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Tag: best practices

Fine-tuned engines

Beef scientists share mineral supplementation strategies.

by Maeley Herring

August 13, 2020

Under the hood of a pickup lies an assembly of metal, its details often forgotten – until the motor breaks down. All that’s left is a vehicle that can no longer do its job.

Mineral nutrition in cattle is kind of like that.

Hidden beneath the hide, minerals act behind the scenes to maintain general function. When cattle can’t access all the minerals they need, reproduction rates drop, tissue growth diminishes and illness sets in.

That’s why mineral supplementation underpins any cattle operation.

Breaking it down

“Every biological process in cattle involves minerals,” Stephanie Hansen said at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association “Minerals 101” webinar in July.

Everything. Of course that includes health, feed efficiency and reproduction.

Less obvious? “Things like marbling, ribeye area development and muscle fiber type,” the Iowa State University feedlot nutritionist explained.

Topping off the minerals helps all functions, but quality beef starts with the cow.

“The dam’s nutrition program can have huge effects on carcass quality or heifer reproduction in the future,” said Jeff Heldt, beef technical services manager at Micronutrients, in a later interview. The healthier the cow when bred, the higher chance her calf will realize its potential.

That only gets more important in the following months.

“In the last third of gestation, that fetal liver is accumulating trace minerals that meet its basic mineral needs for the first three to six months of age,” Hansen said. Beef-cow milk is low in trace minerals, so newborns have to pull from nutrients stored in their liver.

For the weaned calves on wheat or those placed in finishing yards, mineral nutrition helps ensure they never have a bad day.

Weaning, shipping and changes in environment are critical times, Hansen said. Calves in transit lose less and rebound faster if they’ve had adequate trace minerals.

Avoiding roadblocks

Sounds easy enough, but how can you tell if it’s all on track?

“Measuring success or failure in mineral nutrition is often very challenging,” Heldt said. Add protein to the ration and you’ll see an increase of gain. “But you feed a hundred milligrams a day of copper, and there’s no obvious response or physical observation.”

Planned programs can help.

Knowing the amounts of mineral types in feedstuffs, requirements for cattle, and absorption rates ensures cost effectiveness, Hansen said.

All forages contain minerals, but content varies much by species, maturity, soils and climate.

“If you’re thinking about developing your own supplementation program—a great way to be cost effective—testing your own forages can be really important,” she said.

To get the full picture, test water sources for antagonists like sulfur or iron that disrupt mineral absorption in the rumen.

“Half of the mineral in forage is actually available to the animal,” Hansen said, noting digestibility, maturity and antagonists.

“Find a baseline,” Heldt suggested.

Knowing average mineral content in forages and any antagonists present opens the gate to cost-effective supplementation.

Staying on course

It can be hard to invest in something without obvious or immediate results.

The need for minerals is plain enough, but figuring out what and how much to supplement seasonally? Not so much, Heldt said. It’s an added cost that takes time to distribute and monitor.

That’s why convenience comes first in creating a plan to follow.

“You can design a pretty in-depth, extensive mineral program and easily overcomplicate it,” he said, advising to keep it easy and simple “to make sure it gets done.”

Worrying about the cost-benefit ratio can get in the way, too.

You’re more likely to stick to a program if you know the importance of minerals at every level, even basic grazing, where they can improve fiber digestion.

“Forage – pasture grass, hay, wheat – is the core feed base for any ranch, and the mineral source can positively affect fiber digestion, setting cattle up for future success,” Heldt said.

Mineral supplementation requires a time and monetary commitment, but it’s worth it to keep what’s under the hide running smoothly.

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$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

by | Mar 20, 2024

Certified Angus Beef is offering $100,000 in scholarships for agricultural college students through the 2024 Colvin Scholarship Fund. Aspiring students passionate about agriculture and innovation, who live in the U.S. or Canada, are encouraged to apply before the April 30 deadline. With the Colvin Scholarship Fund honoring Louis M. “Mick” Colvin’s legacy, Certified Angus Beef continues its commitment to cultivating future leaders in the beef industry.

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

by | Dec 20, 2023

Raised with Respect™ was developed as part of a strategic cattle care partnership between Sysco and CAB. The collaboration focuses on supporting farmers and ranchers, equipping them with continuing education to stay current on best management practices and helping to increase consumer confidence in beef production.

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

by | Nov 8, 2023

As drought conditions persist across much of cattle country, farmers and ranchers are at a pivotal juncture in the cattle industry’s landscape. What impact does this prolonged dry spell have on the nation’s herd numbers? When will heifer retention begin? How will industry dynamics influence the spring bull sale season?

Sights set on better beef

Decades of dedication to carcass quality help commercial ranchers rise to the top.

By: Nicole Lane Erceg

It didn’t happen overnight. Nearly 20 years ago, brothers Aaron and Darin Georg set out to raise the best Angus cattle they could breed.

“We figured, if you’re going to raise Angus, it better be quality,” Aaron remembers.

As the brothers finished the calves at their own yard near Sabetha, Kan., they watched the data as numbers got better and better.

Lately, they’ve switched to having them custom fed at Weber Feedyards, Dorchester, Neb., where the trend continues. Just last year, the best they’ve ever raised earned Reserve Champion in the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) Angus Value Discovery Contest.

That pen of 42 steers achieved 97.6% CAB (all but one), including 61.9% CAB brand Prime. One feature that made them stand out and all but win the top rung was only one had to take a yield grade (YG) 4 discount, with no YG 5s.

It’s common to see 10% or more YG4s in the industry, but not in the Georg cattle. The combination of leanness with premium quality is common here.

Carcass data is a key indicator of performance for their herd. They regularly see loads grade 30% or more Prime as they target improved growth and efficiency. Watching the closeouts, the brothers work to see ever fewer YG 4s with continued increases in Prime.

“We select for carcass merit because that’s where the value is,” Aaron says.

Following the money

“Some years the premiums are all we make on these calves, so we’ve got to make sure we capture those premiums,” Darin says.

A banker before his fulltime farming days, Darin is a student of the numbers. He says examining cash flows and being on the other side of the desk on loan applications taught him the value of knowing where every dollar goes.

Never having marketed their calves at weaning, the brothers can’t fathom turning back.

“If you have cattle that can perform, we believe it’s in our best interest to retain them and capture the value,” Darin says.

“You have to understand how the producer gets paid and what they are paying you for,” says Aaron. “They’re looking at yield and quality grades so you bet we pay attention to yield and quality grades.”

Their understanding of the flow of dollars and the genetics behind their calves instills confidence in their current model.

“I understand the exact cost of every cow,” he says. “It’s a balance of expenses and income and I’m not going to keep around an unworthy expense.”

