Rancher and dog herding Angus cattle - At the Table The Code

Be specific

Is it really breed specific?

Sometimes I answer a CAB question with, “Let me ask the scientists.” That’s what happened last week when some Twitter followers asked questions about using our DNA test on other breeds.

I knew that it is specifically for high-percentage Angus cattle, but I couldn’t exactly say why. I promised those followers that I’d get a more in-depth answer.

Myth: GeneMax would work on any breed, they just say “high-percentage Angus” since they’re a breed organization.

Fact: All DNA tests on the market today work better on the type of cattle they were trained on. I interviewed Larry Kuehn, a geneticist at the USDA Meat Animal Research Center (MARC), for a story on the future of DNA earlier this year.

When I asked why the tests don’t work as well across-breeds he said, “We’re working on it.”

Right now the “high-density” tests measure 50,000 markers, but they’re working on “ultimate high density” tests.

“Basically we’re trying to get down more to the meat of what’s causing animals to be different from one another. When you’ve got 50,0000 markers spread across the genome, you’ve got a certain probability that you have markers in that same region as causal mutations that will be in phase with the casual mutations. The hypothesis is with the higher density panel, you’ve got a higher probability that you’ve markers in phase with casual mutations.”

Simply put, the more pieces of the puzzle you have, the easier it is to compare across breeds. Also, as with most things we pay for….more work=higher cost.

That’s why “reduced panel” tests, like GeneMax, have popped up.

The GeneMax (GMX) markers are a subset of the 50,000 markers that are used on the Pfizerr HD 50K test.

“HD50K is very much a breed-specific test – a Simmental breeder would not get useful or informative results from using the Black Angus calibration of HD50K. It follows then, that since GeneMax was derived from the Black Angus 50K, that only high percentage Angus animals will receive informative results from GeneMax,” says Tonya Amen, with Angus Genetics Inc.

So there you go. The American Angus Association and CAB developed GeneMax to help identify cattle with the potential to gain and grade. So, yeah, we wanted to make sure it’d work on high-percentage Angus, but really it’s also a factor of what today’s technology is capable of doing. We’re not just saying that because our paychecks say Angus at the top.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

Droughty Blues

I love listening to my dad tell stories. He was born in 1925, literally “on the farm” near Ramona, KS. He was raised on the farm, became a farmer. He remembers the “dirty thirties” as a young boy……1934 and 1936 were especially hot, dry, dusty years, he related to me. My grandmother would take wet rags and place them on the window sills to keep the dust out of the house during those dust storms. Grasshopper plagues of biblical proportions occurred as well. The roads were covered with them so heavy as to make them “greasy” when you ran them over. They covered osage orange (hedge) fence posts and chewed off the rough spots…..so much so that the posts looked slick as glass. Pitchfork and shovel handles shared the same fate. While the 1930’s were an economically tough time, it was especially so for farmers and ranchers due to the widespread, long term drought.

The “filthy fifties” (1950s) saw several years, in mom and dad’s early farming days and married lives, that were equally as bad. Particularly in 1955 and 1956, when many Kansas farmers switched from growing corn to grain sorghum (milo), as it supposedly had better drought resistance. Dad sold his cows in 1956; no feed, hay, or pasture remained.

I myself remember very well that 1980, 1983, and 1988 were exceptionally dry and hot. The summer of 1980 had several weeks of oppressively hot weather and no measurable rain for about 90 days.

Oklahoma and Texas, as well as southwest KS experienced exceptional drought last year, and many areas in those states are suffering from the same malady in 2012. Even northeast KS, where we live, has experienced 18 days in a row (and counting) of days over 100 degrees with little or no rain (0.25″ since June 30th).

What does all this have to do about Angus cattle and beef quality? Everything! As many farmers and ranchers pare down herds to match with available feed supplies and high supplement prices for the winter season, it becomes even more critical that we use every available tool to select the replacement females that will do it all for us in every department. Scaling back has it’s advantages, in that we can become more “lean and mean” with our pool of genetics.

What better time than now to take advantage of DNA technology and test females using the newest tool on the market: GeneMax!

GeneMax will give you another tool in your box to make those final keep/cull decisions. Why not use it? For $ 17.00 per head, it is one of the cheapest DNA tests on the market. It will give you a score for yearling gain and marbling, with the latest addition (at no extra charge) of sire i.d. if those sires were Pfizer 50K tested. This is a great bargain, and a great way to steer your genetics toward cattle that meet a higher quality endpoint at harvest that puts more money in your pocket.

