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On Target: Behind the static, 560-lb. weaning weights

Date: Jan 01 2018

Lactation & On Target & Weaning

It looks like weaning weights have gone pretty much nowhere for 15 years. That’s according to a summary of North Dakota State University’s Cow Herd Appraisal of Performance Software (CHAPS) that presents genetic progress as functionally static since 2003. I couldn’t miss that summary, well-publicized and pointed out by just about every contact and source I know.

Add value by culling, feeding

Date: Oct 17 2017

Blog & Feeding Quality Forum & Weaning

Weaning and “preg checking” tell us how successful our last two breeding seasons were. While many cow herd operators enjoy calving as a time to see the fruits of their labor, I prefer weaning, when management and genetic selection come together in one package. If you fell short in meeting any challenge like keeping pastures vegetative or replacement heifers without records, those effects are in full view when calves cross the scale at weaning.

Add value by culling, feeding

Date: Oct 17 2017

On Target & Weaning

Weaning and “preg checking” tell us how successful our last two breeding seasons were. While many cow herd operators enjoy calving as a time to see the fruits of their labor, I prefer weaning, when management and genetic selection come together in one package. If you fell short in meeting any challenge like keeping pastures vegetative or replacement heifers without records , those effeccts are in full view when calves cross the scale at weaning.

That is adaptability

Date: Jun 22 2016

Blog & Weaning

We met Jerry Hasart and I heard how Top End Farms stepped into the unknown several times throughout the years and adapted.

No bidders

Date: Mar 09 2015

Blog & Pre-conditioning & Stockmanship & Weaning

At his Cattlemen’s College session last month, I heard Mark present a pretty convincing case for preconditioning (a 11-year analysis of Indiana producers showed a profit of more than $80 per head, on average for 60+ day programs, for example).

But it wasn’t just about the economics of it all. It was about the principle.