Together, they weigh the trade-offs and trust the data to lead them in the right direction.

Sons of teachers, they value humble beginnings and the hard work it takes to build something that lasts. It was their parents who purchased the original land to begin farming, and today it supports all three families, includes a 500-head cowherd and 2,000 acres of row crops in the rolling hills of northeast Kansas.

“We’ve been doing this for 20 years, going towards the same goal in the same direction,” says Aaron. “Everything takes time.”

Priorities

When they recognize weaknesses, the brothers address them head on.

“There was a time we were calf-pulling professionals,” Aaron laughs at the memory. “I don’t remember the last time we pulled one out of a cow and it’s been at least three years since we’ve pulled out of a heifer.”

They say the Angus breed is known for two things: carcass quality and good mothering ability. They ensure their herd includes both.

“The female accounts for 50% of those genetics, so you have to have a strong female base if you’re going to raise a good-grading calf,” says Darin.

No cow on their place makes it past the decade mark.

Their 10-year cow rule doesn’t mean the underperforming get a place in the pasture. Each animal is analyzed for any reason she might not raise a quality calf. They look at her genetics, the pasture quality, her health. If the reason is determined non-environmental, she doesn’t stick around.

“We know our exact costs in every cow and every calf,” says Aaron.

“I’m not married to any of them, so if she is not performing, I have no problem loading her up in the trailer and taking her to town,” says Darin. “You’ve got to run this like a business, because it is.”

Heifer selection criteria is just as strict. The brothers make an initial cut of 100, which have a month to prove themselves before the final selection is whittled down to the 65 that get to stay. They’re looking for growth, feed efficiency, health and structure to go with the proven genetic ability to raise cattle that grade.

Steady progress

Bulls are sourced from nearby Effingham, Kan., breeder Keith Taliaferro at T Bar T Angus ranch.

When you’re playing the long game, consistency is key. For years the brothers focused selection criteria on marbling and ribeye area. Today, growth and weaning weight take higher priority, but only because there are decades of quality-carcass genetics built into their females.

“One bull won’t wreck your entire program, but you can’t take your eye off the main goal,” says Darin. “We’re trying to add more growth into our calves so we are focused on that, but it doesn’t mean we ignore other important genetic factors like cow performance or marbling.”

“Understand you can’t do everything all at once,” says Aaron. “Know your weaknesses and work on them.”

Slow, steady progress. One step at a time.

“We want to have something to show for our work,” says Darin. “We’re proud of how we’ve been able to grow and the progress we’ve seen, but to keep this around for the next generation we need to continue to get better.”

They stay on course and cull deep, always trying to stay ahead of the industry.

“Many people still don’t understand that 75% Choice is average. We refuse to be average,” says Aaron.

“A Choice, YG 3 carcass is par for the course,” Darin adds. “We’ve got to consistently do better than that.”

It’s a goal their family has been targeting for decades, now justifiably proud of the progress.

“Set a goal of what you want to obtain, make it realistic and stick to the plan,” Darin advises other producers. “It’s going to take years, but when you see the results it’s easier to keep on the track.”

To which his brother flippantly adds, “And don’t go broke!”

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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Nebraska Ranch Receives Certified Angus Beef Commercial Award

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by | Sep 25, 2023

Troy Anderson, managing a Nebraska ranch, focuses on breeding thriving maternal cows that will grade premium Choice and Prime, while respecting livestock, people and land. Anderson Cattle receives the 2023 CAB Commitment to Excellence Award. Their journey includes improving genetics, feeding home-raised and purchased calves and using data for better breeding decisions, all with a bottom-line approach.

Magnum Feedyard Earns Certified Angus Beef Award

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by | Sep 25, 2023

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Leveraging known genetics

Missouri cattlemen capitalize on retained ownership opportunities.

By: Nicole Lane Erceg

It’s been more than a decade since Blake Robertson marketed his calves through a sale barn.

Retained ownership may seem like risky business, but Robertson knew enough to gain the confidence to find out more. After years of selling and then watching others reap the benefits of his Angus genetics, he was curious about the data and the impact it could have on his own profitability.

“We felt it was time to see what we really had and what we needed to make improvements on to move forward,” he says.

The young cattleman bought his first Angus heifers while still in college and today runs a commercial herd of 150 near Nevada, Mo. 

Working in tandem with father-in-law Virgil Ast, the families operate separate herds with similar goals and common genetics from cost-shared bulls. Ast calves in the spring, Robertson in the fall.

It was Ast who motivated his son-in-law to retain ownership after he made the change in 2014 and found the data promising. He remembers being surprised to see his calves grade 100% Choice or better. It inspired Robertson to go down that discovery road.

“In my heart, I knew we had good cattle,” Robertson says. “I was nervous, but at the same time, there’s always room for improvement and that’s what we try to focus on each year.”

And every year he says it gets better.

Today the herds are purebred Angus, but it wasn’t always that way. When Ast moved to Missouri in the 1970s, he had Herefords and a Longhorn bull. He transitioned to Limousin and experimented with crossing Maine Anjou, Simmental and Angus before a full transition to the business breed.

Changing with the times

“Everything changes so fast,” Ast says. “We’re always keeping an eye out for something different to elevate our herd.”

It’s a mantra Robertson applies to his own operation.

“If you’re not staying ahead, I fear you’re going to get left behind,” he says.

They apply the philosophy to selecting new genetics.

The majority of their bull battery hails from nearby Hinkle’s Prime Cut Angus Genetics, with Gardiner progeny from Kansas sprinkled in. The pair hold the bar high on expected progeny differences (EPDs), setting a floor of $150 (preferably $160 for Robertson) for $Beef while analyzing EPDs for calving ease on heifer bulls and watching rib eye area, marbling and growth. They look at past carcass data on bloodlines and make each decision, including animal temperament, with the end in mind.

“I pay attention to docility on the bulls,” says Ast. “These animals are so easy to work with and I think that makes the carcass better, when you don’t have over-excited cattle.”

They turn genetics quickly, each bull lasting just a few breedings, and retain replacement heifers from each calf crop. The oldest cow in Robertson’s herd is six.

“We’ve had good success and every time we see a carcass data sheet I want it to be better than the last,” Robertson says. “By updating genetics and keeping everything current, that’s the best way to make it possible.”

Data isn’t something Robertson sits at the computer and just analyzes; it’s engrained into his decision making. Even if it were not a round number, he’d know the last load’s rate of gain — 4 pounds per day — and that’s something he’s pleased with.

