2021 Spring Directions

N A T I O N A L CATTLEMEN

The trusted leader and definitive voice of U.S. cattle and beef industry

2021 SPRING DIRECTIONS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF NCBA

NCBA.org

N A T I O N A L

CATTLEMEN

TA B L E O F

CONTENTS

4..................LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT 5.......................................LETTER FROM THE CEO THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF NCBA 2021 NCBA Leadership: President President-elect Vice President Treasurer Federation Division Chair Federation Division Vice- Chair Policy Division Chair Policy Division Vice-Chair Immediate Past President Chief Executive Officer Senior Editors

Jerry Bohn Don Schiefelbein Todd Wilkinson Joe Guild Clay Burtrum Brad Hastings Mark Eisele Buck Wehrbein Marty Smith Colin Woodall

16.............................................WEATHER OUTLOOK

John Robinson Jill Johnson

44..............................................CATTLE MARKETING

Contributing Writers Creative Director Graphic Designer

10........................................................BEEF DEMAND

Wendy White Don Waite Dancinee Jennings

For ad sales, contact Shannon Wilson 303-850-3345, Nicole Bechtel 303-850-3465, or Jill DeLucero 303-850-3321.

20.......SUSTAINABILITY AND STEWARDSHIP 28.....................REPRODUCTION AND NUTRITION 36............................GENETICS AND INVESTMENTS

52...............................................STOCKMANSHIP 58...........................................................HERD HEALTH 64.............................STOCKMANSHIP BY WELFARE

Contact NCBA: 9110 E. Nichols Ave., Suite 300, Centennial, CO 80112 (303-694-0305); Washington D.C.: 1275 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Suite 801, Washington, D.C. 20004 (202-347-0228). National Cattlemen’s Beef Association reserves the right to refuse advertising in any of its publications. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association does not accept political advertising in any of its publications. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association does not accept any advertising promoting third-party lawsuits that have not been endorsed by the board of directors. ©2021 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. All rights reserved.

The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or part, without the prior written consent of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

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Jerry Bohn NCBA President Kansas

Clay Burtrum NCBA Federation Chair Oklahoma

Don Schiefelbein NCBA President-Elect Minnesota

Brad Hastings NCBA Federation Vice-Chair Texas

Mark Eisele NCBA Policy Chair Wyoming

Todd Wilkinson NCBA Vice President South Dakota

Buck Wehrbein NCBA Policy Vice-Chair Nebraska

DENVER OFFICE

9110 E. Nichols Ave. Suite 300 Centennial, CO 80112 303-694-0305 membership@beef.org

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE Joe Guild NCBA Treasurer Nevada

Marty Smith Immediate Past President Tennessee

Colin Woodall NCBA CEO Colorado

1275 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Suite 801 Washington, D.C. 20004-1701 202-347-0228

As we prepared to send the spring edition of Directions to print, I was struck by how many of the conversations circulating in Washington, D.C., and across the countryside are built on a foundation of work our producers are already doing. That leadership is part of our heritage and yet is too often ignored by detractors of animal agriculture.

LETTER FROM THE

PRESIDENT Jerry Bohn, NCBA President There are several things you can count on holding true for most cattle producers across our industry. They will go to any length to care for their livestock, they invest in improving resources like soil and water, they care deeply about passing down a legacy to their children — and they are unlikely to brag about any of this.

As we prepared to send the spring edition of Directions to print, I was struck by how many of the conversations circulating in Washington, D.C., and across the countryside are built on a foundation of work our producers are already doing. That leadership is part of our heritage and yet is too often ignored by detractors of animal agriculture.

On transportation, our policy team is working hard to get legislation like the HAULS Act and Modernizing Agricultural Transportation Act across the finish line. These measures would give producers and livestock haulers the regulatory flexibility they need to safely and humanely transport cattle. As NCBA engages with lawmakers on these bills, our case is made for us by the record of success that haulers already have seen. We know, when given the opportunity, our people can maintain safety on our roads and protect the highest standards of animal welfare in transit.

On sustainability, our producer education team is leading a series of webinars this spring that showcase the knowledge and scientific research industry leaders have been refining for years to help producers increase their profits and make the best decisions for the ecological health of their land. Many public figures have made the news recently for comments on the cattle and beef industry, but their remarks betray how behind they are on these issues. Cattle producers have long worked to improve 4

NATIONAL CATTLEMEN

efficiency and reduce environmental impact, while still improving the quality of the beef we deliver to consumers. Producers have made significant strides in efficiency. The amount of water used to produce one pound of beef has declined 12 percent, and the industry’s carbon footprint has gone down 16 percent. We must be proactive about broadcasting these successes.

On the issue of taxes, once again, the cattle industry is proactive rather than reactive. NCBA is leading the industry in a letter campaign to increase the pressure on lawmakers to permanently repeal the death tax. We are also advocating for the preservation of policies that allow agricultural producers to operate more efficiently by managing their tax liabilities through critical tools like the step up in basis and like-kind exchanges.

NCBA is out front on legislative solutions to protect provisions in the tax code that ultimately ensure the viability of family-owned farms and ranches.

When decisionmakers and advocates rail against animal agriculture, there is hardly a concern they can name that cattle producers have not already arrived at first — and worked to fix, even at great personal and financial cost to their own operation.

Producers are consistently ahead of the curve. This clear record of initiative and innovation on everything from climate issues to transportation is also a clear indication that we can be trusted to do the right thing voluntarily, without government overreach.

As NCBA continues to work to increase profitability for producers, we will also continue to find ways to highlight the work producers are already doing. Our industry has an excellent story to tell, and you can count on us to shout it from the proverbial rooftop.

SPRING DIRECTIONS 2021

Since its debut, the annual spring edition of Directions has become increasingly popular due to its coverage of the latest innovations and insights into cattle production and management practices. In the past, this edition has been an extension of the great work of NCBA’s Producer Education team with Cattlemen’s College and the monthly Cattlemen’s Webinar Series. Without Cattlemen’s College taking place during its usual time as part of our annual convention, this edition of Directions is even more impactful. Inside you will find coverage on herd health plans, reproduction, nutrition needs, cattle marketing and much more.

You will also find articles on genetics, stewardship and sustainability. I specifically call these three out because of the enhanced importance they currently play in the cattle business.

Grocery retailers, restaurants, food service, President Biden and our consumers are asking more questions about where their food comes from, how it is produced, and its impact on the environment. I do not view these inquiries as being invasive, but rather, I see this as a unique opportunity to tell our story. We have all experienced a time when somebody was telling a story we just were not interested in. They probably put all their passion into telling it, but it just did not resonate; we let our minds wonder due to this lack of interest. For years, we have been encouraging you to tell your story, but not everybody was interested in hearing it. Now, we have more and more of their attention, so let us capitalize on it.

So much of our collective story is based on how you and your family are stewards of the soil, grass, air, water, wildlife and the

welfare of your cattle. Our customers must understand that without healthy land, we do not have a business, lifestyle, or a place to raise our families. More than that, we need to showcase the “superpower” of ruminants by explaining that we take grass, legumes, forbs and other forages that have absolutely no nutritional value to humans and allow our cattle to use rumination to turn them into the best beef in the world.

We call that upcycling, and the response we get when we talk about it has been tremendous. We are finding ways to take the complex nature of what we do and put it in terms that our customers can understand.

Now, back to why this edition of Directions is so important.

Part of our positive story hinges on the successes we have had in improving the way we produce beef. Between 1961 and 2018, the U.S. beef industry reduced the emissions per pound of beef by more than 40 percent while also producing more than 66 percent more beef per animal. We did that thanks to the research, genetic improvement and focus on the customer. The cattle business committed to this without the EPA, Congress or the White House telling us to do so. That is leadership, and the great news is we have not stopped improving. Our commitment to continual improvement is how we wrap up our story. By committing to improve ourselves, our operations and our cattle, we can ensure that our engagement in the sustainability and climate discussion will be done on our terms rather than waiting to see what burdens the government or other groups put on us. Enjoy this edition of Directions and keep learning!

LETTER FROM THE

CEO

Colin Woodall, NCBA CEO

So much of our collective story is based on how you and your family are stewards of the soil, grass, air, water, wildlife and the welfare of your cattle. Our customers must understand that without healthy land, we do not have a business, lifestyle, or a place to raise our families.

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SPRING DIRECTIONS 2021

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CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY

These are companies that have teamed with NCBA as corporate members, demonstrating their commitment to the beef industry. Their involvement strengthens our future. NCBA members are urged to support these partners in turn by purchasing their products and services. Those who would like to become corporate members with NCBA (securing premium booth placement at the annual convention and trade show as well as other membership benefits), please call the Corporate Relations team at 303-694-0305.

Animal Health International

Micro Technologies

www.animalhealthinternational.com

www.microtechnologies.com

Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Inc.

