The American Black Hereford Fall 2023

Page 8

Health Management of Early Weaned Beef Calves

Page 24

Collection of Data to Enter Genetic Evaluation

Page 28

Ernie

Dominguez

Executive Director

ernie@blackhereford.org

(512) 567 - 7840

Executive Summary

Welcome to the American Black Hereford Fall Issue!

I always look forward to this time of year. Cooler weather, crop harvest, cattle sales, and football. Does it get any better than that? We have a lot to look forward to before 2023 comes to a close. Our annual A Royal Affair event held at the American Royal in Kansas City will once again feature our ABHA National sale, annual member meeting, and National Black Hereford show. The ABHA National sale has historically featured some of the very best herd sire prospects and females that our breeders have to offer. This is an excellent opportunity for our members to market their program to a large, national audience or to find that next impact-full bull or female. The sale will also feature a tremendous set of frozen genetics. This sale is one you won’t want to miss!

We will also be kicking off our National Point Shows at the American Royal in Kansas City, the North American International Livestock Exposition and Cattlemen’s Congress. In addition to that, ABHA member sales are all right around the corner. Events like these are a great opportunity for you to meet other ABHA members, share information on your programs and learn more about how to take advantage of all the ABHA has to offer.

Interest in Black Hereford cattle continues to climb, and the momentum is strong. The future is only getting brighter for Black Hereford. Interest continues to grow, and cattlemen are investigating what we have to offer. The cattle business is poised to see prices at an all-time high and we must do our part in promoting this great breed. I believe that we must continue to advocate and educate the industry on what Black Hereford genetics have to offer. You will see that the Association is making a conscious effort to get the word out about our breed and what it has to offer to the industry. That said, it takes a village to realize the potential and opportunity we have with this great breed.

Please reach out if you have any questions or ideas for how we can continue to make a positive impact for the breed and this industry. We are all in this together, we will continue to work together to keep the ABHA strong, and American Black Hereford proud. We truly have some of the most dedicated, selfless people in the cattle business that support Black Hereford and its members.

I hope to see you at a future event this fall. Let’s show the industry what the American Black Hereford has to offer. I look forward to seeing many of you in Kansas City!

ASSOCIATION UPDATES

PERFORMANCE DATA

Inputting performance data into Digital Beef is free, can be updated anytime, and helps to keep accurate records.

GE-EPD DESIGNATION IN DIGITAL BEEF

Any animal that has genomically enhanced EPDs will now have the ABHA GE-EPD logo on their profile when you pull them up in Digital Beef. This new feature makes it easier to identify which animals have GE-EPDs.

BLACK HEREFORD CATTLE FOR SALE

Looking for cattle to purchase or consign? Do not forget to check out our consignment sale list located at the top of the Digital Beef Cattle search screen Active breeders may use this tool at any time to consign or post cattle for sale as long as you have a login for Digital Beef.

INVOICING

All registrations and testing fees are billed through Digital Beef and should be paid on that platform

UPDATING CONTACT INFORMATION

Please make sure to update any change of address, phone numbers or e-mails with the ABHA by emailing us at service@blackhereford.org, or by logging into your online account in Digital Beef.

NATIONAL JUNIOR SHOWS

Juniors showing in a junior show at the national level must be an active member with the ABHA/American Junior Black Hereford Association. Junior members exhibiting at these shows must be the owner or jointly owned with a sibling.

Nutrition & Management Considerations

Health Management of Early Weaned Beef Calves Iowa State University Extension

“Weaning needs to be well thought out to ease the transition.”

As forage resources dwindle in times of drought producers may need to consider early weaning options for the cow herd. Early weaning is designed to save body condition on the females by ending lactation and decreasing nutritional requirements. Getting each cow to a body condition score of 5.5-6 by calving is a key step in establishing reproductive success for the following year.

Terry Engelken of Veterinary Diagnostic & Production Animal Medicine at Iowa State University said early weaned calves may present health challenges as producers are now dealing with a younger and lighter calf than those weaned at the traditional date.

“How we manage these calves before and during the weaning process impacts on lifetime performance - whether they go to the feedyard or enter the herd as a replacement heifer,” he said. “We still argue about the best time to dehorn and castrate, and my answer is always, ‘The earlier the better.’ Making sure that these procedures are done in a timely fashion allows the calf time to heal and will decrease problems at weaning.”

