Category: Breeding

Uncomfortable change

Date: Jan 08 2019

Don’t let the unknown paralyze you. Think about the end goal and why you’re inspired to do something different in the first place.

Maybe you’re looking to recoup some investment or perhaps just trying to make specific points in the calendar flow a little more smoothly. Maybe you hear about these loads that are reaching 50% Prime and thinking, “I want my cattle to do that.”

Cause and effect

Date: Dec 12 2018

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.

Cows that fit, calves that fit

Date: Nov 29 2018

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.

Genetic answers to consumer demand

Date: Nov 20 2018

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.

Time tested

Date: Oct 28 2018

850,000 record say: Marbling still matters

Date: Oct 28 2018

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.

Balance vs. the trade-off

Date: Oct 27 2018

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.

From average to elite

Date: Apr 26 2018

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.”

On Target: Unintended consequences?

Date: Mar 01 2018

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.

On Target: Next breeding season starts now

Date: Dec 13 2017

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.