Moly Manufacturing

Caterpillar

New Holland Agriculture

Central Life Sciences

Purina Animal Nutrition LLC

Corteva Agriscience™

Ritchie Industries Inc.

www.bi-vetmedica.com/species/cattle.html

www.molymfg.com

www.cat.com

www.newholland.com

www.centrallifesciences.com

www.purinamills.com/cattle

www.corteva.com

www.ritchiefount.com

John Deere

www.deere.com

Masey Ferguson

www.agcocorp.com/brands/massey-ferguson

(Minimum $100,000 Investment)

Merck Animal Health

Roto-Mix

www.rotomix.com

Zoetis Animal Health www.zoetis.com

www.merck-animal-health-usa.com Allflex Livestock Intelligence Bayer Environmental Sciences CHR HANSEN Elanco Animal Health Farm Credit Council 44 Farms ADM Animal Nutrition, Inc. AgriPrime Insurance Agency Agri-Pro Enterprises of Iowa, Inc. AgriWebb Alltech, Inc. American National Insurance Anipro Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production Arrowquip Bank of America Merrill Lynch Barenbrug USA Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Behlen Manufacturing Bimeda BioZyme Cargill Animal Nutrition Case IH Certified Hereford Beef CME Group DATAMARS Livestock Dell Technologies Diamond V ENDOVAC Animal Health Food Safety Net Services Furst-McNess Company Gallagher Gravely, an Ariens Company American Foods Group Cargill Meat Solutions Certified Angus Beef Culver’s Darden Restaurants empirical Fareway Stores, Inc. Five Guys

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Huvepharma, Inc. Lallemand Animal Nutrition Norbrook, Inc. Rabo AgriFinance RAM Trucks Greeley Hat Works Growsafe Systems LTD Hayden Outdoors Real Estate Hyundai Construction Equipment IMI Global International Stock Food Kent Nutrition Group Krone Kubota Tractor Corporation

Kunafin “The Insectary” Laird Manufacturing Meat & Livestock Australia, Ltd. Micronutrients National Corn Growers Association Neogen New Generation Supplements Noble Research Institute

Novus International Parker McCrory PBS Animal Health Phibro Animal Health Priefert Ranch Equipment QualiTech, Inc Quality Liquid Feeds R&R Machine Works RFD-TV Roper/Stetson/Tin Haul Apparel and Footwear Stone Manufacturing Superior Livestock Syngenta Tarter Farm and Ranch Equipment The Hartford Livestock Insurance The Vit-E-Men Co. Inc./Life Products Trans Ova Genetics U.S. Premium Beef Vermeer Vitalix Westway Feeds Y-Tex Zinpro Performance Minerals McDonald’s Corporation National Beef Packing Omaha Steaks Performance Food Group Preferred Beef Group Tyson Fresh Meats Wendy’s International

SPRING DIRECTIONS 2021

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B E E F DEMAND 10

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SPRING DIRECTIONS 2021

Consumer Beef Demand

By Jayson Lusk, Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University Shawn Darcy, Senior Director, Market Research, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association There seems to be a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, with signs that businesses, schools and lives are beginning to return to normal. As with most challenging situations, opportunities usually present themselves, and it is no different for the beef industry during these difficult times.

Although COVID-19 impacted consumer buying behaviors and foodservice sales decreased significantly, one thing is certain, consumers are still hungry for beef.

State of the Consumer The “State of the Consumer” report released last fall by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, highlights the impacts of COVID-19 disruptions to the food industry. The report, available at www. beefresearch.org, explains that as the pandemic grew and a sense of uncertainty swept the country, consumers’ food purchasing behaviors shifted. Foodservice saw transactions down nearly 80 percent at full-service restaurants and more than 40 percent at quick-service restaurants during the peak of the outbreak due to widespread dining room closures and stay-at-home orders.1 On the flip side, consumers started stocking up at their local grocery store at an unprecedented national level.

Over 60 percent of consumers claimed to be stocking up at least a little more than they typically would have due to the pandemic.2 Retail sales skyrocketed, and looking at meat specifically, sales in July 2020 were 36 percent higher than 2019. For context, 1-2 percent growth in a typical year would be very positive. As a result, 91 percent of consumers experienced out-of-stocks on meat or poultry during the pandemic.3 Beef specifically saw a week in March 2020 with nearly a 90 percent growth year-over-year and continues to maintain levels consistently around 20 percent4 higher than 2019. In fact, share of dollars for beef in the fresh meat department grew from 53 percent pre-pandemic to nearly 58 percent during the pandemic.4 Even as of fall 2020, consumers said that 83 percent of their meals were being cooked at home, and the majority claimed they did so because of the pandemic.2

With consumers cooking more at home than ever before, they actively looked for meal preparation ideas and recipes to eat the food they had on hand.2 Searches for things like “how can I make” saw significant jumps during the peak of the pandemic and continue to be prominent.

Taste and the eating experience still dominated the buying decision process, along with value aspects, but versatility and convenience also popped up as primary drivers of consumption during this time.5 Ground beef made up a large portion of the growth beef experienced through the pandemic4 with 55 percent of consumers stocking up on ground beef for their freezers.2 While many things were negatively impacted, an area that saw tremendous promise was e-commerce, specifically, online meal and grocery ordering. During the pandemic, 67 percent of consumers claimed they had ordered groceries online at some point and 86 percent claimed to have ordered a meal online.6 Regarding meat, 73 percent of online baskets contained meat during this time.3 Even search behavior behind online grocery

and meal ordering jumped as the pandemic took off in the spring and consumers were looking for solutions to limiting exposure to others.

While the rationale has switched from things like convenience to COVID-19 related, the fact remains that during this time consumers were satisfied with the experience they were getting.

When asked directly about beef, only 5 percent of consumers, whether discussing grocery or meal ordering, indicated they were unsatisfied with their beef experience.

Despite changing behaviors due to challenging times, beef is in a good position and consumer perception of the beef industry has positively shifted. From January to December 2020, the percentage of consumers claiming to eat beef at least weekly increased from 67 percent to 71 percent compared to 2019. In addition, the number of people with a positive perception of beef has increased, resulting in positive perceptions reaching 70 percent for the first time. Furthermore, positive production perceptions regarding how cattle are raised have increased 18 percent compared to 2019.5 Continued on page 14

Online Grocery & Meal Ordering Many consumers are online grocery and meal shopping, many recently increasing the frequency of this behavior

67%

Of consumers are currently buying groceries online

How this behavior has changed during the pandemic…

51%

Increased

53% 21%

Just started

86%

Of consumers are currently ordering meals online

16% 22%

Unchanged

Decreased

26% 6% 11% тц

Source: Online Grocery and Meal Ordering, April 2020

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SPRING SPRINGDIRECTIONS DIRECTIONS2021 2021

d n o B e h T between humans and cattle is ancient and deep.

It’s a centuries-old promise to provide for them as they provide for you. It’s our duty to help protect that sacred bond. We provide solutions for every stage of production that help make the bond stronger, healthier and more robust. This is what defines us. We are born of the bond.

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BornOfTheBond.com

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Current Consumer Trends (From the “State of the Consumer” Report) •

Positive consumer perceptions of beef and beef production increased during the pandemic and will likely remain higher for the next several months.

•

Beef demand has remained strong to-date. Consumers increased weekly beef eatings and were willing to pay more for the product.

•

Online ordering for both groceries and meal ordering is likely here to stay.

•

Consumers are cooking more meals at home now than prior to COVID-19.

•

Consumers are more focused on spending their money on essential needs, such as groceries, household supplies and personal care and cleaning products.

Trending Weekly Consumption Beef and chicken are consumed by most consumers on a weekly or more basis At Least Weekly Consumption

80% 67%

25% 2019

83%

83%

82%

70%

72%

73%

28%

28%

Jan-20

Feb-20

33%

Mar-20

Source: Consumer Tracker Source: Consumer BeefBeef Tracker 2019 –2019-Dec Aug 2020 2020

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86% 76%

81% 74%

28%

28%

Apr-20

May-20

82% 74%

35%

Jun-20

82%

80%

80%

70%

72%

71%

31%

33%

Aug-20

Sep-20

36%

Jul-20

77%

78%

67%

67%

27%

28%

Oct-20

Nov-20

80% 70%

32%

20-Dec ух

SPRING DIRECTIONS 2021

Continued from page 12 Industry Impacts During the early stages of the pandemic when grocery store shelves were empty, meat, and beef in particular, was in high demand among consumers as they stocked their freezers; signaling that beef was a product that consumers turned to during the pandemic crisis.

Disruptions caused by the pandemic shed light on food system vulnerabilities, and it was not limited to the beef industry. When foodservice operations closed and consumers focused their food buying at retail, products such as eggs found difficulty in shifting market segments. Eggs for foodservice, typically sold as powder or pasteurized liquid, weren’t conducive for retail sales.

Packaging such as egg cartons was also difficult to find, and certain regulations prevented the free flow of products from one segment to another.

For beef, the hourglass shape of the food system, with fewer processors in the middle, created a constraint, and when one plant closed, it impacted the entire system. There could be a number of dynamics that will surface over the next few years to try to increase resiliency in the food system. One of the

issues faced during the middle of the packing plant shutdowns was not enough capacity in the system, but increasing capacity is expensive.

When COVID-19 first started impacting the United States and packing plants closed, cattle prices tumbled. Even though retail beef prices increased, beef still went missing from store shelves and consumers reached out to producers directly to find product. The situation opened up some opportunities that the industry didn’t see before and one is taking advantage of the increased consumer interest in local and regional processors.

Experts suggest there will continue to be opportunities for producers to have a more direct link with consumers than they've had in the past along with discussions about incentivizing smaller and mid-sized packers to add more redundancy to the system.

Even with the turmoil over the last year, beef demand remains strong. Experts said there has been a lot of volatility, but estimates suggest that wholesale beef demand is 15 percent higher now than it was at the beginning of 2019. Consumer demand is strong and will hopefully provide positive outcomes for producers.

1

The NPD group COVID-19 Situation Analysis and Crest Performance Alerts

4

2

Beef Behaviors and COVID Report, April-September 2020

5

The Midyear Power of Meat 2020

6

3

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IRI Total US, MULO, 1 week % change vs. YA – August 2020

Consumer Beef Tracker; January 2020-December 2020 Online Grocery and Meal Ordering Reports, April 2020

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Expectations for the Coming Year

By Don Day, Jr., Meteorologist A big question headed into the summer season will be the status of the La Niña weather pattern that has dominated weather patterns across the nation since the spring and summer of 2020. The colder subtropical Pacific waters have left a large part of the central and western U.S. in a drier than normal weather pattern in 2020 and into the beginning of 2021.

While the impacts of La Niña are not as noticeable from the Great Lakes to the East Coast as in the central and western states, La Niña can still impact weather patterns in those areas, especially regarding an increase in severe weather and an uptick in tropical storm and hurricane activity along the Gulf and East Coast.

There are areas of the nation where we have concerns about drought conditions continuing and parts of the nation that may have too much rainfall as we head in the spring and summer seasons. The forecast for

summer of 2021 will rely heavily on whether La Niña will persist, fade or head into a weak El Niño by the end of summer.

All indications suggest La Niña will persist through spring, summer and early fall. If this is the case, then the tendency for drier than normal conditions over parts of the central and western states will continue.

La Niña patterns usually last for around a year, but near or during solar minimums (solar minimum in early 2020), La Niña patterns can last up to two years.

