Last year 2300 head were weaned at the ranch and they lost only eight head. John attributes the low death loss in part to the calf’s clostridial immunity, which comes with early weaning, and also to the fact that the weather is ideal for starting young calves.

"In June and July we have consistently hot weather. We don’t have hot days followed by cool nights to contend with," he explains.

The Maddux employees are also avid students of Bud Williams, who is known worldwide for his animal handling techniques. John says incorporating Williams’ philosophies and principles into their operation has made a tremendous difference in their health program. Not only are the cattle worked and handled in a much calmer manner than might be used in a traditional commercial feedlot setting, they’re also exercised up and down the alleyways at least three times a week.

"My grandfather would roll his eyes," John admits. "He hated to move cattle around because he figured it was just taking off the gain."

Death loss minimal since they’ve incorporated Williams’ techniques, and dark cutters are almost nonexistent.

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The Maddux family has always considered themselves ranchers, not farmers, and the economics, John insists, have always favored that predisposition. In other words, Maddux Cattle Company has always found it cheaper to buy the majority of their grains than to raise them themselves. Their rations are oriented toward cheap corn byproducts and high-moisture corn as well as some dry corn, a little bit of ground hay (home-raised, of course) and a protein supplement.

They buy their feedstuffs almost exclusively from farmers within a 25 mile radius of Wauneta, many of whom they’ve done business with for more than 50 years. They’ve established relationships with these farmers whereby the farmer agrees to sell half up front at market price. If he so chooses, he can store the remainder in pit silos at the Maddux feedyard at no cost, and he has until April 1 to price the remaining 50 percent of his grain.

"Our neighbors like it because they get free storage on half their crop with very little freight, and we get to attract all that high-moisture corn," John explains.

They have capacity for about 150,000 bushels of high-moisture corn, and they’ll feed 30,000 to 40,000 bushels of dry corn in a given year. This concentrate is supplemented with extensive use of byproducts — distillers’ grain from ethanol and corn gluten from corn sweetner production, all of which is trucked in from about 250 miles away.

The cattle do well on this byproduct ration. The big end of their home-raised steers will gain on average 3.3 pounds per head per day over the 200-plus days on feed. Cost of gain, John says, is competitive with most commercial yards. Last year, for example, it averaged out at about 42 cents. He attributes their competitive cost of gain in part to the fact that young, lightweight calves convert much better than a typical yearling.

The Madduxes have a strategy for everything they do, and their feedlot business is no different. Everything, John reiterates, revolves around economics and the seasonality in fed cattle slaughter, which dictates that they target the March-April fat market because that traditionally is when the market peaks. The Choice-Select spread is also relatively narrow during this timeframe. Their early weaning practices help accomplish this goal. The young calves are pushed hard and slaughtered at 13 months of age.

Cattle have been sold exclusively to IBP for many years now, and everything is sold on a formula basis using IBP’s real-time grid.

"It’s worked extremely well," John says. "Because our cattle are on feed for so many days, they’re high yielding — 64.5 percent. These calf-feds will also grade anywhere from 65 to 70 percent, and we think that’s pretty acceptable for such a young animal. That’s why, as a general rule, we’re much better off selling everything on a carcass basis rather than on a live basis."