Don’t let yourself get those “Droughty Blues”! Seize the opportunity and use GeneMax to hasten your way to higher returns to your business!

~Gary

Schiefelbeins divide labor, unify purpose

“My main job is to keep the boys happy, the daughters-in-law happy and my wife happy. That’s a full time job right there.”

2008_6_20_Schiefelbein Farms -2 — Frank Schiefelbein II, Schiefelbein Farms patriarch

Frank Schiefelbein II told me that four years ago when I visited his family’s Angus seedstock farm near Kimball, Minn. And although he said it half joking, there must be a bit of truth to that.

I thought about harvest time at my family’s house and the coordination it took to have the right people in the right field at the right time. How in the world do they do it with eight sons and their wives, and more than 30 grandkids?

Fast forward. Just a few weeks ago I got to take in a Schiefelbein family meeting—or maybe I should call it the Schielfelbein morning chat. Meeting sounds awfully formal…..but then again, there is plenty of business to discuss.

What price should they lock in for beet pulp? How is the slat barn addition coming along? Did Tim really just buy a couple hundred head of feeder calves at that price?

2012_07_12_mr_Schiefelbein Farms-6-1 — The morning meet up at the Schiefelbein Farm

After they all talk over the comings and goings for the day and give input on the bigger picture, they disperse. Each brother has a job, from managing risk and futures to crop farming to cattle feeding. I took a tag-team tour of the farm—Danny showed me the carefully mated herd, Tim pulled up carcass data on his computer screen, Frank III explained the new feedlot setup, Don talked about the future direction. In the pickup/office/pasture conversations, one thing rang out.

Each one of “the boys” knows their job and they do it well. Bob oversees the crops, Tom is the head mechanic, and so on.

Yet, they don’t function independently. They all vote on the AI sires they’ll use. They take turns once every three nights pulling overnight shifts in the calving barn.

Everybody knows that it’s about the end product. Don says his father’s Twin Cities upbringing, formed his simple, but sturdy philosophy: “From day one, dad always said, ‘If we’re in the beef business, we better raise good beef.’”

And that’s how Tim was able to show harvest data on customer cattle that reached 40%, 50%, 60% Certified Angus Beef brand and Prime.

So that’s the family secret for making it all work. Shared vision.

Seems like the beef industry could take this message from the Schiefelbeins to heart: everybody has a job to do (think cow-calf, stocker, feeder), and they do it well, but all with the ultimate goal (beef) in mind.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

Hidden sickness, hidden cost

The droopy ears, the hanging head, the cough. Yeah, you know what a sick calf looks like.

IDFY (36) — They look healthy, but they may be hiding something!

They’re easy to spot….except the ones that aren’t. There are times you wonder, “Is he moving a little slow today? Nah, I guess not.” Think about that runny nose when you debated if you should treat the calf.

But unless they’re really sick, it’s probably no big deal, right?

Wrong.

Myth: Cattle have to show dramatic outward signs of sickness for it to impact performance and quality later on.

Fact: Many cattle go untreated at the home ranch or in the feedyard, and that matters to everything from daily gain and carcass weight to marbling scores.

Harvest records on more than 62,000 records from Iowa’s Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity show that about 5% had lung adhesions. That indicates some type of respiratory challenge at some point during their life.

Of that subset only one-third of the cattle (1,042) were treated in the feedyard.

What about the other two-thirds? They were sick but apparently not sick enough. They didn’t get caught and treated, but they still suffered with reduced performance and carcass quality.

Here are all the numbers:

Cattle that were never visibly sick and had no adhesions were heavier at harvest (1,185 lb. compared to 1,167 those with lung adhesions but never treated) and took fewer days to get there (165 days on feed vs. 170).
The non-treated, healthy cattle had the lowest cost of gain and the highest carcass weights.
The non-treated, no adhesion cattle reached 68.4% USDA Choice and above, compared to just under 63% for those non-treated cattle with adhesions. That dropped to 53.8% for the cattle that had adhesions and received treatment. Even more dramatic was the drop in Certified Angus Beef^®(CAB^®) brand acceptance from 17.8% to 7.6%.

The stats (weight, average daily gain, dressing percent, etc.) are all stacked against those sick calves, regardless of treatment.

TCSCF manger Darrell Busby sums it up: “That all adds up. Lung adhesions are pretty costly to the industry.”