The adjacent graphic shows the most recent forecast for La Niña/El Niño through summer and the start of the winter season. The solid green line (average of all the modeling) stays below the zero line which indicates at least a weak La Niña will persist through summer and into the fall season and perhaps into the early 2022. If La Niña persists, even in a weaker state than in 2020, the overall patterns we observed during the summer of 2020 may continue into 2021.

WEATHER OUTLOOK 16

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SPRING DIRECTIONS 2021

Without a doubt, the areas of the nation most impacted by La Niña have been the western states as well as the far western Corn Belt. Those areas had a very dry 2020 and the start of 2021 has continued those trends with only a few exceptions.

On the flip side, we have observed wet conditions in some areas, especially in parts of the southeast.

The graphic below shows the soil moisture deficits right at the end of winter. The green areas show above normal soil moisture, white areas near normal and brown/red colors where it is the driest. While the large and very wet storm that hit parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota in March helped those areas erase some of the deficit, you can see that a large part of West is in drought with some dry areas in the western Corn Belt.

Historically speaking, La Niña patterns usually bring drier conditions to the west and central areas of the U.S. and this past year was no exception. In the southern areas of the U.S. and parts of the southeast, the historical trends suggest above average precipitation during La Niña as well as an enhanced threat of severe weather: hail, heavy rain, tornadoes and tropical activity.

Therefore, as we look ahead into the spring and fall of 2021, if La Niña persists, we will experience similar temperature and

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precipitation patterns across the U.S. like we observed in 2020.

This does not mean the weather will be the exactly the same for your area as last year but rather the “tendencies” will be similar; drier in the West and parts of the central U.S. and more wet in the south and southeastern states.

Despite the stormy March pattern that did bring relief in dryness for some areas of the central and western U.S., it was only enough to put a dent in the drought conditions. For the drought areas of the West, late spring and early summer precipitation needs to be above average to erase the drought completely and if La Niña persists in some form that will be hard to accomplish.

Although most La Niña patterns last only a year or so, stubborn La Niña patterns can last up to two years. It appears that we have a stubborn La Niña persisting through 2021.

One potential bright spot for the very dry western and southwestern states may be a better rain producing monsoon season. From June through July in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and parts of Colorado, there is a natural flow of moisture from the South that brings heavy rain producing thunderstorms.

In July and August, this pattern expands more northward into all of Colorado and parts of Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.

In 2020, the monsoon was very weak and was part of the issue

SPRING SPRINGDIRECTIONS DIRECTIONS2021 2021

with last year’s wildfire season. However, there are some hints that this year’s summer monsoon may be a bit more productive which would be good news for rangeland conditions.

The graphic below shows the tendencies for precipitation from June through August 2021. The model sees what should be expected if La Niña persists. Dry (brown) in many areas of the central, west, Corn Belt and Northern Plains, while wet conditions (green) in parts of the east and southeast. This is remarkably like what was observed in the summer of 2020.

Unless there is a major shift in sea surface temperatures (turning warmer) in the subtropical Pacific late this spring (unlikely) then beef producers in the central and west need to prepare for drier than normal conditions again this summer while beef producers in parts of the east and south will have adequate or above normal rainfall.

It is possible that the La Niña of 2021 may be weaker than 2020, which would mean the extremes (dryness or wetness) may not be as intense. However, even with a weaker La Niña in place the tendencies will remain the same as the past year.

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SUSTAINABILITY & STEWARDSHIP

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Sustainable Cattle Production

By Jason E. Sawyer, Associate Professor and Research Scientist, King Ranch® Institute for Ranch Management Myriah D. Johnson, Senior Director, Beef Sustainability Research, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Headlines, soundbites and social media posts questioning the sustainability of beef production can be overwhelming. While the tone of the public conversation about beef sustainability can often seem negative, there are many positives we need to make sure are not left out of the conversation.

Sustainable food production is a legitimate concern as the global population continues to increase. On a global scale, producing enough food in a manner that conserves resources so the capacity of future generations remains intact to produce food and fiber, is a meaningful objective. Fundamentally, that is the foundation of discussions about sustainability. Beef offers some important advantages as a nutrient rich food source for humans. A foundational sustainability value proposition of beef within the food system is ‘upcycling’ – the transformation of resources that cannot be directly used by humans into high value protein, micronutrients and a host of components used in other important food and non-food products. For example, beef cattle are capable of utilizing forages grown on sites unsuitable for efficient food crop production. These grazing systems are important examples of renewable resource use, and grazing can actually enhance these resources for other multiple uses while making substantial contributions to the food supply. Cattle also utilize co-products from other food processing systems, such as distillers grain, cottonseed and beet pulp, which themselves are renewable resources. Cattle also upgrade the protein value of feed grains that are produced in excess of needs for direct human consumption by converting them to a protein source that more closely matches the human protein requirements.1 Because beef production is based on use of renewable resources, it is fundamentally (or potentially) an indefinitely sustainable system.

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Original concerns about sustainable food production involve ensuring that resource use does not compromise future productivity. It is also logical to consider other impacts that could compromise not only future beef production, but other important provisioning functions. Current characterization of sustainability of systems incorporates these broad effects into three pillar areas that are collectively used to assess sustainable practices: environmental, economic and social impacts of systems are all important considerations, and all can be impacted by any food production system. These factors are interrelated, and trade-offs may exist among them, which increases the complexity of evaluating or defining sustainability. A focus on the potential negative impacts in one area may distort or hide the actual positive contributions of beef systems in the same or other areas, and it is essential that the positives be defined as well to avoid ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’.

Economic sustainability is an important feature of any system. Factors such as producer profitability, financial benchmarking, generational transfer, economic impact through tax contributions, donations by producers, job creation and overall contributions to economic growth are all important descriptors of economic dimensions

of sustainability. It is important for both producers and consumers to recognize that in food production systems, strategies that increase profitability of producers often are based on increases in efficiency of resource use per unit of output, which may indicate improvements in conservation of resources and reduced environmental impact. As profitability increases, more production is encouraged, resulting in lower prices for consumers and better access to food for all. Economic viability of production is therefore a positive indicator for producers and consumers alike, and often results in positive impacts in environmental and social dimensions of sustainability as well. To further define the extent and nature of these related impacts, checkoff-funded research will evaluate how the presence of beef cattle production in rural areas helps to provide community stability through their contribution to local economies and employment, reduce poverty and improve quality of life in rural communities.

Additional ongoing research will define and highlight the contribution of U.S. beef production and processing to the U.S. economy through gross sales, wages, and total economic value added (employee compensation, proprietary income, returns to capital and taxes).

Continued on page 24

It is important for both producers and consumers to recognize that in food production systems, strategies that increase profitability of producers often are based on increases in efficiency of resource use per unit of output, which may indicate improvements in conservation of resources and reduced environmental impact. As profitability increases, more production is encouraged, resulting in lower prices for consumers and better access to food for all.

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“We manage forage to provide the protein and energy cattle need to be successful.”

DR. NANCY JACKSON, DVM

SOUTHERN CROSS FARM, MISSISSIPPI

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Continued from page 22 While economic contributions are important dimensions of sustainability, they are also related to other impacts on people and communities. Social dimensions of sustainable production systems are often described by factors such as community participation and resilience, providing safe and decent work environments, cultural preservation, recreational benefits, animal health and well-being, and consumer health and safety. The 2017 Cattlemen’s Stewardship Review found that beef cattle farmers and ranchers are highly engaged citizens compared to the general population, with 97 percent voting, 39 percent volunteering with civic organizations, and approximately 50 percent of those surveyed have run for an elected office.2 Current research is working to apply social sustainability benchmarking methodologies to the beef industry as well as assessing the level of community security in areas where beef cattle production exists.

Just as economic viability has ramifications for social dimensions of sustainability, societal concerns about impacts of current practices on moral and ethical issues such as animal welfare and social equity extend to current activity impacts on resource stewardship and environmental quality.

Many foundational concepts of sustainability originated from concerns that environmental degradation or resource depletion would impair the ability of future generations to produce enough

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A key to better descriptors of sustainability is better definition of the relationships among all these factors, and how beef production systems and management strategies can make simultaneous contributions in multiple dimensions. For example, targeted grazing to reduce fire risk can not only help to protect ecosystems and wildlife populations (environmental benefit), but also enhance public safety, preserve community infrastructure (social benefits), and save taxpayer dollars and improve productivity (economic benefits), while at the same time providing a nutrient rich source of highquality protein, the primary purpose of food producing systems.

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food to sustain the global population. While the economic, social and environmental pillars used to frame sustainability discussions are each relevant and interrelated, the historic originating view of sustainability often leads to focus on the environmental dimension. Emphasis on specific environmental indicators has varied over time, and resource consumption (real or perceived) is often included in environmental considerations.

Current discussions of beef sustainability seem to be centered around climate impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions (especially methane emissions from ruminants), greenhouse gas mitigation (for example, through carbon sequestration in grazing lands), and measures of resource intensity (the carbon, water, or land-use footprint of beef). Because the underlying concerns (e.g., climate impacts) are extraordinarily complex, and the relationship between beef production and these outcomes is not clearly understood, reports often seem critical or negative.

For example, methane is in fact a greenhouse gas. Beef cattle, as a result of their capacity to convert human inedible fibrous materials into high-quality protein, do in fact produce methane in varying amounts. However, the often-made assumption that ‘therefore, beef productions systems cause climate change’ does not necessarily follow. Currently, even the magnitude of impact to assign to methane emissions relative to carbon dioxide is being discussed, with recent scientific publications suggesting that widely adopted direct emissions metrics such as the 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP100) may not provide accurate predictions of temperature effects at

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time points other than 100 years from the time of emission.

Importantly, because methane behaves differently in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, measuring gross emissions does not account for its accumulation – or reduction – in the atmosphere. New metrics that are based instead on changes in emission rates, like GWP*, more closely align with potential changes in atmospheric concentration and therefore produce better predictions of temperature effects.

