Site updated 12/1/07
Other updates pending

We have been providing our customers good products and value for almost 40 years. We are more excited than ever with the industry and the potential it offers. We are looking forward to our Production Sale this fall. We hope to make this an important and exciting event by presenting GeneStar tested animals and matings that are from the heart of our program. Our goals to improve efficiency and value for customers and consumers are not unique. However, we think our approach and results will interest you. For example, our website will give you an overview of our successful results using DNA testing. This includes our heifer that is one of the first "10 Star" heifers ever identified in the entire beef industry. We also describe some of the management decisions which are allowing us to reduce labor, eliminate fly treatments, and improve consistency. The goal is to both reduce input costs and improve our product and bottom line. These two things are not necessarily antagonistic. It is easy to equate the word "progress" with increasing inputs to achieve a goal of increased outputs. For us however, progress will be seen as decreasing inputs, and still improving the "bottom line". We are referring to our unique blend of genetics and philosophy for progress as Tailwind Genetics. This offers you genetics that can propel your cattle on the path to more value and income with no additional effort, cost, or input. We hope you take a few minutes to look us over. So once again, welcome.

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Turtle Rock Herd Sires and Our 10 Star Heifer

Hoff Limited Edition SC 594 ~ our latest addition A unique combination of performance, phenotype, and DNA markers Baros of Alcan 40'73 Oldest but now the freshest genetics

TL Bandolier 802 Size, phenotype and GeneStar   She sold in the 2007 Denver Foundation Female Sale to Jocko Valley Angus. With the addition of new markers, 10 Star Lady now has 16 GeneStars.

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Turtle Rock Angus Herd Sires are chosen to combine and deliver excellent balance, amazing heart girth, and practical genetics to their progeny.

Some recent Turtle Rock highlights include:

Spring 2005: We had the largest ultrasound ribeye measurement of all bulls at the Midland Test Station (compared to well over 600 bulls from all over the US).
Fall 2005: Our most uniform and attractive sire group is by our own home raised bull. These calves represent the 2nd generation of choosing replacements based on our system of fly and shed scoring, which has allowed us to eliminate all sprays and fly treatments.
Spring 2006: We have bred one of the only 2 females out of the thousands that Bovigen has tested to carry all 10 GeneStar markers/stars for tenderness and quality-Turtlerock 10 Star Lady.
Fall 2006: We added Hoff Limited Edition as a Turtle Rock herd sire. He will be used in combination with our superior DNA female base as part of our Tailwind Genetics program. The animals identified with Tailwind Genetics give their owners the advantage of propelling them "down the road" with a DNA package that does not require any other input or effort.
Winter 2007: Turtlerock 10 Star Lady was the 4th high selling female at the 2007 NWSS Foundation Female Sale- thank you Jocko Valley Angus.
Summer 2007: Limited Edition's updated GeneStar ratings came back establishing him as a industry leader across the board. He has at least one allele in each of the 11 current marker categories. His offspring across the country are literally generations ahead of the breed average thanks to Limited Edition's DNA prepotency.

The bloodlines we have owned and used through the years continue to appear in pedigrees of some of the best animals in the business. We market our genetics primarily through private and auction bull sales, embryo sales, semen sales, and also as direct consumer freezer beef - producing what is ultimately the best measure of a successful beef breeding program. At times we will also have information about other businesses and concepts that we feel are important for our friends and customers to know about.

We hope you can take the time to go through our menu tabs. They include many but not all of our projects and thoughts on what we think is the best business in the world. We constantly review the antagonisms such as breeding cattle for pasture versus feedlot, or making a profit today versus doing what is best in the long run. Often manmade, artificial "fixes" for problems just create more problems. We think the solution lies in working with the natural resources of one's environment and the predictable cycles of business and nature. We would love to visit with you about your program and goals. We are always as close as an e-mail, phone call, or farm visit for any questions or just plain old conversation about cattle, business, or the state of the world. Please feel free to contact us at: jliston@iowatelecom.net, jeff@turtlerockangus.com, or our home phone number- 641-946-8135.

 

We are an Independent Sales Representative for Accelerated Genetics for central Iowa. They have an outstanding line-up of beef and dairy bulls available. We also have a semen inventory of our own genetics and can access most other beef bulls for our customers. Along with the semen sales, we have supplies and related products needed to improve the performance and bottom line of your operation.

Thank you so much for looking us over,
Jeff and Lisa Liston
Owners and operators of Turtle Rock Angus

• Location: South central Iowa- one hour south of Des Moines on Highway 5, and about ½ mile east of Lovilia. Approximately 3 hours northeast of Kansas City.

• Cow Herd: We generally run 40-50 cows. Although we do some AI breeding, the majority of our females and calf crops are sired by our own bulls. Their progeny groups, year in and year out, end up equal to or better than the AI progeny. When a cow has genetic balance, she is only one breeding away from whatever end-product is desired- terminal, maternal, show ring, or freezer beef. Read through our History and Goals, and Odds & Ends to find out more about what goals we breed for, and how we are doing on these goals, including the high consistent testing results we are achieving through the cutting edge GeneStar testing for DNA traits.

• Bull Power: Through the years some really great bulls have roamed our pastures. Our selection process is time-tested to choose for a good balance of traits that provides genetic foundation for our customers- and as it turns out, the entire breed in some cases. Keeping a balance of the breed traits inherent to Angus cattle is an important key here. For example, in the spring of 2004 we calved 2 bull calves by our herd bull PGA Dimension. Both birthed easily, and grew to weaning age with no problem, no fly treatments, and no special attention. We took both calves to Midland Bull Test that fall. One of them had the largest Rib Eye Area of the entire Angus test- representing well over 600 Angus brought in from many of the top herds in the whole USA. His yearling weight of 1385# on a high roughage ration was very acceptable, and the fact the he had the biggest REA of all those bulls shows the carcass power that we determined this sire had. One of our yearling pasture bulls this year had a REA of 1.27/ CWT- lots of meat value here. Combining this type of ribeye with our outstanding DNA markers for tenderness is absolutely exciting. The genetics that can produce the product demanded by both feedlots and the consumers, but still maintain the easy fleshing and maintenance free characteristics that keep us all in business, are not found everywhere. We suggest you review the Bull Sheet section of this website to find examples of cattle we think do this quite well.