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

You be the judge

This week’s trip down memory lane landed me in Louisville, Ky., for the National Junior Angus Show. While the day-to-day life on my family’s Angus farm built my passion for the beef industry, involvement in the National Junior Angus Association was the best networking experience I had as a kid.

As I sat in the stands and watched the next generation of young Angus enthusiasts take their trip across the green shavings, I thought about the role that visual evaluation plays in our industry. While it is fun to see the attractive show cattle that kids have worked so hard to groom, as part of the Black Ink team, I’ll be the first to admit that visual evaluation can’t stand on its own in a herd.

One of my favorite things to do as a spectator at registered Angus shows is to follow along just as closely in my show program as I do in the ring. My dad and I often sit together in the stands to cuss and discuss how closely we agree (or sometimes disagree) with the judge. Sometimes, to throw an extra element of father-daughter competition, we’ll try to identify which of our “pairs” are related. At the larger shows where classes have upwards of 15 head it’s always fun to look down the line at heifers that almost look like they came out of a cookie cutter. Take a look at the book, chances are they may be from the same cow family, sire group, or even possibly flush mates.

The bottom line is that you can still find out more about those calves. They have pedigrees and EPDs that can aid young breeders in making mating decisions. In the world of commercial Angus cattle that are so vital to the supply of the Certified Angus Beef ^® brand, EPDs and complete pedigrees are often nothing more than a figment of the cattleman’s imagination. If you’re a commercial breeder, can you be confident enough to let all your management decisions ride on your own visual evaluation skills? This week, in honor of the junior show in Louisville, we’re introducing our own judging contest.

Check out the Black Ink Facebook page and put your judging skills to the test on our class of replacement heifers. We’re using GeneMax™ Scores as our judge this week for selecting females with the most gain and grade potential. Sort out our grand drive accurately and a CAB^® prize package could be headed to your doorstep!

Good luck!

Kara

Hey, hey, did you know?

Carson preschool — When this little man heads to school, I never know what information he’ll be excited to share when he gets home. Kind of like when I head off to industry meetings, I suppose.

“Hey, hey, Mom. Did you know that squids live in the ocean?”

“Hey, Mom! Did you know that my name starts with ‘C’ and so does Cassidy’s?”

“Hey, Mom! Did you know plants make their own food?”

This is a daily occurrence at my house, where my 4-year-old son is ever so eager to learn. Whether it’s coming home from preschool or from a tractor ride with his dad, he’s always got some new nugget of information to share.

One of these days I need to grab my video camera and capture that excitement, because I suppose it won’t always be that way.

But then again, maybe if he’s lucky, it will. I still get that way when I get to interview a scientist or rancher who teaches me something or gives me new perspective. That’s probably why I always get excited for our Feeding Quality Forum, a meeting we (along with Pfizer, Feedlot Magazine and Purina-Land O’Lakes) have been hosting for six years.

When we started it there was a void, no real place to gather up the great minds in the cattle feeding business to talk quality beef production. Now, we feature folks like market analyst Dan Basse or Shawn Walter of Professional Cattle Consultants. Sometimes we have packers, sometimes researchers, veterinarians or economists.

Last year I learned things like high corn prices might encourage MORE days on feed and that camera-called marbling scores help with consistency in the box. And of course there was much, much more that we covered in stories like this or this.

FQF speakers — A preview of some of the great minds that will present at this year’s meetings: Shawn Walter, Dan Basse and Phil Bass.

Maybe you won’t quite get giddy with excitement over everything you learn, but if getting good solid market information, looking at the broader ag industry and diving in to what’s under the hide would make you feel better informed then I’d suggest you check it out.

This year’s meetings are set for Aug. 28 in Grand Island, Neb., and Aug. 30 in Amarillo, Tex. For all the details or to register, check out this web page.

And hey, who knows, maybe you’ll come home saying, “Hey, hey, honey…did you know..?”

I admit it, I’m still guilty of that sometimes, too.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

~Miranda

Beef prices & my paycheck

Easy ways to make conversation with anybody in agriculture: 1-Talk weather. 2-Talk prices.

It seems everybody knows those rules, so when I’m traveling and visit with fellow ag business folks the conversation usually starts out on one of those two notes. Recently upon learning I worked for Certified Angus Beef, a guy said, “Huh, so are these cattle prices cutting into your margins? Or do you just hike up the price of your beef and pass it along to the consumers?” (*Note this was before those prices were flirting with limit down levels today…)

From what ad features retailers will commit to running to the number of cattle going to harvest in a given a week, cattle prices do have a big effect on our business. But it’s not quite as direct as that guy was thinking.