Comparing the use of these measures of methane for the U.S. beef cattle population, GWP* indicates substantially less impact from methane emissions than GWP100 over the last decade. This is a result of the reduction in U.S. cattle populations (a change in the rate of methane emissions) as production efficiency (beef produced per cow per year) has increased. The GWP* values more closely reflect the expected contributions of cattle to atmospheric methane concentrations, which are ultimately responsible for its effects on atmospheric warming. Using cattle population dynamics since 1865 to estimate annual total methane emissions, and accounting for the atmospheric lifetime of methane, U.S. beef cattle have likely added only 10 parts per billion of methane to the atmosphere. This represents less than 1 percent of the measured total atmospheric change in methane over the same time period; a change of this small size is within the range of error of the estimate of total change. The use of better metrics, and the development of context for the relative contribution of beef production to GHG loads in the atmosphere, should allow for a clearer understanding (and a less negative perception) of the role of beef production on carbon transactions.

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There are also many areas where the U.S. beef cattle industry has positive impacts on measures of environmental sustainability, such as improving carbon sequestration on grazing lands, improving plant and animal biodiversity in ecosystems, enhancing the quality and quantity of freshwater yield, the protection of wildlife migration corridors, resistance to invasive plant species, and management of fuel loads to reduce catastrophic wildfires. Current research efforts are designed to measure and describe these benefits, and to gain understanding of what factors influence their delivery so that the aggregate environmental impact – positives and negatives – can be better understood and more effectively managed. An example of aggregating impact is including carbon uptake from grazing lands with greenhouse gas emissions metrics to get a more comprehensive estimate of the ‘net’ carbon footprint of beef. While considering ‘internal removals’ is an accepted method of assessing ‘footprints’ according to international standards, it is difficult to measure and so is often not included in general or national assessments.

However, uptake of relatively small amounts of C per acre (50 kg C per acre), when included in a net emissions framework using GWP*, could result in GHG-neutral U.S. beef over the past 35 years. This initial modeling estimate needs to be

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further evaluated, but it is consistent with a recent global assessment indicating that North American grazing lands are a net sink for carbon, after accounting for emissions from grazing livestock.3 It is important to continue to refine measurement and assessment of the environmental impact of beef to gain a more balanced perspective on its contributions and opportunities for improvement in environmental sustainability.

A key to better descriptors of sustainability is better definition of the relationships among all these factors, and how beef production systems and management strategies can make simultaneous contributions in multiple dimensions. For example, targeted grazing to reduce fire risk can not only help to protect ecosystems and wildlife populations (environmental benefit), but also enhance public safety, preserve community infrastructure (social benefits), and save taxpayer dollars and improve productivity (economic benefits), while at the same time providing a nutrient rich source of high-quality protein, the primary purpose of food producing systems. A truly sustainable system is one that can deliver these multiple benefits in ways that do not deplete resources or impair the ability to keep producing the food necessary to satisfy global needs far into the future.

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1

Baber, J.R., J.E. Sawyer, and T.A. Wickersham.

2018. “Estimation of human-edible protein conversion efficiency, net protein contribution, and enteric methane production from beef production in the United States.” Translational Animal Science. 2(4):439-450. https://doi. org/10.1093/tas/txy086 2

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

2017. “2017 Cattlemen’s stewardship review.”

Accessed on March 27, 2021 at https://www. beefitswhatsfordinner.com/Media/BIWFD/Docs/ beef-csr-report-2017-final.pdf.

3

Chang, J. et al. 2021. “Climate warming from

managed grasslands cancels the cooling effect of carbon sinks in sparsely grazed and natural grasslands.” Nature Communications.

(2021)12:118. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-

Terms to Know: These terms are often used in conversations about sustainability in beef production. Here’s what they mean and how you’re already contributing to the process on your farm or ranch.

Upcycling: the transformation of resources that cannot be directly used by humans into high value protein, micronutrients and a host of components used in other important food and non-food products. For example, beef cattle are capable of utilizing forages grown on sites unsuitable for efficient food crop production.

Carbon Sequestration: the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. For example, farmers and ranchers that manage pastures contribute to this process as carbon dioxide is taken from the air and is stored as carbohydrates in plants. The plants are then consumed by cattle and other ruminant animals. Some of this carbon enters the soil through decomposing plant matter and root exudates, contributing to long-term carbon storage (sequestration) on grazing lands.

20406-7

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REPRODUCTION 28

& NUTRITION

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Dialing in Reproduction

By Tuning into Nutritional Needs

By Dusty Abney, PhD & Anna Taylor, PhD, Cargill Animal Nutrition Making improvements to anything requires a plan, even in the cattle business. If the industry is going to improve reproductive efficiency, it needs to have a plan. A plan needs goals. It is trite, but true: you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Your goals need to be realistic, economical and aggressive enough to make meaningful progress in a timeframe that makes sense.

To stave off procrastination, it is often advisable to divide your goals into short- and long-term categories. If you want to impress your banker, consider calling them tactical and strategic goals, respectively. A shortterm or tactical goal might be getting your bull battery ready for breeding season. A long-term or strategic goal might be improving the longevity of your cows to keep them active in the herd longer or having a solid plan for the next drought before it arrives.

When discussing your strategic nutritional plan, it is important to recognize how nutrients are prioritized and not get caught up in the latest and greatest new feed additive. If cattle don’t have enough energy and protein to meet their bodily requirements, there is no feed additive that will fill the gap. Allocating groceries (energy and protein) or nutrient prioritization maintains that the body will sustain itself before propagating the species (Short et al., 1990).

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Body Condition Score We use body condition scoring (BCS) as a way to make sure cattle have enough “groceries” to fill the appropriate nutrient prioritization hierarchy, like raising a calf every year. What is the appropriate body condition for cows to be most successful? Research would indicate the higher the BCS, the shorter her postpartum interval will be, the higher the overall pregnancy rates will be, and the quicker she will get bred during the breeding season (Spitzer et al., 1995; Kunkle et al., 1994; Houghton et al., 1990). However, it is costly to keep your cow herd excessively fat; therefore, it is more realistic to keep cows around a BCS of 5 for optimal production from both a reproductive standpoint and a feasibility standpoint. Getting cows in a good BCS prior to breeding is even more important with lower parity cows. First and second parity cows at a BCS 4 generally have 50 percent pregnancy rates after breeding season compared to counterparts with a BCS of 5-plus having above an 84 percent pregnancy rate (Rae et al., 1993; Kunkle et al., 1994). Utilizing body condition scoring and adjusting your nutrition plan to keep your cows around a BCS of 5 will create a positive snowball effect where your cows will return to estrus quicker, get bred quicker in the early part of the breeding season, have higher pregnancy rates and, ultimately, will wean heavier and more calves.

BCS (Body Conditioning Scoring) There is a whole cornucopia of reasons why reproduction fails in cattle but breaking those reasons down by category shows that at least half are directly related to nutrition. Allowing nutrition to be what holds back attaining the goals for your herd might be something your cows will forgive you for, but your banker may be less understanding.

The graphic below shows key areas to evaluate fat cover when body condition scoring. For more information on BCS check out the Field Guide at BQA. org or scan the QR code.

Getting and Keeping a Cow Bred A cow’s job is to raise a calf every twelve months, but how long do we have to get her bred within that year? A lot of producers would tell you that they have all year. If we take into consideration that gestation takes about 280 days and postpartum anestrus takes another 60 days, we’re left with about 25 days to get a her bred. However, that cow is only able to be bred for about 12 hours of her 21-day cycle. If we’re really optimistic and we figure two cycles in that 25-day period, that means you have one day out of 365 to get that cow bred.

Every missed breeding opportunity means that you gave up 21 days of calf growth. Assuming a two-pound average daily gain from birth until weaning, that could be 42 pounds of calf that your missed breeding opportunity cost you. That’s easily $50 in today’s market.

Understanding how a cow’s requirements align with her stage of production is one of the most important steps in the process of building a nutrition plan to meet your tactical and strategic reproductive goals. A cow’s lowest requirement for nutrients occurs in the second trimester of gestation. Fetal growth is relatively slow at that point and she has no requirements related

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Back

Hooks Tail Head

Pins

Ribs Flank Brisket

to lactation. Once she enters her third trimester, the fetus grows much more rapidly and so do her nutrient needs. Late in the third trimester, she will also begin working on the most important meal the calf will ever eat: colostrum. Poor nutrition leads to poor colostrum, which can lead to sick or dead calves.

Depending on a cow’s genetic potential for milk production, her needs can increase by up to 30 percent when she begins to lactate. Those requirements will continue to increase until peak lactation, which happens about 65 days after birth. After that, her needs will slowly decline until we wean the calf to begin the whole cycle anew.

One key point to recognize here is that our narrow window of opportunity to get that cow bred within our twelve-month deadline is probably going to occur very near peak lactation.

Consider carefully what that means with regard to body condition score and the plane of nutrition for the cow. Most producers understand that cows who are gaining weight breed better and cows who are losing weight don’t breed nearly as well. Not accounting for the additional nutrition required by lactation can have dire effects not just on our weaning weights, but also on the very basis of next year’s calf crop.

Continued on page 32

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Continued from page 30 Environmental Considerations The last component of this puzzle is the environment that the cow inhabits, specifically our forage base. A cow that calves on Sept. 1 in central Texas is going to be in her second trimester from about March through May when forage is about as good as it will be all year. Conversely, she will be trending upwards in her milk quality and quantity from September through October and hitting peak lactation in November when our warm season forages are not very nutrient dense. Without a tactical and strategic nutrition plan, including appropriate supplementation, we’re not going to have the outcome we desire. A great rule of thumb is to match the cow’s needs to her environment unless you have a compelling financial reason to do otherwise.

If we expect these cows to perform at their peak, we can’t overlook any of her nutrient requirements, including mineral and vitamin nutrition. A good mineral & vitamin program is critical to any successful nutrition program because forages and trace mineralized salt will rarely meet cow requirements. Keep in mind that “if a little bit is good, a lot must be better” is not an appropriate mindset when it comes to mineral nutrition. When we over feed certain minerals, we can create mineral antagonisms causing problems down the road.

There are some important management considerations for making a mineral program work for you. Find a product or formula that your cattle will consume, choose a form (loose, tub, cubes, etc.) that fits your management style and don’t blend with salt to reduce consumption. Mineral products do not do cows any good if they aren’t consumed in the appropriate amounts.

