{"id":9003241321368113,"date":"2026-08-18T12:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/?p=9003241321368113"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:03:09","slug":"hats-off-100-tenet-herd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/hats-off-100-tenet-herd\/","title":{"rendered":"Hats Off – 100% Tenet Herd"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Hats Off - 100% Tenet Herd<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n \t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

I didn\u2019t know about white cowboy hats. How could I? \u00a0I\u2019m from Silicon Valley and not raised to be a farmer. Mr. Faith, Vice President of Mellonics Systems Development, in Mountain View, before there was a Silicon Valley, called me into his corner office, he was upset and I didn\u2019t know why. Evidently, I worked for him. He said, \u201cIsn\u2019t it your job to make sure every file cabinet in this building is filled with pencils and paper?\u201d Of course, I replied. \u201cWell, then go down the end of this hall, through those double Dutch doors, and see that that file cabinet is always full!\u201d I had never been through those big double Dutch doors and certainly didn\u2019t know there was a file cabinet there that needed filling. Mellonics did top secret work, that I did know because it took months before my top secret clearance came through. I was in charge of file cabinets, pencils, paper, graph lined paper, paper tablets, but then five file cabinets were labeled Top Secret. Those cabinets were full of folders, one for each employee that contained their top secret security clearance information. I was to keep these files organized. What did all these people do? I didn\u2019t know. That was Top Secret! So, off I go, down the hall with my roll cart full of my usual supplies, until I reach the end where there are two really big double Dutch doors. As I opened one of the doors, what I didn\u2019t know was that this was going to change the rest of my life.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Years later, Laura Christofk, then President of the Purebred Dexter Cattle Association, asked me to come over to show me what she had designed to be the framework for a new online application that would make PDCA the premier Irish Dexter cattle registry in the United States. I was appointed Director and board member of PDCA in charge of technology.\u00a0 It was a challenge I was up to do. Thirty years ago, I had opened a door and walked into a massive data center containing an IBM 360 mainframe computer. Seeing it for the very first time turned on a switch in my being that changed my not knowing into needing to know and a lifetime career in the Silicon Valley computer industry. I was always aware that what we were all doing was changing the world. Every day, there was something new. We were learning not to question if it could be done, but rather question how it could be done. This was the core culture of Silicon Valley, although it did not include white cowboy hats.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

I made a huge mistake as an Irish Dexter cattle rancher and farmer. When selling some calves to Lainey, she asked me if they could be registered with the American Dexter Cattle Association. Of course they can, I replied. My bull, Gunner, was registered with ADCA, PDCA, and the Legacy Cattle Registry. What could go wrong? As Lainey loaded her new halter trained heifer calves, overwhelmed at how easy it was to put a halter on and simply walk them into the trailer, she thanked me and then asked me to send their ADCA registration certificates. Easy, peezy! I called Joel Dowty, Gunner\u2019s prior owner and board member of the American Dexter Cattle Association (ADCA), who proceeded to explain that the calves\u2019 dams\u2019 sire and grandsire needed to have genetic markers on file with the ADCA What? Well, how hard can this be? My cows were were all registerd with the Purebred Dexter Cattle Association (PDCA), a different registry. I called the prior owner of the dam who still owned the sire and soon had tail hairs to send to the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Notification of completed tests would be sent to the ADCA. After getting the sire\u2019s tail hairs sent, off I went to find the grandsire. During the phone call to Dr. Wes Patton, owner of Glenn Land Farms and last owner of the grandsire, I was informed that the grandsire fell into a pond and died. Well, no real problem, Dr. Patton was an expert on genetics so I asked for the grandsire\u2019s genetic records or stored tail hairs. None! In disbelief I asked why and Dr. Patten explained this was right before genetic testing was even being done. Well, now it\u2019s time to meet personally with Stephanie, the UC Davis VGL cattle genetic specialist to find out how the grandsire\u2019s genetics could be done<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

As a PDCA director, I was frequently confronted with something new going on. Robin Pittack kept pestering PDCA about some cattle show in Denver that happened to be the largest, premier cattle show in the United States and they are asking for Irish Dexter owners to bring their dexters to the show for the very first time in its 75 year history. Laura Christolfk, our President, asks when is the show? Robin says it\u2019s in January! There\u2019s five feet of snow in Denver in January. Laura agrees to help sponsor the show and suggests that if neither she nor I transport our Dexters to the show, we should at least show up to man the booth. I drove over to the local Tractor Supply and bought — a white cowboy hat.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

