Forage Nutrition

Marty Gill and his sister, Shelley, are the 4th generation of the family to run the Gill ranch. Shelley and her husband, Garrett, raise about 500 cattle in Lucile. Marty works as a nutrition expert for Agri-Beef/Performix Nutrition in Fruitland, while running a second ranch in Parma for the family. In fact, if you shop for a steak at  Albertson’s, the Gill family’s cattle is marketed as part of the Double-R Brand. You might see a family photo in the grocery store. “Most times our cattle will grade 85% – 88% choice, that’s the target market in trying to sell good product because you get paid a premium for that,” Marty says.

Marty Gill is a man on the move. He works a 4-state territory for Performix Nutrition, helping cattle ranchers increase protein and minerals for their livestock. He’ll take samples of their pasture grass and hay and provide an analysis. “We’ll take what you have in your feeds, what type of animals you have, what kind of production you’re getting, identify the deficiencies, we’ll take what you got vs. what’s optimal for the animal, and this is like a great big kitchen, we put the stuff together in terms of a supplement.” It’s not surprising that Marty applies his knowledge about cattle feed and nutrition to the family’s cattle operation as well.