Feed mineral with the goal of creating nutritionally primed cows and calves. Research from Texas’ Ranch to Rail program indicates that calves from ranches on complete mineral programs had far fewer problems with morbidity in the feedyard. The counterpart sick calves in this program were less profitable and less efficient, theoretically making those “non-nutritionally primed calves” worth less at the point of sale.

Continued on page 34

When discussing your strategic nutritional plan, it is important to recognize how nutrients are prioritized and not get caught up in the latest and greatest new feed additive. If cattle don’t have enough energy and protein to meet their bodily requirements, there is no feed additive that will fill the gap.

There is a whole cornucopia of reasons why reproduction fails in cattle but breaking those reasons down by category shows that at least half are directly related to nutrition.

32

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There are a lot of factors when it comes to proper nutrition with reproduction in mind. Here are a few key points: Making improvements to reproduction through nutrition needs requires a plan with realistic, economical and aggressive goals that will target meaningful progress in a specific timeframe.

•

Set both short- and long-term goals

•

Short-term: get your bull battery ready for breeding season

•

Long-term: improve the longevity of your cows to keep them active in the herd longer or having a solid plan for the next drought before it arrives

Don’t miss a breeding opportunity.

•

Every missed breeding opportunity means that you gave up 21 days of calf growth which equates to around $50 if a calf gains two pounds per day from birth to weaning

•

The narrow window of opportunity to get a cow bred within the twelve-month deadline will likely occur very near peak lactation which happens about 65 days after birth; nutrition requirements will need to be considered

Understanding how a cow’s requirements align with her stage of production is one of the most important steps in the process of building a nutrition plan to meet your tactical and strategic reproductive goals.

•

A cow’s lowest requirement for nutrients occurs in the second trimester of gestation

•

During the third trimester, the fetus grows much more rapidly and so do her nutrient needs; she will also begin working on the most important meal the calf will ever eat: colostrum

A good mineral & vitamin program is critical to any successful nutrition program because forages and trace mineralized salt will rarely meet cow requirements.

Continued from page 32 One key area that a lot of producers don’t consider until it’s too late is nutritionally priming their bull battery for reproductive success. With regard to their affect on next year’s calf crop, your bulls are the most important animals on your operation. Keeping in mind that spermatogenesis takes about 60 days, we should really start prepping bulls about three months before we plan to turn them out with the cows. Don’t forget to evaluate your bull’s body condition score, vitamin trace mineral nutrition and breeding soundness exam. Also consider using tools like organic trace minerals to boost sperm quality and quantity during that three-month preparation for breeding season.

The clock ticks away whether we want it to or not. It’s up to us to design and refine our programs and goals to meet the demands of our customers, including the stocker and feedlot operators who will help us put a nutritious beef product on the plates of Americans next year. If you don’t currently have a trusted nutrition advisor, we strongly urge you to reach out to your local Extension service, feed provider, or nutrition consultant so that you can have the best possible partner in your corner to help keep you profitable in this business for decades to come.

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GENETIC

INVESTMENTS

36

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Genetics Tools Enhance Profitability and Improve Sustainability While Meeting Consumer Demands

By Darrh Bullock, Extension Professor, Beef Cattle Genetics, University of Kentucky Dr. Charles Martinez, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee Dr. Josh Maples, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, Cattle producers continue to use genetics tools to enhance productivity as well as improve profitability and resulting efficiencies have led to significant impacts on all three pillars of sustainability: economic viability, environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Genetic selection decisions made by producers trickle down to the consumer’s plate where profitability, sustainability and consumer demand ultimately meet.

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Tools in the Toolbox The number one genetics practice commercial cattle producers can use to increase profitability is crossbreeding.

The benefits from crossbreeding are greater than years of selection, and the biggest affect is on reproductive traits.

A crossbred female has an increased ability to be rebred after calving, which can result in an extra calf over her reproductive lifetime.

Crossbreeding also helps keep a higher percentage of the herd in the most efficient reproductive age range of 5-10 years, resulting in fewer resources poured into replacement heifers. Utilization of fewer resources such as feed, land and water not only impacts economic viability but also environmental stewardship. Bullock said the cattle industry has made huge strides over the years in producing more meat with less cattle while utilizing fewer resources. In fact, today’s beef farmers and ranchers use 36 percent fewer cattle to produce the same amount of beef as in the 1970s.1

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Genetic selection decisions impact the economic and environmental pillars of sustainability, but many traits also affect social responsibility. Breeding to eliminate horns on cattle has made dehorning almost a thing of the past and has created a better animal handling environment for producers. Selecting for better temperament in cattle has positively impacted animal and human welfare. Improvement in docility results in fewer injuries to both cattle and people and animals have a greater tendency to feed and grade better.

ability will result in bigger calves, maintenance costs will also be higher for females.

When it comes to utilizing Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs), Bullock encouraged producers to use economically relevant traits, which vary by operation. Unlike dairy cattle which are raised in similar controlled environments across the country, beef cattle producers experience a variety of management and environmental variables, which can impact efficiency. A producer in the arid southwest likely will not select the same traits, or at least at the same magnitude, as a producer grazing cattle on lush pastures in the southeast.

Genetic selection tools exist to help producers make good decisions, however, there will always be the visual appraisal aspect of bull selection to determine soundness, confirmation and muscling that is critical as well.

Management practices and environment are factors to consider when making selection decisions, but economics play a role as well. When making selection decisions producers should not solely focus on income but must consider associated costs. For example, while selecting for milking

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Producers sometimes lean on one EPD or a handful of EPDs, which can cause issues. It is important to have a solid understanding of what each EPD means and to realize that EPDs vary from one breed to another. It's also important for producers to recognize that EPDs are a tool and shouldn’t be the only decision-making criteria.

It’s important to use the correct EPD to improve traits. For example, birth weight is not the best EPD to determine calving ease, rather you should use the economically relevant trait, which in this case is the Calving Ease Direct EPD. Producers may also focus on coat color, but color has no impact on productivity or quality and a lot of beneficial heterosis is given up if color is emphasized over a good crossbreeding plan.

A sound crossbreeding program can result in both the color sired and the productivity needed.

Continued on page 40

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Continued from page 38 Selection Indexes (SI) developed by breed associations provide a simple way to multi-trait select animals by accounting for traits of economic importance. SIs are profit-motivated, breeding objective compatible and can account for management differences. It is important for producers to do their homework and understand what is in the index they are using and know the basic management assumptions the SI is making.

There are different types of indexes such as terminal, weaning and all-purpose, and it is important for the producer to match the index with economically relevant traits for the operation and pick the one that is most appropriate. SIs are the best way to improve profitability through selection when used properly.

A new tool is also on the horizon, called iGENDEC. Scientists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and Theta Solutions LLC are developing a new software that will allow producers to input operation factors to create a custom index based on their values. The web-based tool, expected to be available in late 2021, will allow beef producers to make more profitable genetic selection decisions, integrating genetic effects (EPD and heterosis), available resources and

40 NATIONAL NATIONALCATTLEMEN CATTLEMEN 40

firm-level economics. Whether utilizing existing EPD or SI tools, or embracing newer resources like iGENDEC, selecting more efficient and profitable cattle is key to the long-term sustainability of the cattle industry.

Capturing a Greater Return on Investment Data collection is another way to gain advantage when marketing cattle. Although costs increase when collecting and maintaining data such as ribeye scans and weights, the return on investment is significant. If producers put the extra work in on the front end, they can capture a premium. Costs incurred may total $250 per head, but the return can be as much as $3,000 per head for larger operations. Whether buying or selling cattle, it really comes down to the more you know.

Information is valuable and the more data you collect, and share, the more value you can capture.

Producers should embrace the technology that is available now, and not be afraid to adapt to new technology in the future. Use technology and genetics tools to your advantage based on your operation’s goals, and they will help you make money.

Continued on page 42

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Continued from page 40 Consumer Trends Improved genetics produces more efficient cattle, which often leads to bigger animals, however, for consumers bigger isn’t always better. Consumers don’t always want bigger steaks. Many consumers want big and thick steaks, but price still matters.

Maples’ research has shown that if consumers want a particular steak weight or have a target budget, most consumers preferred smaller thicker steaks when compared to bigger thinner steaks. However, steaks are only one component of the carcass and in the long run consumers may be better off with larger carcasses because the animal provides more usable product overall, including ground beef. Producers can meet changing consumer demands in a relatively short period of time as most carcass traits are highly heritable.

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Another factor affecting consumer buying behavior is the pandemic. Although COVID-19 impacted the amount of beef available and changed where beef was being consumed, there will likely be a rebound in the foodservice market which will push more beef through more channels. Consumers will shift back to consuming more beef in sit-down restaurants as we move past the pandemic, but it could be a multi-year process to get back to where we were pre-pandemic for some channels.

From pasture to plate, U.S. cattle producers are constantly innovating and using the latest science-driven techniques to increase profits and reduce their environmental footprint while providing consumers with a quality product. Producers are the people on the ground, stewarding cattle and natural resources, and constantly making improvements to keep their businesses both profitable and sustainable for generations to come.

USDA-NASS Quick Stats Tools. Available at: https://www.nass. usda.gov/Quick_Stats/ accessed August 7, 2019 1

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CATTLE MARKETING 44

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Do You Sell or Market Your Cattle?

By Jason Bradley, Noble Research Institute Agricultural Economics Consultant Dan Childs, Noble Research Institute Senior Agricultural Economics Consultant The time and effort expended in marketing a product can pay significant dividends. This is especially true for cattle producers. There are many different avenues cattle producers have to market cattle. Some avenues that require little effort may involve just selling cattle while other avenues would exemplify marketing.

An understanding of the difference between selling and marketing will be helpful. Webster defines selling as “the act,

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process, or act of offering goods for sale”. Webster goes on to define marketing as “an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer including buying, selling, storing, transporting, standardizing, financing, risk bearing and supplying market information”.

One can quickly see from Webster’s definitions that there is considerably more involved in marketing than in selling. In fact, selling is a function of marketing. In straight talk, selling cattle is hauling them to the local auction market, dropping them off and hoping for the best. Marketing is looking at all the angles, having plans in place and understanding the reasons behind your decisions. The saying, “You get out of it what you put in” greatly pertains to cattle marketing.