Putting data into action

While the industry average has risen to more than 70% Choice, 6% Prime and 30% Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand acceptance (for Angus cattle), recent loads for Ast have tallied 100% Choice or better with 60% CAB, including 20% Prime without yield grade (YG) 4s or 5s. Robertson had similar success with recent calves earning 94% Choice or better with 68% CAB, one-third of those Prime.

They put the data into selection practice on the maternal side of their herds, too.

“Last year on a set of steers, I had two calves that were Select,” Robertson says. “I no longer have those cows. I want the set of calves we’re getting ready to ship to be better than the set before.”

It’s an aggressive, forward-facing mindset, focused on improvement and profitability. It works for Robertson and Ast.

“From what I’ve seen, the only way you’re making money right now feeding cattle is with the premiums these cattle have for their quality,” Robertson says. “We feel targeting quality like the Certified Angus Beef brand helps earn premiums, and that’s what pays the bills and drives our bottom line.”

They say their key to success has been finding mentors, friends and business partners to help guide the way and data to learn from as it comes.

Preparing for the feedyard

Roberston watches each calf with a careful eye, recording weights at weaning and recording thoughts as they go through the chute. He does the same when he works them again for their booster vaccine, tracking the process and taking into account both genetic and environmental factors.

If the winter season was mild or harsh, or if the weather fluctuated that year, he records it, to capture the reasons why each animal is performing well or underperforming.

Calves are creep fed using Purina Accuration, and maintain that diet postweaning with prairie hay and mineral before the truck ride west.

While in the finishing phase, Roberston and Ast don’t take their eye off the investment. They feed at Hy-Plains Feedyard, Montezuma, Kan., and visit frequently — sometimes as often as six times a year.

“We like to see how they perform in different stages, what they look like, and learn what the (Hy-Plains staff) are seeing and thinking going forward,” Robertson says.

“We decided we were doing the basics at home and wanted to see how they perform so we can get a better idea of what we can do to get better ourselves,” adds Ast.

The feeding partnership has all dedicated to seeing the cattle realize their genetic potential, so that both consumer and producer win.

“We want to produce the best product possible and hopefully it will generate more consumer interest in beef. We work to have a better product to put across the plate,” says Roberston.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal and the Angus Beef Bulletin.

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by | Sep 18, 2023

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Breeding for the brand

New thresholds, familiar program guide bull buyers

By: Miranda Reiman

“Just because.”

It’s rare that anything great happens just because.

Sure, there are instances where a nonchalant approach turns out better than expected, but more often it’s a goal—a lofty aspiration, with progress along the way.

The Targeting the BrandTM program helps commercial cattlemen find bulls that will incrementally improve their carcass quality, and their ability to hit the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand specifications.

For those who keep a scorecard, it helps them win.

“If a bull buyer wants a calf crop that has a greater chance of making CAB, it helps him identify the genetics that will help him do that,” says John Grimes, owner of Maplecrest Farms and CAB board chair. “The trait that sorts cattle out of CAB quicker than anything is lack of marbling.”

Flipping through a salebook or semen catalog, the Targeting the Brand logo shows up on bulls that excel in marbling (Marb) expected progeny difference (EPD) and the Grid Dollar Value Index, or “dollar G” ($G).

That’s been its purpose since 2017.

“It’s important to let people know which bulls meet the criteria that CAB is looking for,” says John Teixeira, of Teixeira Cattle Company. “There’s no premium for Select, there’s less premium than there used to be for Choice, but more for CAB and Prime. We’ve got to allow these bull customers to have the opportunities to know these might bring them a premium.”

His family’s ranches in California and Oregon have used the mark to identify bulls the past three years. Those who retain ownership will reap the benefit directly, he says, while those who sell at weaning can count on buyers putting more stock in that as time goes on.

The Teixeira sales were two of more than 130 that used the logo during the 2019-2020 sale season—that number up 76% in two years—to identify more than 6,500 Angus bulls with a likelihood of siring brand qualifiers.

Breeders who took advantage of the Targeting the Brand designation did it as a service to their customers, as a marketing avenue to showcase the quality in their offerings and as a way to elevate the importance of meeting consumer demand, says Kara Lee, CAB production brand manager.

“We have tremendous tools available to registered breeders through the Association, and they all serve a purpose, but we also know digesting all that information can be a challenge for the average commercial producer,” Lee says. “Targeting the Brand is a way to help those looking to keep a focus on carcass quality.”

Teixeira wants his genetics to build cow herds, maintain moderate growth and increase marbling.

“Our bull customers get so much information that it’s easy to be overwhelmed. When you put this label on there, it’s an easy way for them to identify, ‘Hey, I don’t have to know what their parameters are, but I know this bull meets them,” Teixeira says. “We do a lot with our eyes and it’s a quick visual that says, ‘Hey, this bull is in the world that I need.”

Beyond 35%

The CAB acceptance rate for the 2019 fiscal year averaged 35% of all Angus-type cattle. The CAB team is driving toward 50%, Lee says, as they push to meet consumer demand for quality and hit two billion pounds of sales in the next decade.

“If everyone wants to get a piece of the pie, we have to keep making the pie bigger,” Lee says. “That’s a cliché that a lot of people use, but the bigger the CAB pie becomes, the more room for commercial producers to capitalize on the value of buying high-quality registered Angus bulls.”

The better the ability to build bull-sale demand, the better the pull-through model works.

“The one-billion-pound mark seemed unachievable not too long ago. What can we do to keep that growth curve going up?” Grimes asks. “Breeders have done a great job of increasing the percent of cattle that qualify for CAB, but to get to that lofty goal of two billion pounds? We’ve got to do better.”

How do we get there?

One goal: encouraging more use of the Targeting the Brand logo within the seedstock sector, and communicating with their customers how to use it, Lee says.

Another step is updating the calculations behind the logo requirements. Until now, the standards were based on bulls at breed average or better for both Marb and $G.

“If we could keep moving average higher, that was a step in the right direction, and we based that on the best information we had available,” Lee says.

But actual carcass data provided a real-world, high-volume case study.

“We feel a sincere need to continue to encourage breeders to turn in phenotypes, because the numbers are only as good as the phenotype they’re based on,” Lee says.

That proved true when an Angus Genetics Inc. analysis of 8,600 sire-identified carcass records found the combined Marb and $G threshold most likely to produce CAB from at least half of a calf crop. As of the May 29 EPD update, the requirements for Targeting the Brand are now +0.65 for Marb and +55 for $G.

That is slightly higher than the previous breed average threshold, so one in four non-parent Angus bulls now qualifies for the designation. Those numbers will be evaluated every two years, and adjusted based on the most current information.

A place to start

“These are just minimums,” Lee says. Producers who already get 50% or higher CAB acceptance rates should aim higher.

