Working Ranch Magazine - Index

Working Ranch Magazine - magazine - Index

DO YOU KNOW WHAT
YOUR CUSTOMER WANTS?
Seedstock suppliers who are interested
in improving customer service
should start by getting to know the
feeding industry and make sure that
they have a clear understanding of
what their customers need.
“It is important to supply what your
customers want,” says Gill, “but it is
also important to understand that the
commercial rancher’s only customers
are the order buyers and feedlots.
Ranchers must make a product the
feeders want or their buyer will go
somewhere else next time to find it. So
we do all we can to make a product that
meets both the feeding industry and
the rancher’s requirements on grass.”
Gill Red Angus has always believed
that if you want to be in this business,
you need to raise a top quality product.
“As a seed stock producer we
won’t use a bull because of his popularity,
or because it’s a fad, or if he
excels in only one or two traits” says
Gill. Before they will use a bull they
must see his dam. If she isn’t what
they want their cowherd to look like,
88 |WORKING RANCH | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008
they are simply not interested.
By following these rules the company’s
cowherd is deep bodied, easy fleshing,
thick and athletic. It takes 25 acres
per cow to run her for a year at their
ranch. These cows travel up the Grand
River breaks to eat and back down
again to drink. They winter graze and
are not fed any hay unless the weather
takes a turn for the worse. The last three
years, Gill Red Angus has only needed
to feed their cows a total of two weeks.
“By breeding and running our cows
this way, we feel that their sons
should sire the same type of easy
fleshing females for our customers as
their dams are for us” says Gill.
SOLD!… TO GILL RED ANGUS
One way to keep tabs on the quality
of your own product and to maintain
good relationships with customers
is to buy their calves. This
allows you to assess the offspring of
your bulls and to help your customers
get maximum selling price.
Gill Red Angus also gathers information
on the purchased calves, such as
carcass and feeding results. They then
Gill Red Angus is located near Timber Lake, South Dakota. The ranch
is a family run business led by Larry and Janet Gill, along with sons
Bryan, Brent and Kenny Gill. They began running registered Red
Angus in 1979, and today the cowherd numbers around 350 registered
cows with 100 replacement heifers ranging on over 12,000 acres of pasture
and hay ground. They have bull sales in the fall and spring, selling 90
head of coming two-year-old bulls and 150 commercial bred heifers in the
fall, and 60 yearling and 18-month-old bulls along with customer’s
replacement heifers in the spring.
take this data back to the original
owner and consult with them on how
the calves performed and what they
can do to help improve next year’s calf
crop. The company keeps this info on
file and gives it to potential buyers the
next time that customer sells.
Keeping track of customers and their
calves keeps Gill Red Angus busy, and a
member of the Gill family is at a sale
nearly every day come fall. Whenever
possible, the Gill’s try to purchase customer’s
calves in a full load or try to
arrange it so customers can co-mingle
their calves to form a load. This allows
them to additionally increase the selling
price of their customer’s calves.
Overall, improving customer service
has had a positive impact on Gill
Red Angus’ business and, though it
involves a large time commitment, it
is well worth it. Developing good relationships
with customers has helped
them to maintain a high quality product
and build a strong reputation in
the seedstock supply industry.
“We’ve learned that two factors are
very important to our customers and
to building and maintaining our reputation,”
says Gill, “… having a quality
product and treating your customers
the way we would like to be treated.”
Good advice for us all.
The Gill registered Red Angus cattle make a pretty good living on 12,000 acres of prime South Dakota grassland and hay pasture that has it all
… plenty of feed, shelter and good water. It takes 25 acres per cow to run her for a year on this outfit, and the cows must travel up the Grand
River breaks to eat and then back down again to drink. During the winter grazing period they are not fed any hay unless the weather takes a
turn for the worse.