Part 1

Howard Hillman grew up on the family farm, Bon View Farm in eastern South Dakota. He attended South Dakota State University and graduated with an animal science degree in 1963. After graduation he returned to the farm and became a managing partner in the diversified farming and ranching family operation. He has judged most major shows throughout the U.S. Bon View Farm showed cattle for many years and was successful in the showring, showing grand champion bull at the International Livestock Expo in Chicago in 1969 and 1974 and the grand champion bull at the 1975 National Western Stock Show in Denver. They bred and raised bulls that have led the Angus breed in number of calves registered for the years 2003 through 2006.

Bon View Farm dispersed in 1999; however with Howard's passion for the industry he has maintained a connection with the business and served on the American Angus Association (AAA) board of directors for eight years, serving as president in 2000. Howard has also served on boards of local and state associations. Recently he was named committee chairman for the Angus Foundation's Vision of Value Campaign for Angus Fund Drive which is dedicated to education, youth and research.

Making progress, meeting goals, having a marketing plan and being profitable are all part of the equation of a successful operation. Bon View Farm achieved this success because of the emphasis put on functional cattle. The following is Howard's view on the importance of using a practical, common sense approach to cattle breeding, blending the use of cow sense and science.

"The opportunity to breed cattle is ever present...the challenge is knowing where the industry is and the vision to know where it is headed to breed cattle for the times. It takes common sense and cow sense but provides many opportunities using the tools available."
- Howard Hillman, Bon View Farm

The Essentials of Functional Cattle
Functional cattle were essential for our operation, if a cow required extra time or labor, there was a good chance that female didn't get to stay in the program. To maintain a functional cow herd, certain criteria were taken into consideration.

We were pretty tough and didn't have much tolerance for poor udders. If there was a female that required extra time and labor to get a new calf started nursing due to udder quality, we didn't keep her in our program the following year. In a young female, having a level udder with small well-placed teats is a priority. A sound udder at a young age will most likely maintain that quality as an aged female.

In our environment cattle traveled large pastures, so it was essential for them to have a good-shaped, sound foot and leg structure with moderate set. We didn't want cattle with feet that restricted travel or required maintenance or trimming.

Fleshing ability was important in order to survive cold winters as well as dry summers. If all animals in a contemporary group were treated alike, then any poor doing animals would be eliminated. We always felt having a female that maintained flesh in cold and dry conditions was important for her to survive and produce.

Another trait we took into consideration was disposition. If an animal had an unacceptable disposition, they were eliminated.

A Necessary Balance
Most of the traits I've talked about so far are really subjective to a person's visual evaluation. If you eliminate some of these problems, it lets you focus on other economical traits or numbers. There are some people who probably feel you can breed by the numbers, I still feel a visual evaluation of afore mentioned traits is necessary in addition to using EPDs. There are too many undesirable traits that are kept if you strictly breed by the numbers.

The sire evaluation database at the AAA is unequal to any other in the world. The EPDs are extremely dependable, especially when used with higher accuracies. You can believe in them and trust what they do, and it's possible to make rapid progress. I put a high emphasis on EPDs, because it is such a great database with all of the information it includes along with its' predictions and reliability. However, a program has to have a balance between using EPDs and evaluating physical attributes. The bottom line is when you cull a small percentage of the herd that didn't meet the criteria; you've increased overall uniformity in the entire cow herd. To further improve on uniformity, both phenotypically and genotypically, one should consider multiple trait selection rather than placing emphasis on a single trait.

Advice for Success
For those who are new to the cattle industry, there are many things to learn and strive toward in order to be successful. Success in breeding cattle won't come overnight; it takes hard work and dedication. Make sure to keep abreast of issues in the industry, you need to be involved in local, state and national associations. Use programs and databases from the AAA to help make progress in breeding cattle possible. The knowledge of how to use these tools will be necessary. In addition, keep and provide accurate and meaningful records.

Buy cattle and take advice from breeders you respect and trust. It's important to maintain integrity in all you do and back up your product.