FEBRUARY 2016 | WWW.GELBVIEH.ORG
In this Issue: Visual Observation and Data Collection Unite to Create a More Profitable Cow Why Gelbvieh and Balancer®?
The Avenues to Efficiency
The American Gelbvieh Association is Providing Added Services to all Cattlemen
Improved efficiency in the beef herd can be a hard goal to define. Producers are likely to talk about the need to improve efficiency without knowing what needs to be done in order to achieve improvements in their herds. By Rebecca Mettler
First Annual Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup
Missouri in mid-December 2015. As a geneticist, Kuehn thinks of cowherd efficiency from a data and scientific standpoint and he encourages cattle producers to think of efficiency with a biological focus based on lifetime performance of the cowherd. “In terms of having a cow that lasts two decades and produces a calf every year; those are all ways to visualize that same package of what we are trying to achieve,” Kuehn said. “When we define it from a data standpoint, we need to make improvements on this.”
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arry Kuehn, Ph.D., research geneticist with the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC), part of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, in Clay Center, Nebraska spoke at the first annual Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup during the 45th Annual American Gelbvieh Association National Convention held in Kansas City,
Factors in cowherd efficiency include fertility, cow intake (consumed) and energy requirements, calf survival, calf growth, calf intake and longevity. USMARC has been conducting efficiency and lifetime productivity research for many decades. Most of the work is focused on improving group averages; most traditional measures of efficiency are summarized over a whole Continued on page 8
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