When ranching is in your blood, you go where you are called. That’s true even if where you are called is the sparse land of southern Arizona, where average rainfall is minimal, and the cows outnumber the people. For the Best family, that call to move from New Mexico and West Texas happened in 1996, and they have not looked back.
KT Cattle Inc., Douglas, Arizona, named after brothers Klancy and Trey Best, features the fourth and fifth generations raising cattle and horses on their ranches in Arizona and New Mexico. The sixth generation is also on the ranch, at 5 and 3 years old, with aspirations of taking the reins someday. Klancy, Trey, their parents, Kyle and Amy Best, and their significant others, Klancy’s wife, Kaysha, and Trey’s fiancé, Kasey, make up the day-to-day operations. Another cousin helps operate the ranch near Farmington, New Mexico.
“Raising Diamonds in the Rocks” is the KT Cattle motto, and they do just that. With rugged, spread-out terrain, the cattle and horses that the Best family raise don’t get any pampering. They browse the brush for forage, and cattle might walk 3 to 4 miles for a water source. They do all that in the desert heat while still experiencing breed-backs close to 95%.
The Difference Quality Mineral Can Make
“Before we used Concept•Aid, our breed up would be in the 80s, somewhere between 80 and 85%. When we started using Concept•Aid , even in bad years, we could still get it up toward the mid-90s. You’ve got to understand that a lot of these cows that we have are sale barn cows…and people don’t think that it’s possible. You can take a sale barn cow and have her on the right nutrition, and that cow will breed back just like a cow…raised on that ranch,” said Kyle Best, patriarch of the ranch.
“And I’m talking about all of our cows. We get 92 to 95% [conception rate] every year, year in and year out. With the same program, nothing changed besides feeding them the Concept•Aid.”
KT Cattle feeds VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® HEAT® with ClariFly®, VitaFerm® 30-13% Protein Tubs and VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®. In addition to feeding the BioZyme® products, Kyle and Amy are also BioZyme dealers.
Amaferm Makes All The Difference
The Best family gives a lot of credit to the AO-Biotics® Amaferm®, the key ingredient in the VitaFerm products. Amaferm is how VitaFerm is so effective at helping your herd thrive. Amaferm is a prebiotic research-proven to enhance digestibility. It helps convert what little forage their cows do find into usable nutrition.
“You know the more you can get them to graze, the more they milk, the more yearlings gain. I mean, grazing is what it’s all about. And as long as you have something for them to graze on, if they are grazing, then you’re gaining,” Kyle said.
KT Cattle sells bulls across the Western United States. They also market their calves through Superior. KT Cattle was named the 2022 AQHA Ranching Heritage Breeder of the Year. They raise their horses much like they raise their cattle – on the rough terrain around cattle to be ranch horses.
Watch The American Rancher
Learn more about KT Cattle, the multi-generation ranch, and how their family uses VitaFerm nutritional supplements for beef cattle to maximize energy and forage utilization. Alongside their grit, hard work, and expertise, it’s their key to successful production. You can see how they get “performance that pays” on a special episode of The American Rancher airing at 9 p.m., Monday, September 2. It will re-air at noon on Sunday, September 8, on RFD-TV. All times are EST.
Learn more about the VitaFerm products that the Best family uses. Or, if you want to locate a dealer near you, use our online dealer locator.