Genetic Risk Management
All the data, All the time – Because Accuracy Matters
Risk management is of utmost importance to ensure your ability to stay in business and to be profitable. This risk management should extend not only to marketing, but to your cow herd genetics as well. Consider this. Shopping for a new bull this spring you intentionally select for maternal traits to move your cow herd forward. It will be fall 2020, some 40 months away, before you wean the first calves out of his daughters. Make a selection error, and you will have slowed your progress by 3 years, not to mention the 3 additional calf crops already in the pipeline! Make a good educated genetic investment, and you are propelling your cow herd toward your goal of better mama cows. So, what can you do to protect yourself? Risk management for your cow herd. Every registered Red Angus bull has a full suite of EPD’s assigned to them when they are registered. They get these EPDs regardless of how little or much data was collected to aid in their calculation. Animals with less phenotypic or genomic data collected have a lower published accuracy. The accuracy predicts how much their EPD’s are subject to change. Obviously, the less actual data reported into meaningful contemporary groups, the more likely the EPDs are to swing. Many seedstock providers are what we term “genetic freeloaders”. Collecting minimal data, they rely on others to gather the information that will ultimately be used to calculate EPD’s for their cattle. This suite of EPDs has the opportunity to change radically from what you thought you were getting when you bought those genetics because there isn’t enough data to make an accurate prediction. Mushrush Red Angus cattle carry some of the highest accuracies in the industry. Many of our yearling bulls rival others with two calf crops on the ground. We have obtained this status by judiciously reporting all of the data, all the time! This hedge against uncertainty gives you peace of mind that you are getting what you paid for when you invest in Mushrush Red Angus genetics. Risk Management!
Mushrush Red Angus Risk Management for your Cowherd All the Data, All the Time...
Cow weight & BCS on every cow - every year Birth Weight • Weaning Weight Actual & Carcass Scan Data Heifer Pregnancy • Yearling Weight Cow Stayability • Feed-Efficiency Data DNA Parentage & Genomically Enhanced EPDs Visual Evaluation for Structure & Udder Quality Accurate Data from Large Meaningful Contemporary Groups
Better Data = Accurate EPDs = Profitable Customers