Story and Photos By Anastasia Megdanis
There is much more that goes into maintaining a successful cattle ranch than meets the eye. Circle X Land & Cattle Co., Ltd is a great example of the dynamic environment of a cattle ranch and the success it can bring when done right.
The large, family-run Brangus cattle operation is located in Bryan and has been around since 1993, but the land itself has been owned by one other family since before Texas joined the U.S.
Chris Duewall is the operations manager at Circle X. “Day to day I make sure everything gets done,” he says. “I used to work the cattle and such when I was younger, but now in my role as operations manager, I do a lot of riding around in the pickup and inspecting, making sure everybody is doing their job, everything is getting done and in the right way.”
During the winter months, the work mostly consists of maintenance and feeding the cattle to make sure the baby calves stay healthy and warm in the cold conditions, explains Duewall. “This is more of a feeding season during the colder months and the grass isn’t really growing but the cows are burning a lot of body fat so we provide them with round bale hay instead,” says Carlos Ochoa, a part-time ranch hand.
Each nine-hour work day starts off with a meeting to set the game plan. “Basically, you never know what you’re going to do when you show up,” says Ochoa. “Some people have more specific jobs like the mechanics, heavy equipment operators, and supervisors, but for the most part feeding the cattle is first priority.”
After that is done for the day, Ochoa and about 22 other ranch hands, who range from full- to part-time, move on to help wherever they can; often that will entail maintenance work. “There’s always a need for fence work,” he says. “I started off my time at Circle X with a lot of fencing, hammering down t-posts, stretching wire. You have to actually learn how to do that properly because there are very specific ways that it’s done.”
Ochoa describes his experience working at Circle X as eye-opening because of all the moving parts in the Brangus cattle operation. He notes that the ranch hands do not have much interaction with the cattle as the cowboys do. The cowboy side is the one that goes to each pasture and rides the trails and tree lines on their horses to ensure the safety and well-being of the cattle, as well as moving them from pasture to pasture.
One of the most valued and famous workers on the ranch is their cow dog, Lady. She is a six-year-old Border Collie who is known for her superior herding skills. “She is my best employee,” jokes Duewall.
Lady helps move the cattle in an efficient manner so the grass does not get over-grazed. Aside from the fact that the grass feeds the cows, its health and abundance of growth is important because one of the things that Circle X sells is Tifton-85 sprigs.
“Tifton-85, a hybrid Bermuda grass, is one of the highest-producing Bermuda grasses available for pasture,” says Duewall. “A sprig is just a dug-up root from the pasture. Within 24 hours of digging it up you take it to the new pasture and plant it, so it’s basically a transplant.”
One of the things that get in the way of the growth of the sprigs are wild hogs. They like to overturn the pasture and eat the roots of the grass. This makes the pasture very rough to ride through when checking the pastures and slows the growth of the grass. The ranchers will capture the hogs by luring them to a trap with soured corn and strawberry Jell-O and proceed to sell them.
In addition to retailing the sprigs, Circle X is home to a pecan orchard; it was the reason they opened the Circle X Country Store in November 2016. It now stands as the beautiful entrance to the ranch.
Both the sprigs and pecans are important aspects of the business, but the main reason Circle X can call themselves such a successful and large commercial cattle operation is because they are involved in almost all segments of the beef-cattle industry. They offer show heifer prospects for junior exhibitors, superior bulls, and replacement heifers to grow someone’s herd, all of which are purebred. Of the cattle that are up for sale, if they do not go to someone for any of the listed purposes, they are sold to a feed yard.
Circle X knows how to grow quality cattle because after years of success and growth, they have it down to a science. “There are different breeds of cattle,” says Duewall. “We have all black Brangus because it’s better for this area. We chose them because its hardy and well-adapted to the climate here.” When the temperature gets too high for some cattle breeds, Circle X is glad they have the well-adapted breed of Brangus. In the heat of the summer, they hang burlap sacks from the trees that are filled with fly control dust. The cows know to rub against it, and it deters the flies that bite them.
Circle X also exerts control over the breeding and grazing of the cattle. Unlike many ranches who leave their bulls out year-round for an open breeding season, at Circle X they choose to have a fall calving season and only let the bulls out then.
“It’s just timing with mother nature,” says Duewall. “It optimizes the weight gain because the grasses are better in the spring, then the calves are old enough to start utilizing the forage. So, they get some of the best quality grass of the year right when they are getting weaned off their mom.”
Additionally, in order to capitalize on the quality grass, they implement a rotational grazing system to prevent any one pasture from being overgrazed.
All of the maintenance and planning that goes on during the colder months is all in preparation for the busy season in the spring. “We will be artificially inseminating the cows, starting weed control in the pastures, fertilizing, digging, selling and planting sprigs, and preparing for show season,” says Duewall.
It takes a village to keep up with the many moving parts of the well-oiled machine that is Circle X Land & Cattle. At the end of the day, the hard work is worth it for Duewall and his family, who intend to keep the ranch in the family for many years to come.