My meeting with Stephanie at VGL was challenging. She explained that the only way to get the genetic profile on the grandsire was to locate ten offspring, get their tail hairs, produce the genetic markers for all ten, then and only then could the grandsire\u2019s genetic marker be derived. How can this be done? There were exactly ten living offspring of the grandsire in the pedigree database. It turned out I already had access to seven: the sire, the calf, the dam, and four more of my cows. Every week, I would meet with Stephanie at UC Davis. At first, I asked Stephanie to simply look up the case numbers for the remaining cows and she stated that was not possible. Why? Because the cows have privacy rights! This is nuts, they are cows! Undeterred, she told me that I could give her the case numbers, and then she could look up their genetic markers. This was no different than those top secret files I managed years ago. Then, I would ask three guards to each use their code to unlock the file cabinets and could pull out the needed file folders. Now I needed three Dexter owners to give me their case number codes to give Stephanie to pull up their genetic markers on file. Genetics can answer a lot of questions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The booth at the National Western Stock Show in Denver was busy. Next to us was a booth of a commercial Angus cattle ranch in Wyoming. All the hands in the booth wore black cowboy hats. My hat was white and they addressed me as Sir! Several weeks before this, Laura Christolfk had discussed with me the critical need to figure out how to tell if a steer would produce beef that would be tender. She knew we had the most flavorful beef. Most of the time Dexter beef would be exceptionally tender. She questioned if there could be a tenderness test. On one of my breaks, I walked over to one of the cow barns to check out what might be happening there. It was completely empty except for a straight cattle chute that was set up right in the middle, with a computer on a table right in front of it. This got my immediate attention. A half dozen technicians were working the equipment, getting it all set up, checking the connections, checking the accessories. I was wearing my white cowboy hat. Every question I asked, they immediately answered, and didn\u2019t question me. \u00a0They explained how they were using a sonogram wand attached to the platform computer to measure a bull\u2019s back fat. The amount of back fat marbling displayed on the sonar wand computer as a graft would be used to produce a number from one to ten as a measure of the meat\u2019s tenderness. At that moment, five, fully groomed, beautiful looking \u00a0bulls were led into the barn by five ranch hands, all in a row, one after the other. Following right behind was a tall, older gentlemen, holding a pair of calipers. He respectfully nodded to me. This was the owner. As each bull was led threw the chute for its sonar reading, the owner with the calipers got behind, on his knees to measure the bull\u2019s sack, calling out numbers to be entered into the platform computer. This was all meant to impress. A computer generated piece of paper, accompanied with the bull, to be given to the auctioneer, held high as he got a fortune for a beautiful looking, well groomed, fully computer measured bull. The owner wore a white cowboy hat.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

In the computer industry, there\u2019s a saying, \u201cGarbage in, Garbage out!\u201d I knew, from real world experience, that none of this computer generated measurements were going to predict how tender the beef was going to be. I raised Irish Dexter cattle and sold beef to a local high-end restaurant, Watershed at the Owl, in Grass Valley, California. Every month we delivered a steer, in quarters, to the restaurant for the chef to hang, butcher, and serve to the local foodies to taste and enjoy. We were a USDA Certified Organic ranch. The steers were born and raised on our ranch. All the beeves were raised exactly the same. They were 100% grass fed and 100% grass finished. Every steer was fed exactly the same. When delivered, I personally inspected every one of them. They all had the same leanness. They all had the same fat marbling. Every steer hung for the same amount of time. Each one had the distinctive, amazing taste that only Irish Dexters can produce. Only, every once in a while, one would not be as tender as the others and we would hear about it. It was a very perplexing problem for which we did not have an answer. Taste is a funny thing, it\u2019s both flavor and tenderness. Laura Christolfk\u2019s question, how to tell if a steer would produce beef that would be tender, continued to be relevant.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The reputation of our farm, the reputation of Irish Dexter cattle, everything hung on the issue of beef tenderness. After lots of research into juiciness, fat, marbling, cattle feed, the grass cattle eat, leanness, it all produced gobs of words and antidotal tales that ultimately didn\u2019t offer a clear answer. Nothing gave us a direction or path forward that could provide us with the assurance that beef delivered to a restaurant or deli would be consistently tender. Suddenly, only a few months ago, up pops TenetBeef.com. They are a new genetics lab in Washington State, started by a genetics specialist from Washington State University who claims to have found the genetic profile within cattle that will identify if the animal\u2019s beef will have a tenderness of 10 on the tenderness scale of 1 to 10. This genetic profile is inheritable. Jeff Resusser of Royal Fare Farms discovered TenetBeef.com. He told Eliena Bodtke of Stay’n Put Farm who published them in the Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide newsletter. This is a game changer for our farm.\u00a0 It means that by testing our cows and bulls, if they are Certified Tenet (meaning their beef will have a tenderness of 10, the best), their offspring will be Tenet. It isn\u2019t believed that Tenet is currently a common trait. Still, this offered to be a solution to our beef business, giving us hope. We immediately, one-by-one, took blood samples and sent them in for testing. The result was a complete surprise. 70% of our Irish Dexter cows were Certified Tenet. By culling our non-Tenet cows, we would have a chance for consistently tender beef. Now everything depended on testing our bull. That result was also great. He, too, was Certified Tenet. We had a path forward. The non-Tenet cows explained the occasions when our beef was not as tender as we wanted. Culling was done and now we have a 100% Certified Tenet herd. Hats off to TenetBeef.com! Thank you Jeff, Thank you Eliena. Thank you Irish Dexter Cattlemen Tips & Tricks Guide. Now I can visit our restaurants and delis and tip my white hat to the customers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hats Off – 100% Tenet Herd I didn\u2019t know about white cowboy hats. How could I? \u00a0I\u2019m from Silicon Valley and not raised to be a farmer. Mr. Faith, Vice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":9003241321368116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_angie_page":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[21,468,691,452,332,730,851,524,598,587],"class_list":["post-9003241321368113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-beef","tag-beef-production","tag-beef-sales","tag-beef-trends","tag-dexter-beef","tag-pastured-beef","tag-restaurants","tag-tenet","tag-tenet-beef","tag-wholesale"],"acf":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645.jpg",1920,1440,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645.jpg",1920,1440,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645.jpg",1920,1440,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"large":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-1024x768.jpg",1024,768,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645.jpg",1920,1440,false],"rtcl-store-banner":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-992x300.jpg",992,300,true],"rtcl-store-logo":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-200x150.jpg",200,150,true],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-924x462.jpg",924,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20181113_102645-150x105.jpg",150,105,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Bob Curlee","author_link":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/author\/bcurlee\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"General<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Hats Off – 100% Tenet Herd I didn\u2019t know about white cowboy hats. How could I? \u00a0I\u2019m from Silicon Valley and not raised to be a farmer. Mr. Faith, Vice","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003241321368113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9003241321368113"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003241321368113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9003241321368242,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003241321368113\/revisions\/9003241321368242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9003241321368116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9003241321368113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9003241321368113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishdextercattlemen.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9003241321368113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}