After all, in essence we are a non-profit, marketing company.

I thought I’d dust off this Mythbuster post that addresses how we’re funded and should indirectly address this one:

Myth: CAB sets beef prices, depending on the cattle market.

Fact: https://cabcattle.com/2011/03/28/show-me-the-money/

I’m not an accounting whiz or a market forecaster, but if you’ve got any other questions along these lines, let me know. I know people who are!

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

~Miranda

Headed the same way

George said I didn’t have to print any pictures of him or print any of what he said.

Sorry George. It was just too good not to.

Meet George and Lorretta Epp, the righthand man (and woman) at Guggenmos River Ranch.

When I planned to visit the family ranching and feeding operation in the Nebraska Sandhills, Larry Guggenmos wanted to be sure the couple could make it to the interivew, too.

No wonder. They all sat around the kitchen table finishing each other’s sentances when talking cowherd goals.

“I never understood somebody who says, ‘I don’t care about the meat.’,” George said. Shaking her head, Loretta added, “Then where are your cattle going to end up?”

I don’t think their paycheck is directly tied to some grid payment or cattle performance goal. That’s when it became clear to me that having “good help” is about a whole lot more than finding hard workers or folks who pay attention to detail.

These cattle are the result of a shared vision.

It’s about a shared vision.

The cowherd records–the pedigrees, the history, special notations–all 400-some of them are displayed on the office wall. But there’s hardly any need. George and Loretta know those cows like they’re their kids.

“George can remember their mothers and their grandmothers. Cows and pedigrees are his thing,” Larry says. Today Larry spends most of his time on the feeding end of the cattle equation. As I told you Monday, that combination of genetics and managment is producing loads that reach nearly 80% CAB and CAB Prime.

I heard, “We’re a good team,” two or three times during my visit.

We know that’s a good feeling. We’re glad folks out in the country share our passion for the end product, too.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

~Miranda

Everybody’s doing it…or not!

Last week I told you how nearly 75% of the nation’s herd is black-hided. At first glance, it may seem like everybody’s jumped on the bandwagon, producing calves aimed for CAB and other branded programs.

Larry Guggenmos, Nebraska cattle rancher/feeder

But on a recent on-location stop rancher/feeder Larry Guggenmos made an observation that sounds like one we might have made ourselves: “When we started on this high-quality trail, I thought everybody else would be right behind, but it hasn’t happened yet. I can’t figure out why.”

It also contradicts this Monday’s falsehood.

Myth: Beef quality is in vogue. It seems like everybody is paying attention to it these days.

Fact: If there were really enough producers selecting for and managing cattle based on end-product merit, we’d be the first to know. The fact that they aren’t is job security for those of us on the Supply Development (as in, here to try to create more supply of CAB) team.

More to the point, the recent run up in the Choice/Select spread to $18, shows that the market is willing to pay for more high-quality beef. And it indicates there isn’t enough.

The soon-to-be-released National Beef Quality Audit puts out a clear call for more Prime and premium Choice. The target-consumer consensus suggests 5% and 31%, respectively, when production levels for all beef in those categories during 2011 was 2% and 20%, 14 points short of expectations.

And we believe if we were hitting those levels consistantly, we could reach a new height with demand. As in, if people were eating really good beef all the time (rather than spending plenty of dollars on a mediocre product sometimes) they will want to buy more of it. After all, we can’t license more retailers or build relationships with new exporters until we know there’ll be product for them to sell.

When I started with CAB in 2006 we were talking about brand acceptance rates around 15%. Today that has increased to 24% of black-hided cattle that pass our 10 carcass specifications. So clearly, quality has risen. The industry is figuring out the teamwork it takes to make that perfect steak, but to say “everybody’s doing it” would be a far stretch.

The good news story? If you produce what’s in demand and follow the right marketing channels, you’ll be rewarded.

Larry Guggenmos knows that. He sends some loads that are nearly 80% CAB and Prime.

And he’s not one to do something just because it’s in vogue.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

~Miranda

Crossbred bull ‘fix’

Composites may trade predictability for simplicity

by Miranda Reiman

A good crossbreeding program takes some background in genetics, a big enough herd and land base, good bull suppliers and time to figure all that out. Producers looking for a simpler route to heterosis often opt to use a composite bull.

“In order for a crossbreeding operation to maximize heterosis, it takes a lot of different pasture, a lot of management, which because of size and time a lot of people can’t devote to it,” says Jarold Callahan,president of Express Ranches, Yukon, Okla. “You basically have to have different herds within your herd.”