NATIONAL CATTLEMEN 45

There are four important factors that we feel are essential for the successful marketing of cattle.

These factors include: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Seasonality Attributes Venues Retained ownership

Seasonality The first item we will discuss is seasonality.

Seasonality is the cyclical nature of something that displays a pattern year after year that makes its behavior somewhat predictable. Most commodities have a seasonal price pattern, although all commodities do not sell the same way at the same time.

Often the price responds to the supply of the commodity and the demand for its use. Cattle has a seasonal price pattern.

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However, the seasonal price pattern is different for different classes of cattle (i.e., calves, stockers, feeders, slaughter animals and cull cows). Knowing the seasonal price pattern for the class of animals that you are planning to sell can be beneficial.

Let’s take steer calves as an example. Using data from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS), we will focus on the average of the last five years of reported prices for Oklahoma City 500- to 600-pound steer calves. Actual prices are not used, but each month is indexed against the annual average price. Figure 1 depicts an example of the seasonality of a 500-600 steer calf at Oklahoma City.

Before we go on, let’s make sure we understand what is meant by indexed prices. To get the index, the average monthly prices are averaged together to arrive at an annual average. The annual average is set at 100 for its index. Then, each monthly average is compared to the annual average price to determine each individual month’s relationship to the annual average.

Figure 1 shows an index of 106 for February, which implies that

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the price is 6 percent higher than the average for the year. An index of 92 for October implies the price is 8 percent below the annual average. If a producer lived near Oklahoma City and had this class of animal to sell, knowing the price seasonality could change the price received by as much as 14 percent. Seasonal index charts can be developed for each class of animal up to 1,000 pounds; animals ready for slaughter and cull cows.

Attributes The second factor of importance in marketing cattle is knowing what attributes an animal has.

Some attributes are inherent, such as hide color, frame size and gender, while other attributes can be created in cattle.

Created attributes might include weaned, preconditioned calves; castrated calves; and participation in a third-party verified program such as non-hormone treated cattle (NHTC) or cattle

that have been organically raised. Some attributes can be related to a certain type of production system, such as grass fed, neverever received hormones or antibiotics, and locally raised.

Capitalizing on attributes to create additional value will require knowing what cattle attributes buyers are willing to pay for and how much they are willing to pay. To do this, a producer will need to answer certain questions. If I wean and precondition my calves, will the market pay more than it costs to create those attributes? If I produce a black-hided calf, are there markets near that have buyers for the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) program? If I create a carcass quality attribute where a buyer could expect the cattle to grade 90 percent choice or better, how does one capitalize on that attribute?

The key to capturing value for attributes is to identify the attributes then search out and present the cattle in venues that value those particular attributes.

Figure 1

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Venues

value those attributes.

Venues brings us to the third item that can contribute to a successful marketing program.

In some cases, a better price can be achieved even for commodity cattle by selecting a certain auction barn over another.

In the context of cattle marketing, venue is a place, location or marketing channel where a producer chooses to market their cattle. For attributes of cattle to be recognized by the market, they must be presented in venues that value those unique attributes.

How can this be accomplished? USDA-AMS is tasked with the responsibility to report market prices at selected markets across the U.S. The market reports are public information. A producer can analyze these reports to compare prices for certain classes of cattle. A producer may be surprised to see differences in price for the same class of cattle during the same week at different auction barns in the area.

If a calf has never had a growth implant or an antibiotic, it could qualify as a never-ever or natural calf. Therefore, it could be valued higher in a venue that has a demand for natural cattle. Hauling the natural calf to the local auction market will not likely command any higher price than a calf that has received one or the other, or both.

Selling a calf that has attributes instead of marketing it would be to place the animal in a venue with commodity cattle where they would be sold without any knowledge of history or attribute claims. However, marketing cattle with attributes would entail some research and effort to identify venues that

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Retained Ownership The fourth and final factor we think is beneficial to consider when marketing cattle surrounds the notion of retained ownership.

When a producer becomes a student of price seasonality and notices calf prices are lowest in the fall when they normally sell their calves, serious consideration is then given to the question of, “What can I do to move my marketing time from the

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seasonal low to a higher price?” Retaining and managing calves is a possibility.

Several things happen simultaneously when calves are retained.

As discussed earlier, attributes start to be created in the calves.

The calves are weaned, vaccinated and taught to eat and drink from a trough; they change classes of animals from calves to stockers (also referred to as yearlings); and they gain weight. All these attributes happen during the period of time when they are being moved to a later marketing opportunity.

When contemplating a retained ownership option, there are three key pieces of information that is needed.

The first thing needed is a projection of the future value of the heavier animal at a later date in time. Such a projection can be obtained by using the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures contract quotes for feeder cattle adjusted for local basis (the difference between the futures price and the local cash price). Beefbasis.com is a commonly used website that also can be used to obtain a projection of a future price.

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Once an estimate of the future price is known, then a calculation is completed to determine the value of the additional weight the retained animal is expected to gain plus other attributes such as being preconditioned.

A common mistake when analyzing retained ownership is to calculate the value of gain based on the current market. A price and expected weight at the end of the retained ownership period is necessary to correctly calculate the value of gain.

An estimate of the cost incurred during the additional time of ownership is the third and final piece of information needed.

With these three pieces of information, an analysis can be completed to determine the expected profitability of retained ownership.

Keep in mind that several benefits can be possible in retained ownership, such as alleviating the discount for bawling unweaned calves, a reduction in shrink going through the auction process if not sold in the country, heavier calves and a marketing time that is moved from the low seasonal price of the year for calves.

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Helpful Resources There are several key sources of information that can help a producer be more successful when developing a marketing plan for cattle. They will provide basic knowledge that will move a producer to marketing their cattle rather than just selling them.

When marketing, knowledge is market power.

Becoming familiar with market reports from USDA-AMS, which provides price information for the various classes of cattle, is helpful. Market reports are published for selected auction barns in 31 states and can be found here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/ market-news/feeder-and-replacement-cattle-auctions.

Information gleaned from market reports can provide a producer with current market prices for the various classes of cattle. This can benefit both buying and marketing decisions.

Value of gain for the different weight ranges can be calculated from the current market report, which can help a buyer determine the most economical weight class to buy. Prices from multiple auction barns can be compared to determine the most favorable place to buy or sell.

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The live and feeder cattle futures contracts can influence cash markets. Prices for each contract can be observed in real time throughout the trading hours and daily closes after hours via several phone apps or from their website: https://www. cmegroup.com/market-data/delayed-quotes/agricultural.html.

Beefbasis.com is a good source of basis information. If considering risk management or retained ownership, this website can estimate a future cash price for a certain weight and gender of cattle for selected auction barns in the 10 states they have in their data base.

Price slide and value of gain charts for steer and heifer calves and yearlings in Oklahoma and cow prices can be found on Noble Research Institute’s website: https://nobleapps.noble.org/ CattleData/Home/Charts/. USDA-AMS market report analysis is also available at this link. These analyses include calculating value of gain and selected auction barn price comparisons.

We hope this discussion and the information provided will encourage a cattle producer to begin marketing their cattle rather than just selling them. In the context of marketing, one really gets out of it what they put into it.

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You’re Hired! Reimagining Livestock Careers

By Courtney Daigle, Assistant Professor of Animal Welfare, Texas A&M University Finding good help can be difficult in any industry, however, labor continues to be one of the top issues in agriculture. Labor shortages put substantial pressure on livestock owners and their employees, can affect the ability to provide a safe workplace environment and can cause animal welfare issues.

Working cattle is a hard job where employees operate in difficult environmental conditions, experience long hours and often get dirty. So how do you make that sound like a glamourous job that someone wants?

It is time to make stockmanship appealing and rebrand the occupation. We aren’t just looking for pen riders and cowboys, but animal husbandry technicians and behavior experts who can work with animals and technology and make a difference.

A surplus of job opportunities exists in today’s market, and the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program often doesn’t work well for animal agriculture since livestock operators have year-round labor needs.

Another factor impacting agriculture labor is the increasing urbanization of society in the U.S. Job seekers are at least two to three generations removed from a farm or ranch and don’t know that jobs and careers are available in rural communities. There are fewer people working in agriculture and there is a general lack of awareness that stockmanship is a potential occupation.

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Social media has also played a role in poorly portraying occupations in agriculture. Even though instances are rare, pictures posted of employees abusing animals gives applicants a bad opinion of stockmanship and doesn’t inspire others to apply.

Limited pre-employment training impacts recruiting as well. Producers require new employees to be proficient in certain animal handling skills when they start. Many stockpeople are provided in-house training or go through programs such as Beef Quality Assurance, however, this training is provided only after the candidate is hired. According to Daigle, an opportunity exists for technical schools to offer animal husbandry and animal handling training programs to better prepare people for jobs at livestock operations.

The initial challenge is finding and recruiting the right people, but another is retaining them. Stockmanship jobs often require hard work for low pay. Many pen riders work more than 50 hours per week, making $10-$15 per hour. The pay strategy also has an effect, when paid by the hour and not by the head, employees may work more quickly than carefully.

In addition, many employees are responsible for monitoring too many animals which causes exhaustion, increasing the possibility of overlooking problems. It also impedes the ability to develop the human-animal relationship, which can cause “compassion fatigue” where employees no longer have the emotional bandwidth to handle the job.

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Technological advancements have proven to be both a retention challenge as well as a recruiting strategy. Although requiring employees to continually learn and use multiple monitoring systems may challenge older generations, it can be an opportunity to attract millennial workers interested in working with animals as well as technology.

The “zookeeper-stockperson” conundrum is an interesting example of two careers seeking similar applicants, but that have varying levels of hiring success. Both positions have similar work duties and pay, but unlike stockperson positions, there is fierce competition for zookeeping positions. For every entry level zookeeper position open, 150 people apply compared to one person applying for two available stockperson positions. In addition, the turnover rate for zookeepers is 14.5 percent compared to the 35 percent turnover rate for stockpeople.1 Zookeepers consider their profession a “calling” with applicants citing an attraction and need to be around nature and animals which influences professional goals. They are often well educated, holding a bachelor’s degree or higher and have around five years zoo volunteer experience, unlike stockperson positions which usually do not require advanced education or previous experience.