Weaning needs to be well thought out to ease the transition. Stress associated with less-than-optimal pen conditions will be amplified in early weaned calves. Pens that are too wet or too dry can lead to poor performance and increased sickness. Areas containing tall weeds or seed heads can drive “pinkeye” outbreaks in weaned calves. Producers should watch the weather to avoid weaning in times of extreme heat stress. There are multiple extension publications on using fence-line weaning to reduce stress and improve postweaning weight gain in calves.

...Nutrition and Management Considerations continued from page 4

Engelken reminded producers that earlyweaned calves have different nutritional requirements and more variation in feed intake compared to their traditionally-weaned contemporaries. Introducing creep feed prior to weaning may ease this transition. Enlisting the help of an experienced nutritionist will help avoid feeding upsets while maintaining needed performance. Although early weaning can extend pasture use by the cow herd, the calves are growing and require high quality feed.

Managing the health of these calves involves working with your veterinarian to select the correct vaccines and timing of delivery. One of the main concerns when building a vaccination program for young calves is the level of maternal antibody that remains from when they received colostrum as a newborn. There are indications that these antibodies may interfere with vaccine response and explains why your veterinarian may recommend intranasal vaccines for these younger calves. After calves reach 2 months of age, there is less concern with this interference and injectable products should work well.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and the clostridial complex (blackleg) are still the most common causes of health issues in beef calves. There are multiple options and combinations to provide protection against BRD such as injectable, intranasal, killed virus, modified live virus, and inactivated, and their content and timing can be very different.

Standard 7-way blackleg vaccines are very effective in preventing disease. Engelken said Iowa’s Green Tag and Gold Tag recommendations are a great place for producers to start a discussion with their veterinarian on a program that will fit individual operations.

Calves also will need time to respond to these vaccinations. Administer vaccines at least two weeks prior to weaning to ensure the calf has time to respond and mount an effective immune response. Depending upon the producer’s marketing strategy, consider a booster vaccination to further improve immunity against these common disease pathogens. However, remember that vaccination is only part of the prevention. “How we manage the weaning process as a whole will dictate how successful we are with these calves,” Engelken said. “Early weaning can be a profitable way to stretch pasture and boost

cow performance, but it does require adequate planning with your veterinarian and nutritionist to minimize weaning stress and optimize calf performance.”

Rod Garman

ABHA Board President

ABHA OFFICERS

Vice President

Matt Marsh

(912) 425 - 0365

Treasurer

Don Hardin

(515) 313 - 8982

Secretary

Jacob Moreno

(417) 763 - 4233

ABHA BOARD

Mark Ipsen

(208) 681 - 4794

Brock Johansen

(435) 749 - 1543

Chad Jones

(913) 731 - 3428

Jeremiah Malone

(931) 302 - 6805

Darrell Selby

(270) 566 - 2624

In many parts of our country, we are starting to feel a much needed cool down and fall is in the air. I know many of our breeders in Texas and other areas of the country have experienced another drought and are still praying for the rain and cooler weather. The good news is cattle are high and seem to be getting higher. So, in many cases, we are getting higher prices for our registered bulls and heifers. The demand for Black Hereford cattle just keeps getting stronger and stronger. I get calls from people a lot looking for bulls and they say that they have called other breeders in their area and were told they have already sold out. So that just tells me we need to continue to produce more of them.

It is time again for our annual national meeting, sale and show in Kansas City. There are going to be a lot of good things that will be taking place this year. As we do every year, we will be holding our elections and there will be one or two new faces coming to the board. I want to personally thank Darrell for his help on the board as he is not seeking re-election, and someone will be replacing him. Again, thank you Darrell for your support and dedicating your time for the ABHA and the Board. I also want to say good luck to all the candidates that are running this year.

We have several things planned for the year ahead of us and are looking forward to working with new people to help move our breed forward. I’m going to keep this short because a lot of the things to be said will be coming out in our meeting. I hope to see many of you there this year and hopefully most of you can stay for the National Junior and Open shows on Sunday.

Until next time, we pray that the Lord sends the rain when needed and may he keep his hand over each and everyone of us as we travel and do the work he has called us to do. God bless and see you in Kansas City.

