J-C Angus Ranch
John and Cathy Heckendorn
Rebecca, Sarah, Joshua & Caleb
75-A Pueblo Road North
Moriarty, NM 87035
Toll Free: 1.888.jcangus
Home: 505.832.9364
Cell: 505.379.8212
john@jcangus.com
www.jcangus.com
Directions to ranch
From I-40, 6 miles east of Moriarty, take exit 203. Take North Frontage Road (Abrahmes) east 1/4 mile, look for J-C Angus sign on north side of road and turn north for 1.5 miles to headquarters.
Owners
John and Cathy Heckendorn with their four children – Rebecca, Sarah, Joshua, and Caleb (lovingly called the Heckendorn Herd).
Ranch Location
The Ranch is located 6 miles east of Moriarty (45 miles east of Albuquerque) just north of I-40 near exit 203. The elevation varies from about 6,200-7,000 feet in elevation with pinon and juniper trees scattered around. The terrain is mostly flat and gently rolling hills with a few canyons and steep roads that the kids have nicknamed “loose tooth lane” (our pickup is a very rough 1 ton).
Ranch History
In 1980, John's dad, Harry Heckendorn, and his grandfather, Ralph Bell, started raising registered Angus as B&H Ranch with the purchase of 7 pairs from Franklin Flint. They later purchased a few additional cows from Hinkson & Lust. The cow herd grew steadily over the years with careful selection.
John was actively involved in FFA and 4-H during this time, and participated on judging teams that won the state livestock judging contest in both FFA and 4-H in 1983. He always had a keen interest in the registered herd, and was actively involved in the selection of herd sires and replacement females as well as keeping and tracking performance data on the herd. The thing that he didn't realize in 1980 was that Cathy Skelton, the redheaded friend who came over to visit his sister that year, would become his high school sweetheart and, due to some way over-selling on his part, eventually agreed to become his wife in 1986.
John graduated from New Mexico State University (NMSU) in 1988 with a degree in Animal Science and judged livestock on the NMSU team while Cathy graduated with her degree in Elementary Education.
B&H Ranch has been performance-testing bulls at the NMSU bull test for 20 years. It was often a humbling experience as we competed against other breeders, however through these tests and by keeping records on the herd, genetic improvement has steadily progressed.
In 1985 our pen of bulls at Tucumcari averaged 3.25 lbs per day of gain and it took 828 lbs. of feed per 100 lbs of gain. J-C Angus Ranch's pen in 2003 averaged 4.91 lbs per day and converted 555 lbs. of feed per 100 lbs of gain! Now that’s progress!
Some of the herd sires we have selected over the years have dramatically helped our herd. In 1986 we purchased the high-gaining and high-selling bull at the NMSU Bull Test in Tucumcari, LAF Big Sky 8509 - a son of Pine Drive Big Sky. In 1991 we purchased the high-gaining and high-selling bull again, Stuarts Angus Bull S560 - a son of Leachman Tonto. We also used some artificial insemination in 1991-93 to Hoff Hi Spade, Emulation N Bar 5522 and GAR Precision 1680, keeping some of the sons to use naturally in our herd.
In 1994 we traveled to Gardiner Angus Ranch, Ashland, KS, to purchase a new herd bull, and selected GAR RR Traveler 4502 - a tremendous son of RR Traveler 5204. This bull had a tremendous impact in our herd, and we have many producing daughters in the herd today.
In 1996 we went back to Gardiner and selected GAR EXT 4934, a son of EXT out of a Tehama Bando 155 daughter (3/4 brother to Leachman Right Time and Larks Canyon 74D). This bull also contributed greatly to improving our cattle and had some exceptional females.
Also in 1996 Harry traveled to Montana to bring home N Bar Commitment Y4754. This bull was a great spread bull with a negative birth EPD and was still in the top 20 percentile for yearling growth. One of his daughters, B&H Joy 9740, may very well be our best cow. Her calf last year was the record-setting, highest gaining (5.80 lbs per day!) bull ever (44 years of testing bulls) at the NMSU Bull Test!
The high-gaining, record-setting bull just mentioned was out of perhaps the best herd sire we have used. Stepladder Fame 740 was selected by Harry in Nebraska and was the high-selling son of SAF FAME at the Stepladder sale in 1998. He sired the highest gaining Sire Group over all breeds (pen average of 4.91 lbs per day!) at the 2003 NMSU Tucumcari Bull test, then again had the high-gaining sire group over all breeds in 2005. His EPDs of 1.6 BW, 40 WW, 16 Milk, and 84 YW placed him at the time in the top 30% of current sires for BW and the top 10% for yearling growth! He is also positive for scrotal, marbling and REA.
In 2002, John and Cathy started J-C Angus Ranch by purchasing the best 90 bred cows from B&H Ranch as Harry and Ralph had had all the fun of chasing down baby calves to weigh them and tag them while fighting off mama that they could stand! They are still operating B&H Ranch as a commercial operation, while selling the registered herd has helped John and Cathy to realize a lifelong dream of raising their children in an agricultural environment and continuing the development of what will become, God willing, one of the elite Angus herds in the country.