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Cost of living can be a point of differentiation for agriculture careers. Although pay may be similar between zookeepers and stockpeople, the cost to live in rural communities is much less than large cities, and zookeepers often have a second job to make ends meet.

There is opporunity for livestock producers to develop relationships with local zoos to potentially tap into their applicant pool. If a producer can find one qualified applicant for a stockperson job out of the 100 that didn’t get the zookeeper position, it is worth the effort.

Livestock operators may be so desperate for help but it’s important to remember that a good stockperson is worth their weight in gold and a bad stockperson can break the bank.

Stockpeople are the physical manifestation of animal welfare.

The occupation is complex and dynamic and requires speciesspecific knowledge as well as a wide range of well-developed husbandry and management skills. These abilities result in effective care and management of farm animals and directly impact animal welfare and productivity.

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Animals have memories and can perceive human interaction as negative, neutral or positive. The nature, and frequency, of these interactions can have lifelong impacts on productivity. Research has shown that increased positive exposure to humans results in reduced mortality, increased efficiency and greater body weights in poultry and higher pregnancy rates in beef heifers.2 Farms that had more negative human-animal interactions with dairy cattle resulted in cows producing milk with lower yield, protein and fat, and higher milk cortisol concentrations. The animals were also more fearful of approaching humans and had lower conception rates to first insemination.3 People tend to be the wildcard when it comes to animal welfare.

Attitudes and behaviors of the stockperson, as well as animal

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behavior, can impact job satisfaction as well as work motivation, to learn and overall work performance, which can influence animal welfare and productivity.

Personnel changes impact employees and disrupt the humananimal relationship. When an employee leaves, there is a loss of institutional knowledge which can result in inconsistent animal care. Training and retention of animal husbandry workers is of the utmost importance to maintain a profitable and sustainable agricultural system.

Ultimately, hiring the right person comes down to the personality of the stockperson and matching people to the profession. There is limited evidence that these factors are

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used in agriculture. Daigle’s advice to livestock operators is to critically evaluate potential candidates, increase salaries, adjust pay structure and encourage urban dwellers to move to rural communities by providing incentives. As more women find careers in stockmanship, providing flexible schedules also proves beneficial when recruiting and retaining workers.

These positions serve as stewards of food animals, which is

Even offering basic services such as concessions, a convenience store and laundry facilities make a difference. Instead of driving 30 minutes for a beverage, if stockpeople can access basic services on site, it would benefit both the producer and the employees. Employees are working in remote locations often under harsh conditions and providing additional services promotes a good work environment.

professionals, report to the American Association of Zoo

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appealing to applicants. This is important work and hiring the right person initially can directly affect your herd’s welfare, productivity and your bottom line.

1

Thompson & Bunderson. 2005 AAZK survey of animal care

Keepers, Inc. 2

Edwards et al., 2007; Hemsworth et al., 1993; Barnett et al.,

1994; Cooke et al., 2009 3

Hemsworth et al., 2000

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HERD HEALTH

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Herd Health Planning – A Collaborative Effort Julia Herman, DVM, MS, Beef Cattle Specialist Veterinarian, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Our cattle industry has demonstrated adaptability in several instances over the past year. Whether it was a natural disaster, sick employees or feed availability, cattle producers can pivot to a new plan when necessary. How does that adaptability apply to the operation’s herd health plan? What happened in the past year that will require a herd health plan adjustment?

Herd health plans are always changing because they match the diversity of cattle operations we have in the U.S. Those plans can differ regionally based on weather, feed availability, breed, parasite risk, and the list goes on. With these influences, cattlemen and women are constantly challenged to adapt their herd plan to their current resources and business model to continue providing the best care for their cattle. While not an easy task, having external advisors can provide an objective view of the herd health plan and find opportunities to improve productivity of the farm or ranch.

This is where the herd veterinarian and the veterinarian-clientpatient relationship serves a valuable role.

Veterinarian-client-patient relationship Building relationships is key in the cattle industry, especially when considering the veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR).

This collaboration between the cattle producer and their herd veterinarian is essential to advancing the well-being of the animals.

“Herd health planning requires much communication between the veterinarian and the producer,” said Heidi Ward, Extension veterinarian at the University of Arkansas system division of agriculture and Arkansas Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) coordinator.

“This information is what the veterinarian needs to know to provide you, the producer, the best advice and care which ultimately leads to improved productivity for the animals and the operation.”

Developing that relationship of trust with the veterinarian includes a site visit where the veterinarian can evaluate the herd characteristics, environmental factors such as waterways or toxic plants specific to your area, and the producer’s goals for their cattle. Ward added, for instance, seedstock producers will have different goals than part-time farmers, and the veterinarian should customize the herd health plan to each operation. Opportunities lie in a number of areas, such as:

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•

Animal health with updated vaccine protocols, understanding responsible antibiotic use and optimizing nutrition through the seasons

•

Preparing the animal’s immune system by mitigating environmental stressors such as weather and weaning and providing proper nutrition for that animal’s age and purpose

•

Training for producers and their employees in areas such as record keeping, cattle handling, antibiotic stewardship and humane euthanasia

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Animal Health Reviewing vaccination, deworming and treatment plans on at least an annual basis is recommended so the programs can be adapted to new circumstances. “Preventing infectious disease through planned vaccination strategies is critical to every cattle operation,” said Gerald Stokka, North Dakota State University Extension service veterinarian. “Producers should develop protocols in consultation with their veterinarian, and those strategies should be risk-based and researched for the area.”

With all preventive strategies, there are three principles that Stokka recommended producers and veterinarians to consider when implementing vaccination and other treatment protocols: •

Necessity - Is the risk of exposure high enough that clinical disease and pathogen transmission will become a health and well-being issue beyond their expectations for the herd?

•

Efficacy - Does scientific evidence or observational experience indicate that product selection for specific pathogens is effective for the level of exposure and stress of the herd?

•

Safety - Does evidence indicate that the product will not cause harm through local or systemic reactions?

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Ensuring you are using the proper preventive treatment for your herd and administering it at the proper time for the animal’s immune system to react is critical. Vaccinating calves and adult cattle at strategic times throughout the year primes their immune systems and allows the immune response to protect from future exposure. The major pathogen groups that are vaccinated against include the respiratory pathogens that contribute to bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and the Clostridium family that may cause diseases such as blackleg, tetanus and others.

Respiratory pathogens of concern include Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV), Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV) and Mannheimia haemolytica. Other vaccination considerations include protection against reproductive diseases such as leptospirosis and campylobacteriosis (previously known as vibriosis). Selection of route of administration, i.e., subcutaneous, intranasal or in the muscle, varies by product label and can be another strategy to discuss with your veterinarian.

Parasite management varies by region with differences in climate, environmental conditions, host susceptibility and farm/ ranch management practices. To effectively treat or manage parasites in the herd, it is important to know exactly which ones are a problem. Working with your local veterinarian and Extension agent will help tailor a strategy to the specific operation, using multiple modalities to protect your herd.

Preventing resistance in the animal health realm can apply to

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both antimicrobial and antiparasitic products. Anthelmintic (or dewormer) resistance has become a real threat to prevention and control of internal parasites (i.e., worms) in livestock as decades of overuse have decreased the utility of certain classes of anthelmintics and treatment protocols have become more complex than giving a single product and necessitate veterinary consultation.

Nutrition and Environment Nutrition management varies with life stage and purpose of the animal and nutrient requirements will change with each season.

Ward emphasized, “What happens in the gut will determine the immune health of that animal and how well that animal’s immune system will function.”

Feeding cattle the right balance of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals to meet their requirement during growth, maintenance and gestation stages can be complex. The immune system relies on proper nutrition, especially trace minerals, to perform optimally.

When pasture and forage is limited during winters or dry weather, cattle require supplemental protein and energy.

Nutritional stress will reduce production of the animals and can increase health risks by impairing immune function. Maintaining an adequate body condition score near 5-6 for adult animals is a

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general goal. Nutrition throughout gestation will affect the calf’s productivity throughout their lifetime, from immune system development in utero to colostrum providing passive immunity.

Establishing a feeding plan and evaluating regional feedstuff supplies is another step to the herd health plan.

Minimizing environmental stressors also improves immune system response and resiliency. Wet and windy conditions can negatively impact calves quickly and require extra time and resources for proper care. Heat stress in the summer can also impact vaccine response and productivity. Plan ahead when working cattle with weather forecasts, proper animal handling training and supporting cattle through bad weather with dry bedding or windbreaks.

Training Opportunities Training new or seasoned personnel is another critical area of the herd health plan and starts with proper record keeping.

Cattle producers can stay organized by maintaining good records that document what has already been done and plan for future steps. From recording birthdates to parental information to withdrawal periods and safe to ship dates, these records allow the rancher to responsibly care for and market each of their animals with confidence. The checkofffunded BQA program provides guidance on types of records to consider.

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The beef industry continues to produce safe, high quality products while adhering to these BQA principles. Judicious use of antibiotics and animal health products are the foundation of any treatment plan and starts with correctly diagnosing a problem and choosing the correct product, if even necessary.

While much focus is placed on withdrawal times for antibiotics, do not forget that many topical and injectable parasite treatments and vaccines have withdrawal periods to adhere to. Proper dosing to bodyweight of the animal plays a role in effectiveness of the medications, also. Animal treatment records are critical in establishing withdrawal times and preventing residues in the food supply.

Opportunities in improving animal handling through training in natural cattle behavior and low-stress handling can lead to a safer working environment for both the workers and cattle.

Training in biosecurity practices on the operation should be offered to personnel and visitors. Contingency planning for

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natural disasters could be another training opportunity to add to the herd health plan. All personnel working with the cattle should be made aware of the various treatment, animal care and safety protocols in place.

We have learned that herd health plans are unique to each enterprise and encompass much more than vaccinating animals.

Stokka said, “Livestock veterinary professionals have been trained to provide more than just individual treatments and surgery; they’re also trained to be a consulting member of beef cattle operations.”

