The Manzano Difference

Why do we say the “Manzano Difference”?

Fertile

Thirty years of selection for moderate milk, fleshing-ease, and fertility has built a cow herd that gets bred even when things are tough. In 2019, 97.6 % of our cows were bred, including first calf heifers, despite only receiving 50 % of our annual moisture. In 2022 we had an exceptional year for moisture and nearly 98 % of cows bred up

Efficient

In our country a mature cow should wean about 50 percent of her body weight. Cows that wean a lot more than that usually are too milky and end up open or late. Cows that wean a lot less than that are too big, eat too much and don’t give you enough calf.

Moderate

There are a lot of GIANT Angus cows. Our cows weighed 1156 pounds in a dry 2019 and in the last couple of wetter years they have averaged closer to 1225 pounds. Study after study show small cows to be more profitable than big cows. Commercial cattlemen don’t need bulls out of 1500+ lb cows. The balance needs to be found as to have moderate cows that raise good performing offspring.

Performance

Our customers routinely sell calves in the fall that weigh over 600 lbs and finish cattle that efficiently grow to 1400 lbs. Again, we strive for a balance between cow size and performance.

Reliable Calving Ease

Consistency is important in calving ease bulls. We stack proven calving ease genetics together and breed for shorter gestation lengths. We also strive for easy-calving females without being big framed. We calve our heifers on pasture and check them daily (not hourly), just like many of our customers.

Practical Selection

Feet, Udders and Disposition: We are constantly evaluating, selecting and culling to prevent problems for our customers.

Management

The environment needs to sort the cattle. Our cows run year-round on grass with minimal supplementation. We expose nearly every heifer for a short breeding season, allowing the environment to select the bred. Our herd sires cover large, multiple-sire pastures. The stronger breeders cover more cows.

EPDs

$B and CW (and the new $C) are terminal numbers that reward big, late-maturing cattle. Big, late-maturing females take more feed to get bred the first time and every time after that. Ideally, we prefer below average BW, average growth EPDs, below average Milk and Mature Weight EPD’s. We are not willing to sacrifice the right kind of cow for a certain EPD. We believe in using EPD selection, and have started implementing the use of DNA testing on all our bulls. But also, we take the numbers with a grain of salt. Some of the newer EPD’s don’t have nearly enough data and can be skewed towards popular cattle.