We sometimes associate cause and effect without knowing the real link, or as an academic buzz phrase has it, “correlation does not equal causation.” A quick search provides a humorous example. Did you know ice cream sales and shark attacks are highly correlated? While true in a broad sense, the actual reason for similar seasonal trends is that hot weather brings greater ice cream consumption as well as more swimming along beaches where sharks lurk.
Genetic selection for ranch environment or meeting market demand? That’s a choice cattlemen don’t have to make, said Dan Moser, president of Angus Genetics Inc., speaking at the Feeding Quality Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, this summer.
What’s relevant today isn’t necessarily so tomorrow. Investing in the future pushes everybody forward. That was the motivating think piece Mark McCully shared with cattlemen as part of the National Angus Convention’s opening session Saturday, Nov. 3, in Columbus, Ohio. As farmers and ranchers attended breakouts designed to make their own herds better, McCully’s point held its weight. Anything that could make it above the Select line was once considered “on target” for satisfying consumer demand.
For many cattle across the United States that’s the difference in a marbling score of 492 versus 500. Those commodity Choice carcasses are just a few fat flecks away from upper two-thirds Choice and their share of the $50 million that packers pay each year for cattle earning that high-quality designation.
One of the big challenges of livestock judging is explaining “balance” to a new evaluator. As we attend county fairs, state previews and junior nationals, we’ll hear the term used to describe cattle in nearly every class. After the judge remarks on the calf’s balance, they’ll follow up with a collection of terms that support their view of balance.
The cow-calf world knows two distinct groups, often mutually exclusive, says Ryan Noble, of Yuma, Colo. “On one hand, we have the high-octane, high-input, high-production, high-return operations that are geared to go big,” he says. “Put on the gas. You get what you pay for.”
You hear more about mature cow size and growth potential of calves, now that profit ebbs and flows with the cycle. We’ve written about mature size, but not much about how to use the relevant tools to change it. So now, let’s examine the strategies and tools available, and the unintended consequences of ignoring them.
We can debate the single largest factor in reproductive success for the cowherd depending on gender: Is there a fertile and able bull in the herd? Are the cows cycling? A failure in either of these systems results in a miserable day come preg-check time, and anyone who has been the victim of a bull gone bad would swear the male side of this equation is the most important. While a fertile bull is important, he is of little use to a cow that is not cycling.
My commercial Angus cows are every bit as important to me as the registered Angus bulls I use, and that is why I stay with the most predictable sires in the world.
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