The invaluable relationship between cattle producers and their herd veterinarians strengthens their commitment to animal care and moves each producer closer to their short-term and long-term goals towards profit and sustainability. Herd health plans evaluate each aspect of the business and will provide each operation a roadmap to success.

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BY WELFARE

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Beef Cattle Welfare and the “Five Freedoms”

By Ron Gill, Ph.D., Professor, Extension Livestock Specialist, and Associate Department Head, Texas A&M University Animal welfare issues have received more attention in the press over the last decade than they have the previous century. The livestock production system and its owners and managers have paid attention to animal welfare for centuries. It was just called animal husbandry for many decades and over the past three decades or so it became known as animal science, and today animal welfare is evolving into its own discipline within animal science.

In reality, science and husbandry were woven together by using the latest in technology and science to improve efficiencies in animal production while keeping the best interest of the animal at the forefront. The problem became that the focus and topic of conversation was always on the science and little to no focus on communicating the husbandry aspect of modern production principles.

In a society where most of the population has little to worry about, particularly in regard to an abundant, quality food supply and access to instant mass communication, the concerns and voices of a small but vocal minority can seem like an uprising of society against agriculture and science-based production systems. It is encouraging that most consumer survey work indicates that more than 96 percent of the population is in favor of consuming animals for food if they are treated humanely during their growth or production phase.

It is important that farmers and ranchers recognize and appreciate this vote of confidence in our production systems and realize that an important part of that vote of confidence is, “if they are treated humanely”. We are responsible to the animals and our customers to ensure that all livestock are treated humanely. Consumers, and perhaps more importantly the supply chain that controls what consumers

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have access to, are interested in defining humane production. Recent consumer market research by NCBA, The Center for Food Integrity and others has shown that animal welfare in livestock is consistently consumers’ primary concern with how their meat is produced.

A couple of years ago, I first heard the concept of the Five Freedoms from Dr. Tom Noffsinger as we were conducting low-stress livestock trainings. To me the Five Freedoms he referenced made perfect sense.

As I looked into the Five Freedoms, I discovered more about their history. Anytime you reference “freedoms” for animals it immediately draws the ire of industry because it brings up images of the fights fought relative to animal rights. Although activist groups have done a great job of limiting the use of the term “animal rights” and use a more palatable term “animal welfare” in their messages put out to the general public, the livestock industry fully understands the underlying motivation for most of the leaders of these “animal welfare” groups. There is complete justification for the skepticism by farmers and ranchers about the intentions and leadership of those groups.

However, these Five Freedoms did not originate from these welfare groups and a little history of the concept is justified. The concept of Five Freedoms originated with a report in the United Kingdom by the Technical Committee charged to Enquire into the Welfare of Animals kept under Intensive Livestock Husbandry Systems, the Brambell Report was delivered in December 1965. This report stated that farm animals should have freedom “to stand up, lie down, turn around, groom themselves and stretch their limbs”, a list that is still sometimes referred to as Brambell’s Five Freedoms.

As a direct result of this Brambell Report, the UK established a Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (FAWAC). This group quickly became the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) which was established by the British government in July 1979.

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Since that time, under the direction of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, Brambell’s Five Freedoms were modified to focus more concern and attention to behavior and were eventually modified to the following version.

The Five Freedoms 1.

Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition - by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor

2.

Freedom from discomfort - by providing a suitable environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area

3.

Freedom from pain, injury and disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment

4.

Freedom to express normal behavior - by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind

5.

Freedom from fear and distress - by ensuring conditions that avoid mental suffering

As you look over the Five Freedoms, keep in mind the following

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statement and acknowledgment by Dr. John Webster. According to Webster (the researcher who helped develop the Five Freedoms, and professor of animal husbandry, University of Bristol), “When put to work by comparing different housing systems, the Five Freedoms are an attempt to make the best of a complex situation. Absolute attainment of all five freedoms is unrealistic. By revealing that all commercial husbandry systems have their strengths and weaknesses, the five freedoms make it, on one hand, more difficult to sustain a sense of absolute outrage against any particular system such as cages for laying hens or stalls for sows and easier to plan constructive, step by step, routes towards its improvement."

As a livestock producer myself, I have a really hard time arguing with the concept of these Freedoms. I also think that production of livestock in non-environmentally controlled settings make some of this much more difficult to ensure. With that said, it is important that every producer of livestock or poultry try to accomplish these Freedoms.

If anyone disagrees with the responsibility of the owner/ manager to provide ready and ample access to water and feed to maintain health and vigor they should remove themselves from agriculture immediately. That is our basic responsibility, and it is how we make a living.

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Freedom from discomfort is probably the one that causes as much discussion as any of the Freedoms in cattle production.

Because we are not an intensively confined industry, environmental control is not usually possible (recognizing the exception of cattle raised in barns which is a relatively small segment). However, I do think it is everyone’s best interest to provide cattle with ability to protect themselves from the environmental extremes as much as possible. Perhaps our most vulnerable areas are in extreme heat without adequate shade and extreme cold without protection from wind. In my opinion, we need to rethink shade in confined livestock operations.

Although it is difficult to show an economic advantage to providing shade, problems with heat stress in feeding operations makes me think we need to reevaluate this area of husbandry.

Freedom from pain, injury and disease is another Freedom that has some pushback from the industry and I completely understand that because of one word in the list and that is pain.

There is no such thing as a pain free or even risk-free existence for humans or livestock. It is the responsibility of the manager of livestock to manage the severity of pain for the animal. It is always in the best interest of productivity to manage pain, prevent injury and disease and to provide veterinary treatment of injuries or diseases as quickly as possible.

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The area of pain management in livestock production is the biggest area of concern that cattle producers have to address, whether we want to or not. If we adhere to the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) guidelines for production practices found in the national manual, or recently released BQA Field Guide, pain management can be appropriately addressed. Dehorning and castration are the two areas where the industry must come to grips with the “when and how” to best manage these practices.

If done early in life, there is much less pain associated with these procedures. After a certain age, intact males may have to be handled by different procedures, pain mitigation, or left intact through finishing. Dehorning should only be done early in life unless pain management is utilized. Newer BQA guidance on consulting a veterinarian on pain mitigation should be on your “to do” list if you haven’t done it already. This is based in the latest research, done by multiple animal scientists, veterinarians and other experts, that indicates pain can be managed through mitigation strategies.

Freedom to express normal behavior is an area where the beef production sector is on as solid a ground as any livestock enterprise can be. In every phase of traditional beef cattle production, cattle are managed in groups and have ample room to express normal behavior. Everyone in cattle production likes to see cattle be able to get up and run, buck and play at will.

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In fact, we use the ability to express normal behavior as the main tool in monitoring the health of the individuals within a group. Being able to determine what animals within a group are not expressing normal behavior is paramount to the success of health management programs in pasture or confinement situations. “Pulling sick cattle” from the pasture or pen is really just identifying, diagnosing and treating the ones that are not acting normal.

Freedom from fear and distress is probably the most misunderstood of these Five Freedoms. What this really means is, “ensuring conditions that avoid mental suffering”. Most people have never really even thought about a cow having the ability to have mental suffering, much less suffer from fear or distress. Mental suffering is what the industry commonly refers to as stress.

Stress and its associated consequences represent one of the, if not the greatest, drains on the livestock industries. Stress can be managed very effectively. However, it requires physical management. You cannot manage stress by using a product or technology to any significant extent. Products and technology may oftentimes lead to more stress on an animal rather than less. A prime example are vaccines. Although a critical asset in disease prevention, the product itself puts the animal in stress. If physical stress of processing, weaning, hauling and commingling

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is added to by improper timing of vaccinations, we can create animals more susceptible to infection when we thought they were protected.

A large percentage of stress is created through human action and, therefore, must be managed through human action.

Other than environmental stress caused by extremes in weather patterns, all other stresses are human related. If this interface between humans and livestock is the start of the largest economic drain on the industry, perhaps it is time more focus is placed back on “husbandry” than just on science and technology. The better the application of husbandry principles, the greater the benefit from application of sound science and technology in animal agriculture.

There is an art to the proper care and management of livestock that has been taken for granted within the animal industries.

Managing the well-being of animals affects the quality of life of the animal, the people involved and the profit of an operation. Lack of employee knowledge, skills and training, and inadequate oversight has resulted in high profile problems in animal care and handling across most sectors of animal production.The need for educating and training all employees, even if they are relatives or neighbors just lending a hand, is of utmost importance.

Continued on page 70

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Continued from page 68 If the industry does not become more proactive in these areas of employee training and oversight, regulation will follow.

The following is a statement gleaned from a presentation by Robert Spitze in 2009, titled Globalized Agriculture Requires Regulation, "Food and health are too important to be left to the unregulated private indulgences of men and nations. It is up to interested, informed citizens to help decide the desired combination of public and private policies."

Our industries cannot deny that we are in the sights of activists, bureaucrats and regulators and that consumer concerns around animal welfare are real.

Managing for the Five Freedoms Stockmanship, plus the training and supervision necessary to achieve required standards, are key factors in the handling and care of livestock. A management system may be acceptable in principle but without competent, diligent stockmanship the welfare of animals cannot be adequately safeguarded. The amazing thing about stockmanship is that training is available at little or no cost to producers and the economic benefits of improved stockmanship skills is tremendous. It is one of the few things we can do in production agriculture that can increase income without increasing cost and there are many excellent teachers emerging in this area. The training is available in-person all over the country at beef cattle Extension events, Stockmanship & Stewardship events and some of the basics are covered through free online resources like the BQA online certification or by watching stockmanship videos on the BQA YouTube channel available at BQA.org.

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Finish what you started.

You do it for the land. Now do it for your business. Learn why Steve and Richard Roth at the IX Ranch in Big Sandy, Montana use BQA certification to strengthen their operation at BQA.org/rightway.

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Ranching chose you. When it comes to running your cattle operation, you do things the right way. BQA is here to help with the training and certification to build your cattle business. Get after it at BQA.org.

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“If we’re being truthful, we’re grass farmers.

We manage the land so cattle can harvest it.”

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YON FAMILY FARMS, SOUTH CAROLINA

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