Rod Garman ABHA Board President

(479)

957 - 2068

Richard & Earlene Boone

Richard and Earlene Boone are located in Natural Dam, a small town within the foothills of the Ozark National Forest in Northwest Arkansas. Raised in Natural Dam on a third-generation farm, Earlene was familiar with cattle from an early age.

“Dad [Earl Deffenbaugh] always had Hereford cows and bought Hereford and Angus bulls, so I had been around these animals my whole life. The Herefords were always good mommas, and gentle, so I knew what kind of cattle I wanted to raise,” she says, smiling. Richard laughs. “I had never been around cattle, I worked in business, accounting, and healthcare, so Earlene is the farm foreman, and she picked the breed.” Richard and Earlene married in 2000, having met in the healthcare industry in which they both worked.

After Earl passed in July 2003 and all of his cattle sold, Earlene was struck with a desire to restart the farm that had been going for decades, but in order to do so, a lot of work had to be completed. “We had to put in all new fences, two new ponds, rebuild a barn, and added two new corrals before we could safely work and keep the cattle,” Earlene says. Mountain Fork Hereford Farm, named for the creek which runs through the property, officially began with their first heifer purchase of sixteen commercial Herefords in March 2004, followed by a second purchase of eighteen bred registered Hereford heifers in April. In July, they added a registered polled Hereford bull to their herd, and suddenly, the farm was in full swing. The first years of their operation were spent raising Herefords, selling bulls through private treaty, and becoming involved in the American Hereford Association.

In November 2009, the couple went to Ground Zero Farms in Watts, Oklahoma to buy another registered Hereford bull, but came back with two: a J&N Balder registered Black Hereford and a registered polled Hereford.

“Richard had been wanting a Black Hereford bull, because he knew black brought higher prices, and we had no idea we were going to buy one that day,” Earlene says. It didn’t take much convincing to buy into Black Herefords–the same docile, motherly cows, with good size and white faces made it an easy decision. Shortly after, Mountain Fork Hereford Farm became the first American Black Hereford Association member in Arkansas.

Throughout the next decade, Earlene and Richard worked on increasing the size and improving the genetics of their well-cared for herd. Over that period of time, two more Black Hereford bulls were purchased from J&N Ranch in Kansas as new sires for the herd, as well as sixteen meticulously chosen and bred Black Hereford cows, all with the intention of facilitating the highest quality of genes.

In 2016, the couple went to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to buy a Hereford bull sired by Game Day, the 2012 World Champion Hereford, in order to further increase the quality of their herd’s genetic pool, all with the intention of providing an excellent selection of cattle for their customers. Additional improvements to accommodate the increased herd size and better utilize the property included building a levy, adding quality water gaps, adding two sets of weight scales, and adding Mirafount water system to six separate pastures allowing us to rotate cattle. In 2019, Mountain Fork Hereford Farm was named the Crawford County Farm Family of the year–something that continues to remain a great point of pride to the Boones. Within the last couple of years, the couple has succeeded in downsizing the herd to roughly seventy-five cows, a number that has proven more manageable for the land and grass. Ideally, Earlene would like to get down to about fifty head, but “it is hard to do, as you just get so attached to them. We always think she can have one more calf, and the heifers coming up have even better genetics than the mommas do,” Earlene adds.

“That has been a hard lesson to learn, we have to sell those quality heifers because we just can not raise them all.”

The cattle have primarily been sold through private treaty sales. The farm has a website and Facebook business page that both generate interest and sales, and the couple runs ads periodically in the ABHA magazine and Livestock.com. They also run listings in Cattle Range, along with flyers at local cooperatives, feed stores, and sale barns. In addition to advertising, their marketing strategy and success has focused on repeat customers, word of mouth, and producing high quality animals that are well maintained, fully vaccinated, and well loved. Earlene also performs DNA testing on every registered calf born on the farm. This helps the genomic EPDs accuracy, and that extra information has proven invaluable to customers that want to know if their heifer or bull purchase is homozygous black and or homozygous polled, and to ensure the customer that there are no genetic defects.

The couple works hard to keep the farm clean and aesthetically appealing, so that buyers can see how the cattle environment is handled. Mountain Fork Hereford Farm is always ready to show visitors what it has to offer. Earlene and Richard have sold cattle to some remarkable people in nine states and are proud to have gotten several other ABHA breeders started in Arkansas. “This is a great way of life,” says Earlene. “We enjoy the relationships established, people helping one another, repeat business over the years with our customers, and our customers referring friends and family. We appreciate the experienced ABHA breeders who helped us get started and we are pleased to be able to help others and share what we have learned. Black Hereford cattle are in high demand, and though we may be biased, we believe our cattle are as good or better than you will find anywhere.”