“We know marbling is highly heritable. We know that genetics impact roughly 40% of the marbling potential in those cattle; but that said, there’s another 60% not explained by genetics,” Lee says. When environment plays a role, high-quality management has to match to get intended results. “The Targeting the Brand logo is not a guarantee that progeny from any animal will hit CAB. It’s an indication that the genetic potential is higher with that animal.”

And the sire is only half the equation.

“There are some people out there who will say, ‘All Angus grade high,’ or, ‘The average Angus is good enough,’” Grimes says. “But we don’t feel like average is good enough. The database says we have to up our game.”

Don’t mistake that for a marbling-only message though.

“These numbers give producers a lot of latitude to place emphasis on carcass but still select for other traits that we know are really important,” Lee says. “We always discourage producers from single-trait selection.”

History shows progress can be made on multiple fronts at the same time, Grimes says.

“People used to think we couldn’t have calving ease and high growth, and breeders have shown that they can do that. So it’s not realistic to think we can’t do the same with elite carcass merit and maternal function,” he says.

But multi-trait, focused selection doesn’t happen “just because.”

It happens every time a breeder gives it attention and helps their customers do the same.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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by | Sep 29, 2023

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by | Sep 18, 2023

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Resilience

Moving forward from the unforeseen

By: Miranda Reiman

If you’re in the cattle business, it doesn’t take long before you face a year you don’t want to relive. Some lurk as raw memories, not buried quite deep enough to forget. Just the mention—four digits strung together to mark a certain time—can bring up the stress, the worry, the downright heart ache.

For Texas rancher Jon Means, it’s 1974. For Kansas cattle feeder Lee Borck, it’s 2003.

For almost every American producer of every major protein, it will be 2020.

“We’re used to disasters,” says Borck, chairman of Integrated Livestock Services. “The weather or mad cow disease or the Y2K drop in the market that affected our whole economy—we’re used to dealing with disasters.

“But this is of a total different sort.”

When COVID-19 entered mainstream consciousness, it brought market and supply-chain disruption the likes of which most have never seen.

“This is on a grand scale and I don’t think anybody really has a good grasp of it,” Means says.

For Iowa Angus breeder Dave Nichols, a crisis might stir memories from 1982, and Nebraska cattle feeder Harry Knobbe starts quoting data from 1964. Montana rancher Doug Arntzen recalls the 1980s.

But even as these cattlemen crunch hard-to-stomach numbers in the here-and-now, and wrestle with uncertainties that will change again before these words hit the printed page, they each hold guarded hope.

‘All we’ve ever done’

“I wouldn’t say I’m scared. I’m concerned for people, but as far as the business, we’ll come out on the other side,” Means says.

He ranches near Van Horn, Texas, not far from Mexico—an area that sees less than 12 inches of a rain an average year. A sure sign he’s an optimist.  

Just out of college, Means started ranching in 1974, when his dad passed away, leaving him to shoulder the weight of decisions. Closing out the cattle accounts that year, he had to write a check to the feedyard instead of getting one back. It’s the type of experience that might inspire the faint of heart to find a new path promising a steadier paycheck. But Means was already a cattleman.

“I’m the fourth generation here and we just didn’t do those things,” he says. “I’m sure people before us endured the hardships, and droughts, and no money, the whole situation. I wasn’t going to be the one that’s going to quit.” 

In the years that followed, Means made adjustments to dad and grandpa’s plan. He bought additional ranches to spread out environmental risk. He rebuilt in the good years and sold down when impossibly dry years like 1997 and ’98 rolled around.

“You can’t change a drought. You can’t make it rain. You can’t change this market and we can’t do anything about this virus,” he says. “We just have to take care of ourselves and take care of our people. That’s all we’ve ever done.”

‘Don’t lose your cool’

Harry Knobbe sees adversity as a great teacher.

“Any successful person has made some big mistakes, but you get to evaluate what caused it,” says the West Point, Neb., cattleman. “You just have to be right more often than you’re wrong.”  

Knobbe recalls details of an oversold futures market or times when weather intervened in economics the same way an Angus breeder rattles off historic bloodlines. Since 1960, this has been his career and his life.

“We love it,” he says.

Although digital records give him easy access, Knobbe often prefers the printed chart that spans his office wall. It’s a 52-week rolling average for finished cattle prices, and it’s not just history—it’s data that can be applied in real-time.

“You need a guideline. When you drive somewhere you look at the gas gauge. You look at the heat thermometer, the oil pressure. We don’t check the oil pressure enough with the past markets,” he says.

Even today, when some market influence doesn’t compare to an event in the past, Knobbe looks for patterns and ways to apply logic.  

“When you’re on a sports team, just because you’re behind at halftime, don’t lose your cool,” he says. It applies here. “If you panic, you can’t think. You’ve got to control your emotion.”

‘Go the extra mile’

“You’ve got to have a plan,” Nichols says.

He had a front-seat view of the 1980s Farm Crisis, and that heaviness mixed with the personal tragedy of losing his brother, his best friend and business partner in 1982. If Nichols took a souvenir from that chapter of life, it’s the mindset, “plan for the worst, but hope for the best.”

Applied this year, that’s why the breeder split up his crew and cancelled in-person meetings to reduce risks of catching and spreading the virus in March. He watched the market crash begin and called his banker to secure additional credit, just in case those bulls in the barn didn’t sell. And then he did what he knows best: he took care of those who depend on him.

“You have got to go the extra mile, now and in the foreseeable future,” Nichols says. That goes for his employees, which he considers family, and his bull buyers, which he considers his greatest asset.

“As a seedstock producer, you’re going to do about as well or as bad as the customers you sell your cattle to, and the customers I’m selling my cattle to are going to have some rough times for a year or two.

“Let’s make damn sure they’re able to get through it because the cattle are good enough.”

‘Just as much hope as I ever had’

It was right before Christmas when the call came in the early evening—Borck’s 2003 story probably starts like many others—“Lee, they found a BSE cow and it’s going to get ugly.”

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy—and the fear surrounding anything attached with “mad cow”—sent the market limit down for days.

“We were scared as hell,” he says. “We hedge most of our product most of the time, but the fact of… how do you buy back? How long is this going to last? Is it going to be permanent demand destruction that we’re looking at?”

Those are hard questions, and the answers aren’t easy when you’re living them. They’re the same hard questions cattlemen are asking now.

“Yes, I was emotional, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it,” Borck says. “It had already happened. We just had to start measuring what the impact was going to be and how we could offset that risk that was coming.”

This 2020 situation is vastly different, but he’s approaching it the same: “You have to be realistic with yourself as to what you can do and what you’re unable to control and try to make the decisions that way.”

