Virginian Lives His Dream of Raising Cattle

Rocky Womack
Virginia Correspondent

KEYSVILLE, Va. — As a young boy, Zach Tucker was interested in the farm life and often visited Four Locust Farm, the dairy operation of his grandfather, George O. Pettus Jr. Tucker’s passion though lied with beef cattle, so in 2000 his father, Robert, gave him 20 commercial heifers as a graduation gift from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Eventually, his father steered him toward raising purebreds, too.

Today on Four Locust Angus farm, Tucker raises about 80 brood cows and 20 bred heifers on nearly 300 acres of land that his grandfather deeded to him over time. “This is what he thought I could do,” he says of his father. “I kind of took off with it and have stayed the course ever since.”

While he still has some commercial cattle, Tucker decided to build a purebred Angus herd because of the excellent carcass quality and because purebreds usually bring a premium over commercial cattle. However, raising purebreds over commercial was more difficult than he imagined.

“You’ve got to compete with a lot of other breeders trying to do the same thing through artificial insemination (A.I.) and embryo transplant,” Tucker says. “You’re trying to build as good a cow as you can, and everybody’s doing that. It’s very competitive.”

Tucker, who works at Spaulding Equipment Co. in Clover, Va., sells the bottom half of his herd through Tel-A-Auctions and livestock markets. He keeps the best females from his herd and sells them through the Virginia Angus Association’s Beef Expo and Spotlight sales, which are consignment sales from area breeders. The Beef Expo is usually held in April, and the Spotlight sale is typically held in latter August or early September. In addition, he markets some of his herd through an annual sale with the Southside Virginia Angus Association. That sale is normally held in November. In the future, he may try consigning to the Shenandoah Valley Angus Association and the Northern Virginia Angus Association sales. Whether he does or not depends on what quality cows he has at that time.

For the most part, Tucker says his cattle operation is typical of most purebred herds. However, he has a certified and accredited herd with the commonwealth of Virginia, as far as herd health. He specifically tests the animals for bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) and brucellosis. Proudly he says that under the state Johne’s disease control program, his herd tests as a negative status Level 1 herd.

As a precaution, he quarantines any cow or calf that comes from another farm onto his for 30 days before he releases the animal to his herd. The cow or calf is kept inside a barn until Tucker knows for sure that the animal is mentally and physically healthy. Before releasing the animal, he conducts a blood test for any possible abnormalities. If the cow or calf comes from another certified accredited herd, the animal is not quarantined.

Tucker works toward a quality herd. “We try to strive for excellence as far as breeding,” he says. “We breed to a lot of top A.I. bulls. We do embryo transplants. It’s a good way to build a genetically sound herd.”