BIF President Kevin Schultz has a love for family, farming and breeding cattle.
With a sincere passion for breeding cattle, sixth generation cattle producer and first generation seedstock producer Kevin Schultz says he dreams about making cattle better for his customers.
Sandhill Farms, located in Haviland, Kansas, is a seven-generation, diversified farming and cattle operation with 400 registered and 100 commercial cows. Kevin and his wife, Vera, manage the operation along with their son, Tyler, and his wife, Hannah, as well as Kevin’s parents, Ron and Arnita.
Kevin says he believes it is the seedstock producer’s responsibility to provide a genetic package that addresses the needs of all beef chain segments. For example, the packer doesn’t care about the profit drivers of the commercial producer — calving ease and fertility. The feeder cares about gain and health, and the packer wants carcass weight and quality.
“We are responsible for genetically producing an animal that addresses every segment’s profit,” he explains.
Kevin is currently serving as president of the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF), an organization dedicated to coordinating all segments of the beef industry — from researchers to producers to retailers — in an effort to improve the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of beef production.
“I appreciated Kevin’s thorough, thoughtful way of leading and addressing issues that faced our Board and the beef industry in general,” says Matt Perrier, 2022-23 BIF president. “Being fellow Kansans, we occasionally travelled to BIF conventions and meetings together, and the conversations in the truck were always insightful and intellectually stimulating.
“While Kevin was always willing to consider new and better ways of characterizing, quantifying and selecting beef genetics, he never strayed from the need for practical application of the tools and methods we develop for the beef community. Even more importantly, Kevin’s strong Christian faith and his love of family are always his focus, and this serves him well as he prioritized Board decisions and their outcomes for others.”
The Sandhill program
The Schultz family’s grain operation consists of both dryland and irrigated crops, which includes corn, wheat and soybeans.
Their registered Hereford herd was started in the early 1980s when Kevin and Vera graduated from Kansas State University. For many years, the goal of the registered program was to be “as good as the commercial cows” that had been bred by Kevin’s grandpa, Roy, and his father, Ron. Retaining ownership of the steers through the feedyard and selling replacement commercial females started the performance program.
Kevin summarizes the Sandhill breeding program is total performance for the commercial industry. His goal is to produce bulls that complement his customers’ cows and enhances his customers’ profitability. Using today’s technology and the previous generation’s wisdom, the Schultz family continues to improve their program.
“We are breeding cattle that enhance the profit traits and convenience traits of our cattle,” Kevin explains. “From the cow herd that has worked for generations, we are maintaining muscle, volume, udder quality and performance. In order to create the cow herd for the future, we are identifying the outliers from within the herd that will help us in our newer goals of carcass traits and curve-bending growth. These outliers are then used as sires or donor cows to make the herd better. We have brought in a few bulls and cows as genetic tools to address areas that needed to be tweaked. Compared to previous generations, faster improvement is made using EPDs (expected progeny differences), ultrasound, actual carcass data and some DNA testing. Progress is measured by repeat customers and their profit.”
After selling bulls private treaty for years, Sandhill Farms started hosting an annual production sale in the spring of 2008. They currently sell more than 140 bulls per year, with 20% going to purebred operations and 80% going to commercial breeders. They also sell all 5-year-old females with heifer calves.
The family has fed out its steers at commercial feedlots for more than 30 years. Feedlot performance data, as well as individual carcass data, have been collected and tracked.
The Schultz family also sells commercial open heifers and customer-owned black baldie heifers each year in the sale. Sandhill genetics have been part of the American Hereford Association National Reference Sire Program (NRSP) and the Circle A Ranch heterosis project. Schultz uses these programs to increase the accuracy and predictability of his bulls and to identify outliers that will help move the breed in the desired direction. The family has been whole-herd reporting since the beginning of its registered cattle program, earning Sandhill Farms notoriety as a Gold Total Performance Record™ Breeder.
For its dedication and success as a leading performance-focused breeder, Sandhill Farms was named the 2010 BIF Seedstock Producer of the Year.
A leader
Kevin was elected to the American Hereford Association (AHA) board of directors from 2014-18 and ended his board tenure serving as president. On the AHA board he was dedicated to providing service to Hereford breeders and keeping the association at the forefront of the industry. He says he is proud to have been involved in the decision to adopt the single-step EPD program, which he sees as “the best tool to genetically predict a young animal’s value.”
He attended his first BIF symposium in 1999 in Roanoke, Virginia, and hasn’t missed many since. He summarizes the symposium fits his interests and he enjoys meeting with likeminded producers, academia and others who have a passion for beef cattle genetics.
Kevin was elected to the BIF board during the 2018 BIF Symposium in Colorado. He says serving on the BIF board was a natural step with his interest in performance data and curve bending traits.
“The industry looks to BIF for leadership of non-partisan data management. BIF is the gold standard in regard to useful data,” he explains. “It’s a tremendous honor to serve as BIF president. BIF has no authority over any organization, but BIF is the authority. It doesn’t have any power to regulate land grant or breed associations, but they all look to BIF as being the authority and to provide the unification of traits and data.”
Looking forward Kevin says that BIF, “is going to need to look into tools that help the commercial producer and the seedstock producer address consumer, environmental and governmental demand of our product.”
The family
Above all, family is what drives Kevin and Vera. Their children — Brooke, Tyler and Courtney — all followed in the family traditions of cattle, 4-H and Kansas State, and are now married and continue to be involved in agriculture. When Kevin isn’t in the pasture, looking through sale catalogs or in the field, you’ll find him spending time with his seven grandkids. It’s his favorite hobby these days.
“I want the next generation to be able to adapt what we built to suit them,” Kevin explains. “I want to provide the agricultural tools that they can adapt to make their own success.”
Passing the gavel
Kevin’s term as BIF president will conclude June 12 in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the 2024 BIF Symposium. Walk-in registration to the event is available. To learn more about BIF and #BIF2024 visit BeefImprovement.org or BIFSymposium.com.