Our family; Ava, Dylan, Caitlyn, Adyson, Jennifer, Josh and our Airedale Dixie
Nice to meet you
Cattle have always been part of our lives. My wife grew up on a cattle farm in the Ozarks of NW Arkansas that dates back 4 generations and my Pap-Pa started raising cattle in SE Oklahoma in the 1950’s.
We always knew that we wanted cattle to be a direct part of our family and around 2010 started making plans for the future. Our goal would be to move to the country, invest in land and grow slowly getting to 100+ momma cows when we semi-retire from our “town jobs” at some point later in life. As most of America’s farmers today can relate, it’s nearly impossible to keep a cattle operation going without supplemental income from a primary day job.
With that plan as our guide, we started JL Cattle & Livestock in 2012 when we bought our first cow from my father-in-law. Since then, we have managed a small commercial cow/calf operation at our home in Madison County. In 2021 it was time to take the next step and expand, but instead of just simply growing our commercial herd we decided to start a small registered herd that will become the foundation of our “retirement herd”. We also felt that this would be a great opportunity to share our success and genetics with other local farms. As we grow our herd, we plan to offer a limited quantity of bulls and heifers for sale each spring and fall. We are very excited about this next chapter in our farm’s history and due to the hard work of those farms who supplied our foundation animals we have the utmost confidence in the genetics within our herd. With some hard work and our faith in God, we look forward to shared success with our customers in the years to come.
Josh & Jennifer
Our Philosophy
We believe that the three most important factors for successful cattle farming are growing good grass, cows that give a lot of milk to raise big babies and providing the best care possible to your animals.
Because of this philosophy, I have always thought that a Brangus or Ultrablack cross with pure Angus would make the ultimate combination for commercial success. If you are unfamiliar with the Brangus breed, it is an Angus/Brahman cross that is 5/8’s Angus and 3/8’s Brahman. They are very well known for their resistance to disease, being very hardy, having outstanding maternal instincts, are very fertile and for their superior carcass qualities. The only disadvantages is that they can be ornery and a little long in the ear which will hurt commercial calf values at the local sale barns depending on your geographical location which happens to be the case in this area of Arkansas. That is where crossing the Brangus back to the Angus to get the Ultrablack or what we refer to as the “SuperBlack” fits into our strategy. Our “SuperBlacks” will be 13/16’s (81.25%) Angus and 3/16’s (18.75%) Brahman and that combination will take most of the ear out. Regarding the orneriness, our group of mommas are super gentle as a result of selective breeding on one farm for over 30 years. Our experience has been they are as easy or easier to work with than our Angus cows.