About Us - A FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED TENNESSEE FARM

Winters Plantation was "officially" created back in 2012 but the farm has been in the family since the 1890s. We are a beef cattle seedstock operation in SE Tennessee and are active members of the AAA, AHA, ABHA, and TBHA. We are forage first cattle operation which means we do everything we can to maximize the natural quality and quantity of our farm forage. We utilize best practices such as rotational grazing, summer/winter annuals, and crop diversity to ensure we are doing our part to follow the recommendations provided by University of Tennessee and the NRCS. 

Our goal is simple, create the BEST Black Hereford cattle in the world. Our approach is different than some as we are not chasing high percentage Black Herefords but are rather chasing the ULTIMATE F1 which utilizes the best of both the Angus and Hereford breeds. Like everyone else we are constantly looking for those "unicorn" genetics in each breed but since we still haven't found any we are focused on prioritizing the traits below in each of the two different foundation herds. 

Our Angus herd is comprised of cows that meet the following guidelines:

1. Be DOCILE. High headed cows are sent to sale barn. No exceptions and no questions asked. 
2. Have great FEET with a heavy focus on claw scores. 
3. Last but not least GROWTH and efficiency. We are selling genetics to producers who sell calves by the pounds and our bulls need to maximize that return on investment. 

Our Hereford herd is comprised of cows that also have to meet their own, albeit slightly different, guidelines which we feel will help maximize their natural attributes:

1. Have a perfect udder and teats (4 thumbs) as well as being a HEAVY MILKER. 
2. Have above average CARCASS EPDs to ensure our customers can expect the fat, ribeye, and marbling scores the industry now demands. 
3. Google Eyed............no one likes to treat pinkeye and we love the way it looks on a baldy calf. 

All these cows are expected to raise a calf each year unassisted and to maintain an acceptable body condition on the forage based diet that the great state of TN provides. 

Our bulls are expected to meet the same guidelines of the cows as well as one additional category........BIG TESTICLES. Great things come from bulls with a large scrotal circumference. 

All of our replacement heifers are sent to the University of Tennessee and developed by them. They are selectively AI bred to the best Angus and Hereford genetics in the world. A larger majority of our bull calves are also sent to UT and entered into their bull development and performance test program. It's this UNBIASED PERFORMANCE DATA that we pride ourselves on. We have pages and pages of records and the proof is in the data. Our cattle continually perform above expectations and we accept nothing less. While this is not the cheapest way to develop cattle we do believe it's the best way to collect the data needed and we take great satisfaction in being able to share this data with our customers. 

Thanks for stopping by our website. If you're ever in the area please stop by and say hello or reach out via our contact page. We love to talk cattle and we love to meet new people so please don't be a stranger!

Kyle Winters - Owner