Saturday October, 7 Kansas City, MO

American Royal Kansas City, MO

A Royal Affair

October 7, 2023

ABHA National Sale

Guest Speakers:

3pm 5pm 4pm

1pm 6pm 7pm

Jennifer Roach - ABHA Service Dept

Ryan Boldt - Lead Geneticist, IGS

Marty Ropp - Managing Partner, Allied Genetic Resources

Member Dinner

Annual Member Meeting

October 8, 2023

Junior Show

Zach McCracken, Kansas

Judges: Open Show

Blake Nelson, Missouri

Black Hereford National Junior & Open Show https://blackhereford.org

North American International Livestock Exposition

Louisville, KY

November 15, 2023

Junior & Open Show

Freedom Hall

Judges: Junior Show Open Show

Entries due October 3rd

Late Entries due October 10th

Cattlemen’s Congress

Oklahoma City, OK

January 2, 2024

Junior & Open Show

Jim Norick Arena

Judges: Junior Show Open Show

Entries due November 17th

Late Entries due December 1st

Blake Nelson, Missouri

PJ Budler, Texas

Brad Gohr, Oregon

Dr. Blake Bloomberg, Illinois

-

Colt Thomas

Sami Neff

Junior Board Member

Brianna Chavez

Texas

Tenley Shannon

Tennessee

Austin Hurm

Kentucky

Caroline Garrell

Tennessee

Landon Ellison

Tennessee

McKay Grohmann

Illinois

Sami Neff

Wisconsin

Emily Tabor

Kentucky

Colin Wilson

Arkansas

I hope everyone has had a great summer! I am so excited as we move into the fall show season! The American Royal is just around the corner and I can’t wait to see everyone at The Royal Affair. It is always fun to catch up with everyone and to see their cattle. The competitiveness and quality of the cattle grow every show. I am so excited for the future of this breed!

As the association continues to grow, I hope that the competitiveness continues to increase while keeping the same family-like atmosphere. Although this will only be my second year with the association, I can confidently say that the people in the association have been the most welcoming and helpful people I have met. I hope that if there is anyone new to the association reading this, you know that you can reach out to me or any of the other junior board members if you have any questions!

Brea Mills

Junior Board Member

I would like to start off by saying I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall. As I watch and grow with this association, I see how much of a family we are. Each year I’m with this wonderful association I get to know each and every one of us a little better. I know other associations are way bigger than us but we make up our missing numbers by the cattle and junior members. I can confidently say that this association can and will get bigger over the years and continue to become more and more of a family each and every year. When I got my very first Black Hereford I didn’t know what to expect but when I started to go to Black Hereford shows I realized that this association can take you anywhere and everywhere you want to go with your cattle showing careers. I also learned that the families in this association are willing to help out any members, new or existing. It is a great honor to be on the AJBHA board and be a part of this wonderful association I can call family!

2023 TENNESSEE STATE FAIR

JUDGES: (Jr) KYLE COLYER (Open) KYLE PEREZ

AUGUST 18-19, 2023 LEBANON, TN

Champion Heifer Junior Show

Res. Champion Heifer Junior Show

Champion Bull Junior Show

Exhibitor: Landon Ellison

Champion Heifer Open Show

Exhibitor: Peters Polled Herefords

Exhibitor: Kaitlynn Cole

Res. Champion Heifer Open Show

Exhibitor: Kiley Smith

Champion Bull Open Show

Exhibitor: Kaitlynn Cole

Exhibitor: Sims Black Herefords

2023 MISSOURI STATE FAIR

JUDGES: (Jr) KELSEY MAREK (Open) KOLLIN JOHNSON

AUGUST 19, 2023 SEDALIA, MO

Champion Percentage Heifer Junior Show

Champion Purebred Heifer Junior & Open Show

Res. Champion Purebred Heifer Junior & Open Show

Exhibitor: Ely Judy

Champion Purebred Heifer Open Show

Exhibitor: Jayna Hibdon

Champion Percentage Bull Junior & Open Show

Exhibitor: Andrew Schad

Champion Purebred Bull Open Show

Exhibitor: Illg Cattle Co.