In 2002, after moving the herd to Moriarty, NM, John and Cathy used Stepladder Fame 740 and one of his top-performing sons from the 2000 calf crop, B&H Fame 0090. They also traveled back to Nebraska to A&B Ranch to purchase two very exciting herd sires. After deciding to add genetics that emphasized growth, performance and eye-appeal, we started searching through the Angus Sire Database for bulls that were +4.0 or less for birth EPD and over 100 on yearling EPD, with good scrotal EPDs and positive carcass traits. The standout bull number-wise was A&B Yukon 7150. He also was the ROV Bull of the Year in 1998 for his show successes, and sired exceptionally good-looking cattle as well as terrific performance.
A&B Yukon 1157 was the second bull to sell at the auction, and was a member of the Reserve Champion pen of three in Denver. Several people felt that he was the best bull in their sale. Apparently we were not the only people who liked him as he was the highest selling A&B Yukon 7150 son that day. He is out of a Leachman Saugahatchee daughter and his EPDs were: BW +1.6, WW +42, Milk +15, YW +89. We have been pleased with his calves so far. After 56 days on test at Tucumcari in 2004, his calves were the second high-gaining Angus sire group.
A&B Yukon 1008 was the second bull we purchased at the sale. He is a little larger framed and growthier son out of an Oscar bred daughter. He was also very popular with his tremendous growth EPDs of BW +4.7, WW +55, Milk +12, YW +115. We have been very impressed with the first calves out of this bull. After 84 days on test at Tucumcari in 2004, his calves are currently the high-gaining sire group over all breeds, and his best son is leading the test over all breeds!
We are excited about the future of our program and have started to A.I. again as well, using a bull that is unmatched for birth to yearling spread and a tremendous phenotype in FAR Krugerrand 410H from Genex. This half brother to A&B Yukon 7150 was the 2002 Denver Champion bull and boasted EPDs of BW -0.8 (top 4%), WW +66 (top 1%), Milk +20, YW +121 (top 1%), Scrotal +1.52 (top 1%), UREA +.48 (top 5%). It is very rare to find a bull that excels in so many traits.
We were blessed to have the high-gaining sire group over all breeds at the Tucumcari bull test in 2003 out of Stepladder Fame 740, then in 2004 again out of A&B Yukon 1008, again in 2005 out of Stapladder Fame 740 (now deceased), and again in 2006 out of A&B Yukon 1008. We sold A&B Yukon 1157 last year, and A&B Yukon 1008 suffered a shoulder injury and is now deceased. We continued to AI to FAR Kruggerrand 410H in 2004 and added one of the best combination bulls in the breed to our tank, Connealy Lead On.
As ABS states in their catalog about Connealy Lead On:
•
Leading Proven Curve Bender
•Medium framed, powerful phenotype that transmits tremendous muscle relative to his +2.1 BW EPD
•'Rock Solid' accuracy with over 6,000 progeny on record
•Lead On, Strategy and Extra H6 are three of only four proven curve benders in the breed with a +2.5 to +100 spread with .90 accuracy for YW or greater
2006’s calves are out of the following AI sires and natural sires:
BR Midland – This $202,000 top-selling bull combines strong performance EPDs in the top 25% of the breed with industry leading marbling in the top 1% of the breed and REA in the top 10%, making his $Beef ranking in the top 2% of the breed.
Bon View New Design 1407 – This widely used and accurate AI sire provides one of the most balanced and impressive EPD profiles in the industry. Few bulls can match his calving ease, growth, milk and carcass EPDs.
Mytty In Focus – One of the hottest bulls at ABS, this tremendous “spread” bull offers exceptional calving ease with explosive growth PLUS strong carcass EPDs! A truly rare combination bull.
Natural Herd Sires
A&B Midland 4013 – We selected this son of Midland at the 2005 A&B Sale in Nebraska and have been impressed with his first calf crop this year.
A&B New Design 4101 – We selected this top-selling son of 1407 out of a Sitz Alliance 6595 daughter at the 2005 A&B Sale in Nebraska. Tremendous growth and carcass value with this bull.
J-C Far Krugerrand 0488 – We raised this AI son of Far Krugerrand 410H and have really liked how he grew out and his calves are impressive so far. Great spread bull with negative birth EPD and yearling EPD in top 15% of breed.
Our goal is to produce worry-free cattle that maximize performance in the real world. We have attempted to select bloodlines known to be easy calving with explosive growth. We attempt to raise our cattle the way that our buyers do. We expect our cows to calve every year or they go in our or our friend’s freezer. We do not creep feed our calves or pamper our cows through the winter. We feed about 5 lbs of cubes to the cows every other day through the winter. Our cow herd would have an average frame score of about 5 to 5.5 with an average weight of 1200 lbs. We believe that you can’t improve what you do not measure and started ultrasound testing all of our yearlings in 2003. As the performance of cattle on the grid as well as the feedlot and pasture are important to us and to many of our buyers we have continued to emphasize calving-ease, growth, scrotal and maternal strength, while placing a slightly higher emphasis on carcass traits — marbling and ribeye area in recent years.
Please give us a call and stop by anytime! We would love to see you!