They buy bulls from Gardiner Angus, principally on their carcass EPDs, looking for positive ribeye and marbling and negative fat. “And then we look for the Dollars in Beef to be 45 or higher. We're a little less demanding on milk, testicle size and those things because we've got a pretty good basis for them in the genetics of the cow herd,” Reeves says. They also focus on birthweight, trying to keep it below 70-75 lbs. for their heifers and 80 for the cows.

And then, they work to make sure their calves have every opportunity to show their full genetic potential, including keeping a positive nutrition level from conception until the day they're shipped.

“Years ago, we studied holistic resource management, and we've just kept trying to tune that up better and better,” Betsy says. They also studied low-stress cattle handling under Bud Williams.

“We fenced the ranch into 100-acre segments with electric wire. The cows get moved every few days, and it's such a peaceful way. When we're ready to move the cows, all we have to do is go down there, holler at the cows, open the gate and they march right through. So it's very low stress on the cows and low stress on the people,” Betsy adds.

And the high-intensity rotational grazing has dramatically improved the quantity and nutritional quality of the grass. That's positive for carcass traits, as research shows that marbling can be affected by a calf's nutritional level long before it arrives at the feedyard. Plus, calm cattle just perform better. “There's definitely an advantage,” Reeves says of low-stress cattle handling, “that yields benefits down the road.”

Betsy agrees, but says they still have a ways to go. “We're not quite satisfied, but we're pleased with the path we're on,” she says. Their goal, Reeves says, is to produce carcasses that grade 90% Choice.

“We're 20% below that, and we'd like to have no Yield Grade 4s. Ultimately, a carcass that could be a Yield Grade 2, maybe a few 3s,” he adds.

They're confident they'll get there. “This will be the first year to have electronic IDs (EID) in all the cows, so we can just wand them as they go through the chute,” Betsy says. “We can really get the screws down tight on all the details on the cows and carry that through to their heifers. Then we can plug the information that comes back from USPB in to the cows and see the whole picture with great ease.” They'll also put EID tags in all the calves born this year to allow them to match records more effectively.

Hands has developed an index that uses the relationship between feedlot performance and carcass performance. “We rank every animal in that pen, one to 100. And we encourage the producer to not worry so much about the top end, but find out why these are at the bottom and see if you can eliminate that.”

The Browns are now poised to do that much more efficiently. “We just made a major investment in the Cow Sense® program to keep feedlot records and be able to tie it back to the cow herd,” Reeves says. That's something he admits they haven't done as good a job with as they could, because it had to be done manually. “Now we're getting to the point where we can afford to cull a little more on the feedlot and carcass performance.”

That combination of progressive thinking and hard work is paying off. Reeves says that selling on a quality-based grid always yields them a price premium because they're hitting the industry's quality benchmarks.

“Their quality grade is at least double what it was their first year,” Hands says, “and I'd say they are meeting or exceeding the (feedlot) performance they had before, as well. And health is just not an issue with their cattle any more.”

The Browns look back on that time in the late '90s with a mixture of dismay and relief. The dismay came from the realization — in black and white, with a dollar sign attached to the front end — that their genetics weren't matched up with the quality-based grids USPB offered. The relief came later, when they set themselves and their 650-head 3R Ranch down a path that is leading them to better management, better genetics and a bigger paycheck.

“It fits in the scheme of trying to do things up to the best,” Reeves says. “It's an ingrained passion with me; I guess it's one of those things you're taught when you grow up, to try to improve and be a good steward.”

He says it's important, necessary even, for cow-calf producers to keep the consumer in mind as they make their management decisions. “And it's rewarded. Who knows what will happen (with the ranch) in the next hands. But at least it will serve our souls better to know we did it like we think is right.”