He takes a long view of the improvements made in product quality, takes heart in the creative problem solvers already addressing future challenges.

“I have just as much hope as I ever did,” Borck says. “I think we’ll come back. We’ve always had the best protein product out there.”

It’s that confidence that keeps cattlemen pushing ahead.

‘That gives me optimism’

In Montana this April, they’d already backed off their planned amount of food and lined up extra people to work the phones. But when a spring snow storm came in the day before sale day, Doug Artnzen looked out from the ring to a crowd less than one-fifth of the usual.

The rhythm of the day seemed different. There were fewer conversations between neighbors and friends, and most of the seasoned generation opted to stay home.

“My grandkids didn’t even attend. So it definitely took a toll on the feel of the sale,” he says.

But nearly 100 people tuned in online, ready to invest in the future of their herds.

That attitude, being nimble while looking forward, saw most in his country through the ’80s interest-rate frenzy and the drought years of scarce grass that immediately followed, Arntzen says.

“People just had to change their strategies and what they could buy. They had to cull and keep as much quality as they could,” he says.

Arntzen and his brother operate Arntzen Angus Ranch with his three sons and a nephew. Seeing that next generation pick up the reins in their own business and in others across the region—“that gives me optimism,” he says.

Moving forward  

Remaining hopeful in the face of hardship. Is it a mastered skill? Learned behavior? A genetic tendency?

“The older you are, the more of these disasters you experience. You never get accustomed to them, but you react differently than what you do when you’re younger because they’ve never seen it before,” Borck says. “You get over it and start looking for a way out of it.”

Perhaps it’s a trait the ag community has in greater abundance because often there’s no other choice. Or perhaps it’s because moving forward from unforeseen challenges is more fun than looking back on them.

The grass is growing in south Texas—a sign Means won’t take lightly this year.

“I have a strong faith and I think that plays a great part in it all,” he says. “We have wonderful friends and neighbors and we just know we’re going to get through this, one way or another.”

That’s resilience.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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Breaking the ‘IF’ question

Certified Angus Beef’s path to 2 billion pounds in sales

By: Abbie Burnett

“If” is a big word. “If” can be daunting. “If” was used at the turn of the century in planning at the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand.

“If we reach a billion pounds.”

If became obsolete in 2016, when the brand reached that milestone two years before its 40th anniversary and four years before its targeted goal.

The next question seemed unfathomable: “Will we reach 2 billion pounds?” There are no “ifs” anymore. It’s all about when. But can the industry respond?

“Yes,” says Mark McCully, longtime CAB vice president of production and current CEO of the American Angus Association. “It’s not a matter of arrogance. It’s a matter of confidence in Angus producers, what we’ve learned about demand, the growing equity in the brand and about this premium beef marketplace.”

Amazed at the industry response that led to the billion-pound level, McCully admits being a “huge skeptic” 20 years ago. However, given the rapid rise in beef quality in the last 10 years, producing and marketing 2 billion pounds of CAB product doesn’t seem that far away. The brand projects crossing that threshold by 2030.

“Oh, I’d say you’d hit it before then,” CattleFax Vice President of Industry Relations and Analysis Kevin Good ventures, citing projected cattle numbers, increased cattle weights and continued improvements in genetics.

The Key

The obvious place to search for supply is through cattle numbers. Currently, Good says, the industry is in an extended expansion (sixth year) in the cattle cycle. If that peaks next year, history suggests the next decade will feature declining cattle inventory.

“We know brand supply has benefitted from the most recent herd rebuilding,” McCully says, “but that’s not necessarily going to be the case for the next five to eight years as we head into this cycle downturn.”

Good allows that, although this expansion phase of the cycle is “a little long in the tooth,” it could continue for another year or so before making that downturn. “Only Mother Nature and prices will determine that.”

That comment recalls the prolonged 16-of-18-year liquidation phase from 1996 to 2013 related to severe drought. But unlike those cycle years, the country is as clear of drought conditions as ever and prices are holding historically strong, the CattleFax analyst says.

The downfall? The opposite of drought has delayed corn planting across a wide area, but it’s too soon to predict a short- or long-term effect.

“Right now,” Good says, “corn prices are going higher and typically, when corn prices have gone higher, calf prices are going lower.”

Assuming these weather issues are short term, McCully projects fed cattle supplies will peak at 26.8 million head and then decline by a couple million to the cycle bottom. At that peak, however, there should be 8 million certified head – the magic number to reach 2 billion pounds.

In the brand’s early days, supply was increased by simply licensing another packer, McCully notes. Today, 85% of North American packing capacity is licensed and expected to remain steady at that level. So where will the cattle come from?

The answer lies in two key points: Angus influence and an increased CAB brand acceptance rate.

The Angus influence has grown steadily in the last 20 years. In the 1990s, about a third of the herd was black hided versus roughly two-thirds today.

“I don’t see reaching too much Angus influence,” Good says, “but it all depends on what kind of Angus you’re talking about. Just like with other breeds, it all comes down to quality.”

Avoiding the too-much scenario means staying in the “sweet spot” between great quality grades and demand for premium beef. Good points to a strong correlation over the last 15 years between Angus genetics and better quality beef.

“Keep that on track and add a bit more muscle and there’s nothing to worry about,” he says.

Surveys show Angus influence in the North American cow herd has grown by a percentage point each year for decades, McCully says. But cattle are fit to their environments and in some regions that means crossing with Brahman or bos indicus not eligible for CAB evaluation.

“Even though we’ll see an increase in Angus type, it’s not enough to offset what we predict for a drop in cattle inventories,” he says. That could mean fewer head identified as brand eligible even with Angus influence at an all-time high.

The solution: increase the rate of brand acceptance, and that’s already happening.

“Quality and consistency equals better demand,” Good says. “The better product we have as an industry, the more we improve overall demand… you’ve got ample supplies going forward as far as more cattle qualifying.”

McCully and Good say they see the quality and consistency coming from seedstock operations across the country. Their access to better genetic tools have helped shorten the time it takes to see which cows and bulls produce the kind of calf that qualifies for the brand.

Their focus still includes selection for marbling, McCully says, and those genetics are going to be out in the commercial population in the next three to six years.

“There’s nothing that indicates a handful of years from now we’re going to see anything other than a continuation of high-marbling potential in genetics,” he says, “especially after another generation of selection pressure.”

The Demand

Beyond quality and head counts, there’s another variable in play. As brand sales keep growing and supplies become tighter, the carcass utilization (pounds sold from each) will rise. It’s been a struggle in recent years of rapidly increasing supply to maintain high carcass utilization, but McCully says demand will take care of this in the future.

