A Little Bit of Ranch History:
In 1980, John's Dad, Harry Heckendorn, and his Grandfather, Ralph Bell, started raising registered Angus as B&H Ranch with the purchase of 7 pairs from Franklin Flint. They later purchased a few additional cows from Hinkson & Lust. The cow herd grew steadily over the years with careful selection.
John was actively involved in FFA and 4-H during this time, and participated on judging teams that won the state livestock judging contest in both FFA and 4-H in 1983. He always had a keen interest in the registered herd, and was actively involved in the selection of herd sires and replacement females as well as keeping and tracking performance data on the herd. The thing that he didn't realize in 1980 was that Cathy Skelton, the redheaded friend that came over to visit his sister that year, would become his high school sweetheart and, due to some way over-selling on his part, would eventually agree to become his wife in 1986.
John graduated from NMSU in 1988 with a degree in Animal Science and judged livestock on the NMSU team while Cathy graduated with her degree in Elementary Education. John & Cathy (J-C) now have 4 beautiful children.........sorry - I'm getting off track. Back to the ranch - B&H Ranch has been performance testing bulls at the NMSU bull test for 20 years. It was often a humbling experience as we competed against other breeders, however through these tests and by keeping records on the herd, genetic improvement has steadily progressed.
In 1985 our pen of bulls at Tucumcari averaged 3.25 lbs per day of gain and it took 828# of feed per 100 lbs of gain. J-C Angus Ranch's pen in 2003 averaged 4.91 lbs per day and converted 555# of feed per 100 lbs of gain! Now that’s progress!
In 2002, John & Cathy started J-C Angus Ranch by purchasing the best 90 bred cows from B&H Ranch as Harry & Ralph had had all the fun of chasing down baby calves to weigh them and tag them while fighting off mama that they could stand! They are still operating B&H Ranch as a commercial operation, while selling the registered herd has helped John & Cathy to realize a lifelong dream of raising their children in an agricultural environment and continuing the development of what will become, God willing, one of the elite Angus herds in the country.
In 2002, after moving the herd to Moriarty, NM, John & Cathy used Stepladder Fame 740 and one of his top performing sons from the 2000 calf crop, B&H Fame 0090. They also traveled back to Nebraska to A&B Ranch to purchase 2 very exciting herd sires. After deciding to add genetics that emphasized growth performance and eye-appeal, we started searching thru the Angus Sire Database for bulls that were +4.0 or less for birth EPD and over 100 on yearling EPD, with good scrotal EPDs and positive carcass traits. The standout bull number-wise was A&B Yukon 7150. He also was the ROV bull of the year in 1998 for his show successes, and sires exceptionally good looking cattle as well as terrific performance.
Looking back at the improvements we have made, we look forward to seeing the future of our Angus!