Chris Urbanczyk

Real-Time View of the Business

Chris Urbanczyk enjoys the variety behind finishing cattle – there’s something new all the time.

He started feeding cattle with his brother 20 years ago, primarily on pasture in West Texas. After a couple of dry years, they started adding pens. They added another partner and have continued to grow Road Runner Cattle Co. the past 10 years.

Focus on efficiencies

Over the years, they’ve incorporated more technology to boost efficiency. They started using Performance Beef in 2019 to simplify feeding.

“Before using Performance Beef, it seemed like we always had to build another spreadsheet or we were writing everything down and inputting it three times. And we still couldn’t get the right data coming out,” says Chris.

Some employees were initially apprehensive about the new technology. Its ease of use helped them quickly adapt.

“Within a week or less, everything was working a lot smoother,” Chris says. “It was a timesaver for them and me. And we’re getting more accurate results.”

In 2020, they added electronic ear tags and started capturing health data with Performance Beef.

“Health is the biggest issue,” says Chris. “If you have a healthy set of cattle come in and keep them healthy, they never look back. They keep going forward.”

Before capturing health data in Performance Beef, they relied on an Excel spreadsheet. Similar to their experience recording feed data with Performance Beef, automating the health data at the chute saves time and increases accuracy.

“We can process 150 head of cattle and know exactly what we spent,” says Chris. “I can look back by head and see individual treatments and costs. It makes a big difference.”

 

Using Performance Beef has also simplified their process at the chute. “The animal is pulled up when it enters the chute. If they’re doing the first treat, weight pulls up and they punch a button. It tells them what to give the animal and how much dosage. There’s no guesswork,” Chris explains.

For Chris, one of the biggest benefits of Performance Beef is knowing exactly where he stands with his cattle at the end of the day.

“All of our information is in one place and we can pull it up from anywhere,” says Chris.