So the composite bull market was born, where breeding stock is billed as already having that built-in hybrid vigor.

“Implementing crossbreeding can be somewhat daunting,” says Nevil Speer, Western Kentucky University animal scientist. “Many operations would rather forgo such effort if production can be maintained while also ensuring relative absence of problems. As a result, producers are often encouraged to utilize composite bulls as a simplified means to boost heterosis and subsequent production.”

But Callahan says it’s not always a “quick fix.” Express has sold hundreds of Limousin-Angus crosses over the years, but recently decreased the number of composites (F1) offered on an annual basis.

“A lot of people we sent F1 bulls to were very disappointed because of gene segregation and what was being transmitted from each parent,” he says. “Some progeny of these bulls really favored traits of one breed and some favored traits of the other, some looked Angus and some looked Continental. You ended up with a set of calves that were not only visually different, but a lot different in terms of outcome and how you needed to manage them.”

Geneticist Bob Weaber, Kansas State University, says that’s partly because what works on average for the whole calf crop varies among individuals.That may shift the balance of traits toward one breed or the other.

“Even though the F2s [composite progeny] have half of their genetic material from each breed on average, some re-pairing of chromosomes from the same breed occurs,” he says. “When we make an F2 we see a decrease in heterosis, because on average one-half of the animals’ chromosomes consist of pairings from the same breed of founder.”

Data from the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) suggests that the progeny from matings of F1 parents are no more variable than either of their purebred founder breeds for traits like weaning weight or yearling weight. However, for traits controlled by a single gene, these progeny are noticeably less consistent than the F1 parents, especially if the founder breeders were very divergent, Weaber says.

Speer says that makes it hard to measure how much productivity they should add to the herd: “In many instances composite bulls actually represent backcrossing and may reduce heterosis potential versus using a breed that serves as a total outcross.”

From a seedstock producer’s perspective, it can be much more difficult to create a reliable composite compared to a purebred bull.

“I have 27 years of objective breeding decisions that harness the power of the AAA [American Angus Association] database,” says Brian McCulloh, Viroqua, Wis. The registered breeder, who makes 350 of those decisions each spring, says the predictive power is strengthened by the broad use of artificial insemination (AI) by Association members, who submit within-herd data that ties all animals together.

“Simply put, I am not comfortable ‘experimenting’ with data from other breeds to create a composite bull for our commercial customers. I have more confidence predicting the outcome of our pure line Angus bulls,” he says.

The Angus database updates weekly with more than 20 million performance measures and 17 million pedigrees. That data volume explains why, after dabbling in the composite market to try offering customers an outcross, McCulloh abruptly stopped.

Using the MARC across-breed EPD (expected progeny difference) adjustment factors help in comparing data, Callahan says. “But there is still a little bit of an unknown as to where that animal is going to come out.

“The purebred cattle evaluations give you better insight in terms of predictability of individuals and their offspring,” he says. Genomically-enhanced EPDs hone that ability. “You can make more progress – because you have greater access to performance information – than you can in most crossbreeding operations, unless they’re extremely well designed.”

To date, the DNA technology can only effectively sort out straightbred populations, he adds.

“That precludes it from being useful in composites and crossbreds,” Callahan says.

When selecting hybrids, commercial producers may face another challenge: “There’s an increasing need to purchase bulls in volume that provide both uniformity of calf crop and deliver on the various traits of interest,” Speer says. “Commercial bull buyers have access to larger sale offerings when shopping for Angus bulls compared to other breeds.”

Purchasing siblings in bulk is routine.

“That opportunity doesn’t exist when considering composite bulls,” he says.

Callahan doesn’t dispute the advantages of genetic diversity, but says he’s concerned with those who are “crossbreeding just for the sake of crossbreeding.”

His typical composite customer is in a terminal program, purchasing rather than raising replacement heifers. Otherwise, many have switched back to straightbreds.

“They really enjoy the uniformity of their calf crop and the predictability in their genetics,” he says.

There are no shortcuts to that.

Be specific

You may also like

Droughty Blues

You may also like

Schiefelbeins divide labor, unify purpose

You may also like

Hidden sickness, hidden cost

You may also like

You be the judge

You may also like

Hey, hey, did you know?

You may also like

Beef prices & my paycheck

You may also like

Headed the same way

You may also like

Everybody’s doing it…or not!

You may also like

Crossbred bull ‘fix’

by Miranda Reiman

You may also like