Targeting Quality

The Medeiros and Dal Porto families have built a reputation on helping their customers improve the quality of their cow herds - and add premiums to their paychecks.

John Ginochio, Walnut Creek, Calif., is one of those customers.

"You don't bring the feed to cattle, you have to bring the cattle to the feed," Ginochio says. "To make it worth it to do that, we have to get the highest price that we can. And we have to use every means available to do that."

For Ginochio, that means gathering postharvest data, referring it back to the genetics he purchases and then re-emphasizing the performance data he has on calves in order to prove their value.

"I want to get the highest premiums I can get," he says. "That's the great thing about the Angus industry. With the EPD information they have, you can select a bull that can cater to you."

Ginochio has built a name for himself based on the genetics his calves have proven will perform in the feedlot and postharvest, and it revolves around his bull source.

"I'm marketing my cattle so that people know these aren't just black cattle, and they aren't just great Angus cattle. These cattle are out of Dal Porto Livestock genetics, and that does make a difference."

Since Ginochio started advertising his genetic source a decade ago, more and more Dal Porto Livestock and Rancho Casino customers have started "name branding" their calves at auction, as well.

"That's our biggest marketing tool and our biggest selling point: We have numbers, and numbers behind us that will prove they are going to bring more dollars per pound because they aren't just black - they're proven Angus genetics," Dal Porto says.

That genetic name branding is usually paired with another value-adding brand. "There's a reason people put 'CAB-candidates' next to our cattle," Medeiros says. "They know it's worth a little more money."

Dal Porto says they use the Targeting the Brand logo in their sale book so their customers can pass that brand focus on to buyers. They've printed carcass data from customers like Ginochio in their sale book to prove that branding delivers, too.

"We're just trying to put out as much actual data as we can on their actual performance. That's the end product of what they do, and that translates to premiums these days. Even for guys who aren't planning to retain ownership and are just selling their calves off the cow, they still want to be able to mark those calves as 100% Angus-sired CAB candidates," Dal Porto says. "Everyone knows what that stands for, and that people pay more for those."