers, performance results, DNA, and more.
The science Scott mentions boils down to this statement from Penn State Extension, “When a producer buys a young bull that has GE-EPDs, he is buying with the same level of confidence in that animal as one that has already sired between 10 and 36 calves, depending on the trait. In this way, GE-EPDs increase accuracy in those animals much earlier in their lives.”
Scott adds, “When we pull DNA, on a baby, or on an individual, you get that printout back, from the American Angus Association, it does give you a pretty good idea of what you’ll get. It’s all very logical and black-and-white, and we have to be as up to date as possible. In the horse show world, people may go back and breed to older studs, but in the cattle industry, bulls are outdated very quickly.”
He also explains Terry got Scott hooked on the registered aspect. “It’s very addicting to see how fast one can improve genetics,” he says. Terry agrees, explaining that “Studying the genetics is fascinating to me! The goal is to get as many 1%’s as possible!”
A Family-Friendly Endeavor
Besides, the industry is not only scientifically appealing, but it is accessible, with reasonable stud fees -a dose of semen can be $50 or $75, Scott reveals – enabling an average family to own cattle.
“There are a few different sale companies, but you can watch an Angus sale most every night of the week, the amount of money in the cattle industry is tremendous, and it’s not working off an emotion,” explains Scott. “It keeps me busy, since Terry has a feed lot at his place in St. Jo, and we have a feed lease together, and I run some heifers in Aubrey as well. But once they’re vaccinated, they’re easy, and I can still have it with my horse training business. They don’t take a toll on the body the way the horses do.”
The Weiss family says they’ve also found the cattle industry to be extremely welcoming, and the community to be helpful, supportive, and its people invaluable. That includes Terry’s ranch manager, Chad Wing, who Scott says is his go-to for help. “He’s my right hand man for this and has been for Terry for 30 years. He has helped me tremendously; he knows the cattle and is a great friend to me – not just an employee.”
Looking Forward
As Bradshaw-Weiss Angus continues toward the goal of creating great beef, they’ll create breeding/seed stock herds of bulls and heifers, aiming for the cream of the crop.
“If I am going to raise cattle and have a limited herd, I want to have the best of the best,” says Terry, who added the prominent bull G A R Combustion, the lot 1 bull in the spring 2019 Gardiner Angus Ranch Sale, to his herd after the sale. (https://selectsiresbeef.com/bull/angus/g-a-r-combustion/)
To meet their goal, they’ll create bulls and heifers for commercial cattlemen to read EPDs from and buy, utilizing private treaty sales, and giving the cattle a good life in the meantime, and they plan on selling beef quarters, halves and wholes.
Scott concludes, “When COVID hit, people were selling off their herds, grain prices went up, fertilizer went up, and who knows how long the auction and sale prices will stay up – but it’s nice to be able to see farmers and ranchers collect on beef prices at an all-time high, and the demand for beef is bigger than ever.”
Private treaty sales are available at all times for Bradshaw-Weiss Angus by contacting Scott Weiss: 515-779-4397.
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Visit this website with information about the bull Terry bought in 2019: G A R Combustion, who is located at their cattle lease in Saint Jo, Texas, and learn what EPD results look like:
https://selectsiresbeef.com/bull/angus/g-a-r-combustion/
