OCTOBER 2015 | WWW.GELBVIEH.ORG
In this Issue: How Well Do You Really Know Your Cows? Add Pounds and Profit with Gelbvieh and Balancer® Females Do Your Feeder Cattle Demand a Premium? Add Value to Gelbvieh and Balancer® Through Cooperative Marketing
The Age of Information The beef industry is no stranger to change. From importing the first non-native cattle to the U.S. in the early 1900s, to the first across-herd genetic evaluation in the 1970s, to the boom of performance testing in the 1980s, ranchers have always had to move at the speed of change to keep up with the industry. By Kari White
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oday, the beef industry is experiencing another era of rapid change. Input prices are higher, cattle prices are higher, and consumer preference plays an unprecedented role in production. The good news? Ranchers now have more tools than ever to evaluate and make changes in their herds. Multi-breed comparable EPDs, genomic enhanced accuracies, and advanced data management systems make today’s beef industry the age of information. In order to participate in using this information, it is vital that all producers actively collect data at the ranch level. Why is it so important for producers to collect data on their animals? The simplest answer is you can’t improve on what you don’t measure. “The ability to measure performance is a key component in all beef cow operations,” say John Arthington and James Stice in University of Florida IFAS Extension bulletin number AN129. “Regardless of size, producers must be able to identify the current status of their operation in order to make adjustments toward improvement.” Data collection can seem a large task if you think about all the traits available for evaluation on cattle, but you don’t have
to collect them all! Setting a breeding goal for your operation is a great place to start. Think about your bottom line; what traits are important for you to be profitable? Calving ease might be a good place to start. No one wants the vet bill that comes from having to assist a female in calving, and recording which females calved unassisted can be a great culling tool in deciding which heifers to retain for replacements. Do you sell calves at weaning? Weaning weights would be another great piece of information to record. Knowing which females produced the most profitable calves at sale helps you decide which animals to keep in your breeding herd. Are you in an area with limited feed resources? Keeping an eye on the mature weight of your cows can be instrumental in making sure you have cows whose input requirements match your environment. The second component in using data collected on-ranch is storing it in a format that is easy to access. Collecting large amounts of data won’t be helpful if it stays locked in your calving book. Ranch specific data management programs are a great way to keep track of your animals and their data, all in one place. Many new Continued on page 8
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