“Demand has kept pace with supply, and we have every reason to believe that will continue,” he says. “Access to more product has helped us grow demand in a significant way over the past five to 10 years, and we think that will be the case in the future. When we have more supply, it allows us new customers. We can access new markets.”

That should keep up the premium value spread between CAB and Choice beef.

McCully sites demand coming from a 31.2% increase in CAB brand Prime sales as well as brand growth in international sales, domestic foodservice and retail businesses.

All of that points to sales of more than 2 billion pounds of the brand by 2030 or sooner.

Not there yet

McCully admits no one has a perfect crystal ball, “but it’s fun to think about what it could look like.”

Just as weather affected the last long cattle cycle, a severe winter followed by severe flooding and a wet spring in the Midwest affect the heart of cattle and corn country.

Other genetic trends could take hold, too, but it’s nothing that the Angus industry needs to worry about immediately.

It took almost 40 years for CAB to reach a billion pounds, but now 2 billion could be less than a decade away.

“Every indication is that when we produce 2 billion pounds, there will be healthy demand and consistent premiums paid for it,” McCully says. It’s up to each producer to decide if they will be part of that supply chain.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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Beef’s paradigm shift should continue, Rishel says

by Maeley Herring

June 24, 2020

Alexander Graham Bell never imagined the smart phone most Americans carry today. Even those with a touchscreen didn’t dream of such wonders a generation ago, and attitudes still vary. From bag phones to flip phones that can text to the latest with an app for everything, each person choses their level.

Innovation presents the option to accept or turn down, said Bill Rishel, longtime Nebraska Angus producer, at the online 52nd Annual Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Symposium. He challenged listeners to see change as an opportunity for progress.

“I want to stimulate a new way of thinking about the future,” he began.

Appreciating the past

That should begin with looking back to recognize “paradigm shifts” when new ideas suddenly supplant accepted or traditional ways.

“The paradigm shifts over the past 50 years certainly improved our industry and got us to where we are today,” Rishel said by way of introducing seven that helped everyone from ranch to beef consumer.

  • Performance record systems. Significance often overlooked because of their widespread use today, Rishel said the data collection led to in-herd records, breed association databases and national research organizations.
  • Artificial insemination. Used since the 1950s by a few registered bull owners, this innovation didn’t show what it could do until the early 1970s. When its use was opened to all in the early 1970s, “we witnessed greater opportunity for genetic improvement and long-term sustainability.”
  • Boxed beef fabrication lowered delivery costs, ensured product safety and increased demand for beef.
  • Branded beef programs debuted in 1978 with live and carcass specifications to enhance consistency, Rishel said. “Standing behind the product was a pretty new concept to our industry and the consuming public. It even helped reverse the serious decline in beef demand.”
  • The Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985 provided structure and requirements for the Beef Checkoff Program that works to benefit producers and consumers, he said.
  • Expected progeny differences (EPDs) allowed anyone to rank individual animals on their genetics, regardless of environmental differences, Rishel said. EPD methodology led to the use of ultrasound technology in gathering carcass data for sire evaluation.
  • Genomic-enhanced EPDs (GE EPDs) take in DNA studies and other sources to find economic merit in more cattle and in traits that are hard to measure. “The speed of development and adaptation of genomics has been revolutionary,” he said.
barn laptop data

The seven innovations offered progress in genetics, efficiency and profitability at each level. They also provide a “paradigm shift philosophy” for future management decisions.

“Perhaps we can apply some of that thinking to our business and industry as we charge forward into the next two decades,” Rishel said. “The central idea to these dynamic changes is the desire to improve genetics and improve our enterprises.”

Looking forward

Research proves the industry is continually improving beef production.

“I believe we are just scratching the surface,” Rishel said. “I have no doubt genomics are destined to play a much larger role,” such as selection for strong immune systems, feed efficiency and carcass merit.

Beef quality is a key focus, Rishel said, but that must expand to other consumer connections.

“Producers are making strides in sustainability,” he said. Cattle graze land unsuitable for crops and “upcycle” forage into that nutritious source of protein that is beef.

Document conservation efforts that link livestock, wildlife, water and forage management, Rishel suggested.

“We have a great story to tell,” he said. “Many of our consumers, even the ones who really love beef, want to know that we are doing the right things for the environment and sustainability of our natural resources.”

If we were to look back on the industry in 20 years, what would be our biggest accomplishment?

“I hope the greatest paradigm shift would be our ability to accept change,” Rishel said.

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A pen of Primes

Brothers from Detroit succeed with their own ideas

By: Laura Conaway

It was meant to be a brief exchange on a visit last fall.

A Missouri farmer who’d ordered a roller mill made small talk with the salesman who delivered it. In passing, he mentioned his pen of steers that made nearly all USDA Prime.

The farmer retells the story:

“He asks me, he says, ‘There’s been people at this way longer than you. How come they’re not getting the percentages you are? You’re only the first generation trying it.’”

The question was legitimate, the salesman late to a long line of already-inquiring minds.

“I says, ‘I don’t know but I could take a guess.’”

That’s when Bill Boyer shrugs his shoulders, laces his fingers and starts from the top.

At his kitchen table near Perryville, Mo., the 64-year-old finds clemency from the cold outside. He’s at home here, in the big white house his father helped build.

But a few “yuns” and “I says” give him up in a hurry; he’s not native to this Missouri land.

“We talk different than people around here,” he says, including his older brother Jack. “Any time we would start speaking, they’d start guessing.”

City Grown

The Boyer boys were born in Detroit, Mich., the second and fourth out of five, Jack six years Bill’s senior.

They had an aunt and uncle with a little hobby farm in southeast Missouri where the family would visit and the kids would take baths in the creek. No indoor toilet or running water, but the air was clean and the sky showed them every shade of blue.

Their father had made a good living in the automobile industry and offered Jack a job, but the late 1960s were no picnic in Motor City, where integration-born riots would not relent.

“I saw a friend get stabbed at work and that was it,” Jack says. Leaving that job for those Mississippi Valley blue skies he headed south for good to a farm his folks helped buy.

Two weeks after turning his tassel, 18-year-old Bill reported for work there. That was 46 years ago, his identifiable red beard now mostly white.

It was tough, a stark contrast to the modern home where the boys grew up in suburban Detroit, but their parents “were always supportive,” he says. On vacations and once retired, their father helped them expand the living quarters of what was then just a cabin. They even added a second story. That homestead sits close by the cattle the brothers feed.

“We earned every dollar the hard way,” Bill says. Each lesson the same way.

“Growing up, we didn’t know which end of the cow was what,” a fact made glaringly obvious after their inaugural purchase of 15 Hereford heifers.