Exhibitor: Andrew Schad

Exhibitor: Missouri Meadows

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

On August 1, 2023, American Junior Black Hereford member

Jake Cox was recognized by Governor Kevin Stitt (Oklahoma) for his achievements at the 2023 American Black Hereford Junior National.

The Governor’s Proclamation read: In recognition of your extraordinary achievement at the 2023 Black Hereford Junior National. In winning Supreme Champion Female honors, you have done an exceptional job of representing the state of Oklahoma. Young agriculturalists such as yourself are not only leaders in the industry, but some of the most promising upcoming leaders in the state. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the livestock show industry and for making Oklahoma proud. Congratulations on your outstanding accomplisment!

Pictured above: Jake Cox (left), Governor Kevin Stitt (right). Pictured to the right: Governor Stitt with Oklahoma youth ehibitors.

Data Collection

Collection of Data to Enter Genetic Evaluation

Bruce L. Golden - BIF Guidelines

Data quality can be impacted by several clearly identified factors. While completeness, timeliness, accuracy, and conformity are all essential, consistency is often the least understood and most overlooked consideration for quality data. Using consistent procedures for collecting, recording, manipulating and processing data at both the farm and organization levels is the most important aspect to maintaining quality data.

In order to keep all data collected associated with an individual animal, an effective beef cattle identification system is essential. Standards have been developed for identification methods that ensure unique and accurate identification of animals during the transmission and processing of data, including genomic information. Because the number of animals processed in genetic evaluation is routinely in the millions, it is not practical to routinely use registration number information for on-farm data collection. Ear tagging and on-farm electronic identification are often implemented in place of using a full registration identifier.

Historically, many beef breed genetic evaluations were based on progeny weaned and/or registered and did not require that data be recorded from females that failed to reproduce or whose progeny were not registered.

By contrast, inventory-based Whole Herd Reporting (WHR) requires the collection of annual production and performance records on all cattle within a herd. Where possible, whole herd reporting is recommended to capture the greatest amount of complete cowherd information. Data recording on individual cows is essential for the prediction of female fertility. Cow fertility is often the most important determinant of profitability in the beef herd. Additionally, accurate and complete cow data are essential for the prediction of traits with a maternal influence (e.g. weaning weight). The female production data to be recorded on each cow must be standardized because it is often the most complex data that a producer deals with.

Regardless of whether using an inventory-based reporting system or not, accurate phenotypic data collection is vital to genetic evaluation. Collection of complete and accurate data on calves, bulls, heifers, mature cows, or fed cattle (including carcass data) is critical to making genetic improvement. Producers may also be interested in working with their breed associations to provide data for novel traits, where EPDs may be under development. When reporting these data, it is also vital to include appropriate contemporary grouping information to ensure that the data are appropriately incorporated into the evaluation.

Using consistent methods for taking animals’ weights, measures, and scores is key to accurate data. Additionally, using a commercial or breed association supplied performance recording software helps to improve the consistency of data collection and reporting. Producers are encouraged to contact their breed associations to obtain recommendations on what software may be compatible with their systems.

Data collected by commercial cattle producers are, in most cases, substantially different than data collection requirements for seedstock producers.

Extreme Heat & High Prices

Feeding Cows While Coping with Drought and High Input Costs

Alfredo DiCostanzo, Nebraska Extension Educator

Drought conditions influenced forage and grain production for nearly two years. Forage and grain yields are expected to be somewhere between 1/3 and ½ of normal. Pasture yield is also low or already out. Feeding and managing cows while coping with these conditions is a challenge complicated further by costs associated with feed delivery. Cow-calf producers must incorporate three considerations that greatly affect cow feeding costs under current economic conditions: feeding group size, energy density of feed and fuel cost.

Feeds (or mixed diets) that require extensive preparation time (loading, grinding, mixing, and delivering) will create additional feeding costs not generally considered in least cost ration formulation. Diesel price at $4.50/gallon and fuel use of 4 gallons/hour determine hourly cost of using a tractor to prepare and deliver feed at $18/hour. For an operation running diesel-fueled equipment for one hour to feed a group of 50 cattle under these conditions, the daily fuel cost alone would be $0.36/cow. Grouping cows or growing cattle in larger groups to maximize feed delivery over groups to feed is an additional consideration under current economic conditions.

