“ What always gave me hope as a broke kid starting out was that oftentimes the parents weren’t phenoms. So that meant if I could just afford to buy the right pieces and mate them correctly I could create a great one.”

Kolton looks forward to breeding his cattle and creating these perfect matings. Like he says “Some cattle have obvious things you want to change and so often you find a mating that would help fix the problems.” 

He says the hardest challenge for him when it comes to breeding tends to be the end goal of mating good cattle.

“The cow needs more bone so breeding her to a bigger boned bull is obvious when matching cattle. But the hardest and funnest challenge for me is mating good cattle. Because what happens is cattle that look really good on the hoof, especially ones that we haven’t seen through every stage of life they too have flaws. And oftentimes we don’t see what they are until we see the offspring. The challenge is being open minded enough to look at those offspring with clear eyes and no prejudice.  To see if some of these attributes you aren’t liking in the calves are in fact coming from the mom that you think is perfect. Once you see it and you know it then you can also breed around that.”

QB Cattle calves usually in august so when i asked Kolton what some of his calving protocols look like it consists of keeping them cool and making sure they nurse within the first 2 hours. 

“ As a steward of the cattle it’s my job to keep them safe and help them to thrive. Sometimes that’s leaving them alone and letting nature do its thing. But sometimes it’s very labor intensive. Most of my calving is done in August. So heat is a big deal. I calve in brushy shaded 5 acre traps. Once a calf hits the ground I want to see it nurse within the hour. If it doesn’t I start getting a plan to get it up and help it nurse before the 2 hour mark. Getting that first colostrum asap QB Cattle is owned and run by Kolten Thigpen, whose passion began back in middle school. “I bought and traded bottle calves from my grandpa’s salebarn,” Kolten recalls, a humble start that grew into what is now a thriving operation.

“I am Kolten Thigpen. I live in Sweetwater, Texas, where I live with my love at first sight, high school sweetheart Sarah. We have two boys Lawson and Brexton as well as another one on the way, Mr. Layton!”

In addition to owning QB Cattle Company, Kolton also manages Bullnanza Stud Services and Express Livestock Genomics. His dedication to livestock and family values has made him a respected name in the business.

His passion started with showing cattle, but as he watched some of his role models raise cattle he decided to take a leap at his dream. Kolton wanted to raise show cattle not commercial calves he wanted something that made you go whoa! 

“I wanted to make really good ones.  I also had a picture in my mind of the kind of calves I wanted to show at the time and I couldn’t afford it so I tried to create it instead. I find myself still chasing the picture in my mind.”

QB Cattle began with the money Kolton was making by peddling with bottle babies.

“I made enough to buy my dream heifer, a yearling PB Brahman. Not registered, Not show able a commercial Brahman heifer that ran through the sale barn and sold by the pound. She ended up raising a heifer named Sady.  Sady was not only a big pet but during my freshman year of college she raised a steer that went on to brand in Houston.”

 That was the spark of confidence that lit a fire in Kolton that has never burnt out. Kolton knew his dream but needed help. So he partnered with his college roommate to create his dream. 

 “ Me and my roommate each took out a $5,000 FSA loan. We bought the cheapest best ones we could find and had mentors cut us deals on our journey. We paid off our loan then applied for a bigger one. And continued to follow that sequence on repeat to create QB Cattle.”

“We leased places that didn’t have any water or fences but instead of those challenges detouring us we were excited that they had plenty of grass and hadn’t been grazed out!. We had a couple places like that.  We leased and bought our cows to put them on. It was at this time we had our first big struggle that we couldn’t control.”

 In September of 2010 Kolton and his partner planted oats for grazing. They were going to AI their first set of cows that fall and the next year would be their first “major” calf crop.

“After we planted, it rained an inch shortly after and we were pumped. The seedlings sprouted. And we were thinking we were having a big time. However, what sprouted soon began to whither and over the next 2 years our places only received 2.5 inches of rain total. For 2 years, It was the most severe drought that area had experienced. One day closer to a rain was our mantra. Those ungrazed places saved us, along with being too stupid to quit then once it started raining again, us and everybody else wanted to grow so the cattle market went out of sight high. Similar to how  it is now. We spent our first years buying everything our cattle ate. Then had to buy more cows for triple what they were bringing the year before to get going again. We found out early and often a lot of what not to do.”

Kolton admitted that through that he realized the struggles are part of the journey.  Now Kolton is able to look back and say that if he hadn’t faced those issues he wouldn’t be where he is today.

When breeding, Kolton came up with some absolutes that he wanted to avoid when breeding. 

1)bad shaped feet  2)bad udders  3)a bad shaped head  4)big bw  5) bad attitude  6)big coarse hocks  7) tall animal.  Kolten didn’t want to have to deal with any of these issues.   

“There isn’t a perfect one, there is always something to change and I love that part. It makes you look into the future. What’s also intriguing to me is seeing a calf that you love. The type that makes you jealous that it’s not yours, then seeing its parents to find out how it was created.”

When looking at show calves Kolton  looks for 5 things, Quality. Balance. Presence. Comfort. Big features.  

 “If you hunt for the most problem-free cattle, oftentimes you get the most plain cattle as a result. So I think you have to be cautious in picking. I am guilty of having done too much of it myself. Someone completely ignorant in the cattle world can pick out quality, so I make sure to always recognize it myself regardless if it fits in my version of perfect or not. Come at me with quality, grace the ring with a degree of presence and balance, especially on the go. Add big features to go with that and I would say I am all in!”

fixes/prevents tons of problems. Once calved those pairs are moved to a different trap that’s pen system attaches to my barn. During the day, every day, the calves are brought into the barn and put under fans. I try to do this until they are at least 10 days old, or the weather breaks. Once they are strong enough to stop coming up I shear the hairy ones then take them and their mommas to a good shaded pasture.”

 Kolton thinks the problem as breeders is that we tend to keep our blinders on with the stock that we like and never learn enough about them to breed them properly. Kolton has realized this and tries to keep those blinders off as much as possible. But like he says it takes God and luck to make them truly special.

“ It takes luck and God’s favor to make the truly special ones, if you don’t believe me then you haven’t tried to make them before!”

Kolton has also started a new podcast called the Cattle Coach Show where he hopes to help young breeders and showmen as they embark on their journeys.

“My roots run as deep in the athletic world as they do the cattle world so getting coached is something that has been a big part of my life. When you start to grow up you can lose coaches in your life if you aren’t intentional about having them. Everybody is busy raising their families, doing their life, and making a living so as young adults you get to a point where you kinda have to just figure it out. And there is ton’s of value in that but there is also tons of value in time, I don’t like to waste it.”

“I won’t fully know its impact, positive or negative, for 7 years. So I can’t mess up those decisions. I say that to say, the Cattle Coach Show is a platform that helps give whoever wants it a “coach” in this business. It’s my way to help those that want it. Through a platform like that it can reach way more people and have more of an impact than I ever personally could.” 

Kolton leaves us with this:

“Just do it! Plans are awesome, and crucial, but overthinking is paralyzing. Not crippling, paralyzing, so Just Do It.”