“And ’course, we weren’t smart enough to think we needed better fencing. Soon as we got them here, they just took off,” he says. “Straight through the fences and ended up about five miles away.”

A neighbor helped corral them, “and we started fixing fence,” Bill says, perhaps just getting around to forgiving himself for the decades-old blunder.

“We were greenhorns. We didn’t know what we were doing.”

So maybe that’s why it worked like it did – that’s one of the reasons Bill considers. Success rode in on the shoulders of naivety, and what felt like common sense bore victory.

Whatever the recipe, as financial woes sent many farmers packing, the Boyers met them on the way out, hungry for a life the polar opposite of their city roots.

Innovators from the start, they installed 16-foot gates back when the standard was 10, steel fence posts when most went for wood, before pushing boundaries with the cattle, too.

Angus Foundation

They came to Angus almost by accident, an alternative.

Those 15 Herefords as their base, the brothers looked to expand with more red-and-whites.

“We had one neighbor who had Angus, and all the Hereford people made fun of him because they were real short,” Bill says.

Regardless of commercial popularity at the time, seedstock sources were scarce, he recalls. “It seemed like nobody wanted to sell any, so we thought, okay, we’re going to try Angus then.”

An Alton, Mo., breeder by the name of Uel Tusher, Stone Briar Angus, gets credit for the genetics that solidified the starter herd. He sold the out-of-towners 20 registered Angus heifers and the Boyers built on them from there.

“They made some wonderful crosses until the Angus just naturally took over,” Bill says. He smiles at memories of a black baldy cow.

The brothers dabbled in some three-way crosses for more pounds on the rail, throwing Charolais into the mix, but County Extension Agent Roger Akins pointed out a premium program called Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®), “and we figured we could get paid a little more.”

Jack figured they should double down on Angus to hit that target.

They were already achieving Prime in some finished loads, having bought a Rishel New Design 036 son from the University of Missouri sale, when growth bulls were selling for much more than sires known for marbling.

With carcass already on their minds, it seemed only fitting to make a trip to southwest Kansas.

Having read about Gardiner Angus Ranch in cattle magazines, “I thought I’d just like to try them,” Bill says, “see what they’re like.”

With stronger fences set, it still seemed like any time the brothers would go anywhere, they’d get home to an unwelcome fact.

“We’d have cattle walking down the road or something, so I got the job of buying bulls,” Bill says.

He’d called Henry Gardiner days ahead, and then he and a girlfriend packed a truck and headed west.

“I started late in the afternoon, drove most of the night,” Bill says. He had his picks circled in the catalog on the back seat.

Mark Gardiner, now president of the seedstock supplier, was a young man when Boyer first showed up to his family’s place near Ashland, Kan.

“We didn’t know what to think except that this guy looked like Santa Claus” – Bill prefers a ZZ-Top reference – “and was interesting to visit with.”

“I’d try to find something that looked good but most of his bulls looked good,” Bill says, “so you’d have to rely on the numbers.”

He would get there early, like three days before the sale, to look around, take his time with the cattle and prove the numbers in the book right.

Right up there with marbling, disposition was an equal priority.

“It doesn’t matter how many Primes you get if you’re laying in a hospital bed,” Bill says.

So the Boyers aim for one with an expected progeny difference (EPD) for docility in the 30s with a marbling EPD no lower than the 0.80s. They want at least average ribeye and feed conversion, and to avoid yield grade (YG) 4s, they shop for negative back fat EPDs.

The rest, they do at home.

With no hired hands nor outside income, the brothers have managed to carry out their dream and, frankly, the dream of plenty of others.

When they achieved 90% Prime on a load, Bill thought, “Well, we gotta do a little better. We’ll just keep at it, keep going. Just keep marching along.”

Cadence of quality

It’s a perpetual drumbeat, obvious the moment you set foot on their place. The Boyers keep their heads down and their hands anything but idle.

To secure the champion spot in the CAB Angus Value Discovery contest, their best load of finished steers went 100% CAB with all but one Prime; 76.9% went YG 3 or lower. That lone calf wasn’t a disappointment but it keeps them hungry.

“I think it would be neat to hit 100% Prime,” Bill says, “but my goodness, a person has to be tickled to death to get 39 out of 40 on a load.”

That visiting salesman knows plenty who have fallen far short while trying.

“I think the thing that’s unique about them is they don’t view this as some unattainable goal,” Gardiner says.

His family sells 2,600 registered Angus bulls each year to customers aiming for genetics that include superior marbling. It’s one thing to say it’s a part of your program, a whole other to do something about it.

In a statement that could be applied to life beyond good cattle, Gardiner says, “Oftentimes we go through the motions but we don’t do the things that matter most.”

The Kansas seedstock giant says quality in a cowherd deserves top billing, that it makes no sense to not pursue marbling for the sake of other goals while ignoring the consumer.

“It’s not brain surgery,” Gardiner says. “We’re talking about a trait that is 40% or higher heritable. Marbling can be free.”

The Boyers prove it’s profitable.

So what is their secret if there is one?

Maybe it’s because they started as greenhorns, not filled with conventional wisdom.

Bill will tell you it’s probably a little of that, but he credits that Stone Briar foundation more for stellar results in what grew to a closed herd of 300. Then there’s the added nutrition cows get in their third trimester, carrying calves from those marbling-rich Gardiner bulls.

“The Boyers take their husbandry, take their feeding program, take their study of genetics to make cattle better,” Gardiner says.

It’s the meticulous selection, and then providing the environment to allow them to succeed that he attributes to his customers winning ways.

“Those cattle are healthy, comfortable and never have a bad day.”

So, was winning that carcass contest part of a plan?

If it was, it wasn’t for bragging rights. Candidly, the brothers prefer to be left alone and get the job done.

“We just came down here with different ideas,” Bill says, his tone dismissing adulation.

It seems like the perfect recipe, but it’s not the only way to go, they’ll readily concede.

Rather Jack and Bill Boyer were just two guys from Detroit who didn’t know any better than to try, and it worked.

Big time.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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Avoiding the storm

Proactive animal health means a genetic approach.

By: Miranda Reiman

The beef community is getting ready to rip off the Band-Aid.  

Antibiotics are effective tools in managing animal health, but they’ve also been a patch, serving until the advent of genetic tools to solve challenges in the long term.

“We’ve had increasing scrutiny around the use of antibiotics, so we need to be ready,” said Brad Hine, research scientist for Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). “Our ability to use antibiotics in our food-producing animals is, in the next few years, going to be rapidly reduced. A really good strategy is to try to breed animals that have improved disease resistance.”

