December 1, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Maternal Plus helps improve ranch’s herd
By CRAIG REED
Online
For the Capital Press
Cattle producers can go
online to angus.org/Perfor-
mance/MaternalPlusInfo.
aspx to learn more about the
Maternal Plus program.
Craig Reed/For the Capital Press
Paul Heberling and Kathy Love check on the condition of the Angus calf crop on their Roseburg, Ore.,
area ranch late this summer. They participate in the American Angus Association’s Maternal Plus
program, sharing detailed information on the cows and their calves.
my cows are today.”
Love and Heberling are
both from dairy and beef
backgrounds in Minnesota.
They moved to Oregon in
1992 to escape the severe
winters of their home state.
Love was a U.S. Postal
Service employee, and He-
berling had a career with the
state Department of Environ-
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On the Cover
Paul Heberling is surrounded by Angus
mother cows while feeding them hay
on his Roseburg, Ore., area ranch. The
ranch is part of the American Angus
Association’s Maternal Plus program,
sharing detailed information on the cows
and their calves in a national database.
mental Quality. Love retired
in 2005 to become a full-time
rancher, and Heberling re-
tired in 2011.
The couple purchased a
few cows after their move
west. They bought “whatev-
er cow was cheap, preferably
with a heifer calf on her.”
Their intention was to build
up to a herd of 20.
In 2002, they were of-
fered three registered An-
gus heifers and they made
the purchase from ranch-
er George Sandberg of
Roseburg.
“A year later, those
three registered cows did
so much better with their
calves than my commercial
cows,” Love said. “After
two years, it was easy to see
the registered Angus were
so superior to the rest of the
cows.”
Love began keeping more
detailed data on her herd, she
registered her young animals
and she kept her registered
heifers. The herd grew to 40
mother cows.
Love and Heberling con-
cluded 40 cows and their
calves would better utilize
and maximize their property.
L17-1/100
of La Grande, Ore., and the
Foss Angus Ranch of Terre-
bonne, Ore. Across the U.S.,
about 160 producers submit
information to Maternal Plus.
“The hope is that if every-
body participates, we can see
how our numbers compare to
the national herds and trends,
how my calves compare to
the national herd,” said Love.
Earlier in her life, Love,
64, was a certified public
accountant who enjoyed
studying data. Now she con-
centrates on the data she
compiles on four-legged an-
imals.
“My herd is now almost
entirely registered Angus cat-
tle, but I still consider myself
primarily a commercial pro-
ducer,” Love said. “It took
me over 20 years, but I am
mostly pleased with where
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L17-3/102
ROSEBURG, Ore. —
Birth weights, weaning
weights and heights, calving
ease, disposition — Kathy
Love records, studies and an-
alyzes all of these numbers
and information for her reg-
istered Angus herd.
Love has been submitting
information on her 40 mother
cows and their calves to the
American Angus Associa-
tion’s Maternal Plus program
since it was established three
years ago. Love and her hus-
band, Paul Heberling, have
been members of the associa-
tion since 2005.
“Maternal Plus helps in
my goals to produce the best
maternal herd I can,” said
Love. “Because I concentrate
on functional traits in the
cow, this program helps me
by saving and analyzing the
data I have collected. I have
been using the program since
it was introduced and I have
been very pleased with the
additional information on my
whole herd and on individual
cows and bulls.
“I get that information
sooner and there are a num-
ber of interesting charts and
graphs that show me where
my herd is going,” she ex-
plained. “I report data on the
entire herd, not just those
I decide to register. I get a
more accurate picture of the
changes in my whole herd
over time and that helps me
plan for the future.”
The Love-Heberling An-
gus herd is one of only three
in Oregon that participate
in Maternal Plus. The other
participants are Daniel Heath
They created 10 pastures and
a rotational grazing schedule
for the animals. Sixteen wa-
ter tanks were set up. Two
springs and a well keep them
filled.
“The
pastures
and
tanks are evenly distribut-
ed throughout the ranch so
we’re using all the land and
are able to have more cows,”
Heberling said. “The ani-
mals don’t have to go more
than a quarter mile to get
water.”
Considering an average
of five heifers a year being
kept back as replacement
cows, the couple discov-
ered providing a load of
35 uniform calves earned
better money.
Most of the Love-He-
berling calves are born in
March. They are weaned in
early September and are sold
a month later, weighing 550
to 650 pounds. Some of the
heifers are sold to an Oro-
ville, Calif., cattle operation,
where they become replace-
ment cows. The rest of the
heifers and steers are sold as
stocker calves for the beef
market.