Broken Box Ranch Information

Broken Box sells a lot of bulls to repeat buyers and one of these is Jim Violini, manager of Violini Brothers at Salinas. He says the Broken Box Ranch bulls he's purchased have worked well for their outfit. "These bulls produce moderate size calves at birth and have explosive growth. We retain ownership of our calves; the feed performance and carcass data has improved our bottom line. These traits have also increased the quality of our cow herd due to the high percentage of replacement females that we keep on a yearly basis. Violini adds that Broken Box Charolais bulls have also held up on their mountain range conditions. Jerry says one of the reasons his bulls won't melt at turnout is because they're not "pushed" during the growing and developing phase. "We don't push our cattle - we build our ration so they gain three pounds a day for the whole test. I don't agree with the philosophy that you have to fatten these bulls to tell their genetic differences." Broken Box bulls are sold at 18 months old. "At the bull test I ran, we sold mainly 12-15-month old bulls. As a breeder it's nice to get rid of them (at that age). But I feel as though a 1 -year-old bull is a little older. He adds that their Charolais cattle are run like commercials.