When a calf ranch co-owner also happens to be Chair of Veterinary Sciences at Texas Tech, you know they're going to care about the numbers.
Co-owned by brothers Mike and Prof. Matt Ballou, Double M is a pretty unique operation. While Matt is responsible for day-to-day management, Mike oversees the calves health and nutrition; an area he actively researches as a professor of Veterinary Sciences at Texas Tech.
Previously a dairy, in 2022 the brothers decided to leave the milking business and shifted to calf-rearing, replacing the milking parlor with 14,000 hutches.
Today, Double M works in conjunction with the brothers' nutrition company, using the ranch as a testing ground for their nutritional technologies and refining the best methods for raising healthy, high-performing calves.
“We can talk about how to improve performance at the rail, but unless we're getting the data, we can’t measure the impact.
Breedr's a great partner, funneling that information back to us.”
Dr. Mike Ballou | Co-owner, Double M Ranch, NM & Chair of Vet. Sciences, Texas Tech
Fast, Easy Data Capture
Breedr’s chute mode makes it easy to record all the health & performance data that’s essential as Double M conitnues to build on their reputation of rearing the best calves for their clients. Because Breedr is mobile cloud-based, it doesn’t matter who captures the data, Matt & Mike have 24/7 access to calf weight gain and mortality rates.
Carcass Data Insights
Double M receives all of the carcass data for the calves they place into Breedr Smart Beef Supply Chains, enabling them to make any necessary adjustments to improve the phenotypes of their animals.
Dr. Mike Ballou
Dr. Mike Ballou, hailing from a dairy-centric background in California's Central Valley, has woven his life around the dairy industry. With a Ph.D. from UC Davis, his expertise spans nutrition to animal health. Currently, at Texas Tech, he's pioneering research and teaching, focusing on dairy calf health and nutrition strategies. His research program is focused on understanding how nutrition and management influence the health of calves, heifers and transition cows. Together, the Ballou brothers own a nutrition solutions company, MB Nutritional Sciences, in addition to Double M Ranch.
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Matt Ballou
Matt oversees the day-to-day operations at Double M Ranch as well as the brothers' other dairy calf venture, MB Nutritional Sciences. Matt has been in the industry for over 30 years, where he began working in feed sales before starting his own operation, Ballou Farms, in 2004. Since then, Matt has carved out a niche for himself in the dairy beef space. He focused heavily on nutrition when operating his own dairy for over a decade before recently pivoting his focus to calf rearing.
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