Energy density of the feed ingredient selected is directly proportional to its volume. A full bucket on a 6-foot skid steer contains 800 lb of grain but fewer than 200 lb of hay. Loading 800 lb of hay will require four times the amount of movement (time) than loading 800 lb of corn.

Energy density of the feed ingredient selected also determines daily feeding cost. A bushel of corn grain is currently selling for $7.50 ($13.39/cwt) while a ton of hay may be purchased anywhere from $130 to $200/ton. Assuming a producer would purchase hay at $150 ($7.50/cwt) containing 15% moisture and 55% total digestible nutrients (TDN), the cost per unit of TDN would be $320/ton ($16.04/cwt). A ton of TDN from $7.50-per-bushel corn would be $346 ($17.29/cwt) considering corn grain contains 12% moisture and 88% TDN.

If the TDN requirement of a cow is 15 lb/day and using feed price examples described above, the daily requirement may be met using 27 lb of hay ($2.41/cow) or 17 lb of corn grain ($2.59/cow). As already proposed, the difference, $0.18/cow, may be lost if feeding equipment (tractor or tractor and mixer) must run for an additional 30 minutes while feeding hay.

Cow-calf operators are not used to feeding high-energy diets to cows. Choosing to reduce fuel and feed costs by opting to feed high-energy diets requires some preparation. Feeding from 2 to 4 lb of hay is also recommended to manage intake and prevent grain engorgement.

Prot ein requirements of mature beef cows, although low, require that, once diets are formulated, dietary protein concentration is evaluated to determine if it meets requirements. A minimum of 8% is required by mature cows that just weaned acalf to as much as 12% for lactating cows. Incorporating a high-protein co-product, such as distillers grains and solubles, is one way to properly balance the metabolizable and degradable protein requirements of cows, particularly young cows, while reducing the amount of starch cows are expected to consume. Although mixing equipment may not be necessary, allocating at least 12 to 18 inches of space per cow on the feeding trough or space is required to prevent overeating by boss cows.

Cows expected to consume 10 to 15 lb of corn grain daily may be able to ingest this amount in fewer than 3 hours. Delivering hay in a round bale feeder within a fenced area and then restricting access to this area to less than 4 hours daily would eliminate the need to deliver hay daily in a bunk or rolled out on the ground.

Cow-calf operators are advised to work with their nutritionist to evaluate alternative energy-dense feed sources and to develop diet and dietary management plans to reduce feed and feeding costs.

Beef Transport “Need to Knows:

Beef Quality Assurance During the Fall Run

Jesse Fulton, Extension Educator, Director of Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance

It seems the year is just flying by with fall already upon us, which means it is about time for the “Fall Run”. Millions of cattle are being transported across the U.S. over many miles. A past Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) survey indicated that feeder calves traveling to Texas or Nebraska feedyards traveled 468 ± 415 miles.

Because we live in the age of “everyone has a camera in their hand”, it is important for producers and livestock haulers to remember that during this time, our bumper-pull trailers, gooseneck trailers, or cattle pots are giant billboards for the cattle industry. As cattle industry representatives, we must always be aware that our actions during cattle transport could be scrutinized. Additionally, the condition of the cattle we are transporting could also come under scrutiny and should also be considered.

Because transportation can be a stressful period for cattle, it is important that we do everything we can to limit the stress on animals being transported. If we don’t, we may see negative impacts on cattle welfare and performance due to stress. Research has shown that stress from shipping can have an impact on calves’ immunity and prolong the amount of time calves are off feed following shipping.

There are several pre-shipping suggestions that have been made as a result of previous research. These include:

Cattle are fed and watered within five hours prior to being loaded if the trip length is over 12 hours.

Cattle being loaded for trips longer than four hours should be fed within 24 hours prior to loading.

Cattle should have access to water at all times prior to loading.

Cattle should be handled as little and as gently as possible prior to transport.

Cattle should receive a minimum of five hours of rest, following 48 hours of transport.

Cattle should be in good health and fit for transport.

--

Do NOT transport non-ambulatory cattle.

Do NOT transport cattle showing signs of sickness or actively sick.

Do NOT transpoort cattle with a body condition score less than or equal to 2.

...Beef Transport “Need to Knows” continued from page 32 This will reduce the time commitment it requires if you need both and choose to certify online. More information on in-person events can be found online at bqa.unl.edu. Additionally, certified NEBQA trainers across the state of Nebraska can also be found online.

The National Beef Quality Assurance Transportation (BQAT) program works hard to ensure cattle producers and haulers are well aware of the industry standards and expectations when it comes to cattle transport. This program covers best management practices of several different topics for those transporting cattle, including Principles of Stockmanship, the importance of biosecurity, evaluation of fitness for transport, pre-trip planning and loading, considerations during travel, unloading, and risk and emergency management. Because the cattle industry sees the importance and value of the BQAT program, many major packers require BQAT certification for anyone delivering cattle to their plants.

It is easy to get BQAT certified. The recommendation of the Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance (NEBQA) program is to get certified in-person. If you attend an in-person NEBQA event, you will achieve your BQA and BQAT certification all at one meeting.

While we recommend attending an in-person meeting, we understand that sometimes it just isn’t feasible to leave the operation. Therefore, those wishing to become certified can do so online. By going to BQA.org, you can certify in either the BQA or BQAT programs. Each program requires about 2 – 3 hours of time to complete.

This article was written deriving information from Schwartzkopf-Genswein K., J. Ahola, L. Edwards-Callaway, D. Hale, and J. Paterson. 2015. Symposia: Transportation issues impacting cattle well-being and considerations for the future.

BREEDER DIRECTORY ALABAMA

REGISTERED BLACK HEREFORD CATTLE FOR SALE: BULLS & HEIFERS

WILLIAMS FARM

292 William Lane Boaz, AL 35957

DWIGHT WILLIAMS (256) 572 - 6926

drwilliamsfarm@gmail.com

NEW MEMBERS

ARKANSAS

DIAMOND D FARMS

Luke Davis

166 Ransom Smith Rd

Pleasant Plans, AR 72568

(501) 388 - 6087

GEORGIA

CLASSIC CITY CATTLE

CO.

Ryan Griffiths

1880 Cleveland Rd

Bogart, GA 30622

(706) 248 - 3833

RED MEADOWS

CATTLE COMPANY

Josh Claxton

145 New Home Church Rd

Wrightsville, GA 31096

(478) 278 - 0142

IOWA

WILSON FARMS

Chris Wilson

3382 190th St

Creston, IA 50801

(641) 745 - 0323

IOWA KENTUCKY

HESPERIA ACRES

Cory Lundgren

2557 310th St

Lehigh, IA 50557

(515) 571 - 2370

T BONE CATTLE

COMPANY

Scott Prunty

1077 275th Ave

Osceola, IA 50213

(641) 344 - 6683

ILLINOIS

PA’S CATTLE FARM

Jared & Brianna Lowry

14495 N Cline Orchard Rd

Martinsville, IL 62442

(217) 251 - 3331

KENTUCKY

KLM FARM

Kim Lane & Lacy May

2087 Hwy 882

Ezel, KY 41425

(606) 495 - 0814

Bryan & Alayna Jacobs

18750 Bonds Mill Rd

Lawrenceburg, KY 40342

(606) 584 - 7173

MISSOURI

ILLG CATTLE COMPANY

Chris & Susan Illg

13299 Bear Ave

Cainsville, MO 64632

(660) 425 - 2561

LITTLE SAC RANCH

Nathan Riley

796 S Conroy Ave

Republic, MO 65738

(785) 341 - 3672

MISSISSIPPI

HARRIS FARMS

Brian & Chelsea Harris

1338 Rowell Rd

Coldwater, MS 38618

(662) 292 - 1878

SOUTH DAKOTA

T - BAR CATTLE

Claire McReynolds

203 S 8th St

Onida, SD 57564

(979) 240 - 1238

TENNESSEE

Bobby Bogle

7284 Old Cox Pike

Bon Aqua, TN 37025

(615) 517 - 1006

TEXAS

VIOLET CATTLE CO

Kyle Violet

10013 FM 2767

Tyler, TX 75708

(903) 920 - 4067

VIRGINIA

WHITE FARM

Spencer White

592 Farmland Dr

Lebanon, VA 24266

(276) 202 - 3920

https://blackhereford.org

Wesley & Andrea Edwards

320 Hurricane Dr

Nickelsville, VA 24271

(423) 502 - 4108