In others words, create cattle that don’t get sick. What may sound like a far-off wish is quickly becoming reality.

At the 2019 Angus Convention in Reno, Nevada, last fall, Hine shared insight into current work his team is doing with the Australian Angus Association. He also talked of upcoming collaboration with Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI).

“As we continue to refine genetic selection, we realize that genetics contribute to animal health in ways we probably don’t fully understand today,” said Mark McCully, CEO of the American Angus Association. “As we start identifying genetic lines of cattle that are less likely to get sick, that has ramifications across the entire industry.”

It matters at every point in the production chain and affects economics, animal welfare and consumer perception.

“It’s easy to make the assumption that the most productive animal is the animal with the best immune system,” Hine said. “Obviously, the healthiest animal grew the fastest.”

But that’s just not true, he said, and in some instances, disease resistance is negatively correlated with production. For example, high-milking Holstein cows are often more at risk for mastitis, he noted.  

“The research tells us, if we select for productivity alone, we increase susceptibility to disease,” Hine said. “It’s really important for producers to rethink that.”

Australians have used a strategy developed for the Canadian dairy industry and applied it to Angus cattle.

This broad-based approach is a new twist compared to historical health work, where cattle have been bred for brucellosis resistance while sheep were bred to ward off internal parasites.

“We’ve been very cautious not to tailor this to any specific disease, because we might know one disease, but there’s another one right around the corner,” Hine said.

Different types of pathogens are dealt with in different ways: there’s a cellular response for viruses that live inside the cells and antibodies that fight those outside the cells.

“There are two different arms in the immune system,” he said. “And the risk you run if you select animals that are very good at one arm of the immune system is that sometimes those animals are not as good at handling pathogens that require the opposite arm.”

They test for both.

Hine’s team vaccinated cattle just before weaning them into the yard, and then took blood tests to measure their response at the most stressful point.

“It’s about breeding animals with a really strong immune system so they can handle whatever challenges they face,” he said. “It is not necessarily the animals that can respond when they are happy and healthy in the paddy that we are trying to identify. It is those animals that can respond to a disease challenge when they are under some stress, and are able to cope with that situation and return to being productive.”

The early work shows the variability is “enormous,” Hine said, and the heritability appears to be moderate. Correlations to other traits were weak but followed as expected: temperament was favorable, production traits like growth were negative.

He said that’s good news, because it means health can become a priority in selection without compromising other goals.

Following indexed animals through the feedlot was a chance to see if the research worked in a real-world scenario.

For every animal that scored high for immunity, there was a $3.50 animal-health cost. Those in the low group accrued $103, Hine said, noting those are conservative estimates that don’t account for labor.

“If we can identify low-immune-competent animals and get them out of the system, there is a huge economic benefit for us as an industry,” he said.

The poorer immunity group accounted for only 11% of the total population, but represented 35% of the health line items.

“As tools are developed, I think the adoption rate will be pretty significant in terms of both pace and scale,” McCully said. “A slight change in the improvement of animal health has huge economic ramification across the industry.”

The technology is “in its infancy,” he said, but the long-term goal would be the creation of genetic tools, both for Angus breeders and their commercial customers, such as genomic tests for replacement heifers or to prescreen cattle bound for the feedyard.

“I could definitely see this as a way of being better able to characterize risk,” McCully said. “You could modify your management to the risk level.”

Today, cattle often receive metaphalix—or whole herd treatment–upon processing into the feedyard, but studies show for every 100 that get preventative antibiotics, only 20 actually needed them, said John Richeson, West Texas A&M animal scientist. He spoke about innovations in health during the 2019 Feeding Quality Forum.

So, how do cattlemen identify that bottom fifth?

Researchers are developing everything from rapid blood tests to behavior-monitoring instruments, but they still need fine-tuning.

“We need it to be, ideally, at the speed of commerce so we don’t slow down processing,” Richeson said. The challenge is, how can we target accurately, quickly, and those sorts of things—there could be a huge cost savings to the producer.”

Most of the work is focused on cattle chuteside at the feedyard.

With a genetic test for improved immunity in commercial cattle, that information could be communicated with the yard upon arrival, McCully said. Feedyard protocols could differ based on this information, and eventually, market signals should follow.

“If I’m a feeder, I’m still going to want those cattle vaccinated—it doesn’t change anything about good calf management we do today, McCully said. “But if I can look at a set of cattle that has all of that, plus the genetics that give them the likelihood of staying healthier, that becomes an economic signal back to the producer to make more of those cattle.”
Programs like AngusLinkSM could potentially convey information through the chain.

“I really do see immune competence as just one part of the puzzle when we start to think about the resilience of the animal,” Hine said.

Cattlemen still need a focus on management and environments that control pathogens, giving cattle less exposure in the first place.

“We can breed the animals that are the most disease-resistant, but if we put them in a really bad, high-disease environment, then they will eventually succumb,” Hine said.

Even with improved tools, cattle will still get sick, although hopefully less often. That allows for less antibiotics in the system.

“We need to be proactive rather than reactive. We need to be thinking about strategies now that put us in a good place in the future. Because certainly our ability to treat disease is going to be reduced as regulations come through,” Hiene said. “The perfect storm is brewing. So as an industry, how can we avoid that storm?”

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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The Resistance

Cattle treatments that work today might not tomorrow

By: Miranda Reiman

Your veterinarian has treated thousands of calves with the same symptoms. She knows the tools that work. Just choose the right antibiotic at a prescribed dosage for so many days and they’ll be good as new. Works almost every time.

Until it almost never works.

“We hear about antibiotic resistance as it relates to people and to animals, and a lot of concerns about the relevance to agriculture,” says Amelia Woolums, Mississippi State University veterinarian.

But it also has importance in animal health.

“If a cow has an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that’s causing an infection, the cow may not get better if we treat it with antibiotics,” she says.

New decade, old dilemma

Antibiotic resistance may sound like a modern-era quandary, but early examples pepper our past.

“In some ways it’s a big problem, but it’s not really a new problem,” Woolums says. Penicillin was used widely during World War II and by 1948 resistant staphylococcus had become a global problem. Methicillin was developed as an answer, and a year later the first methicillin-resistant staph, commonly known today as MRSA, emerged.

“I think we thought, in the arms race against bacteria, that we could win it,” she says. But bacteria replicate quickly, and disclose their tricks to other bacteria by sharing DNA. “It’s really not a race we are winning.”

In the cattle community, studies show it is on the rise, especially in the last decade.

The growing resistance

“There are diseases cattle get where in the past we might have said, ‘Well, let’s just give an antibiotic, just in case,’” Woolums says. “That’s the attitude we’ve got to get away from.”

The time to make that shift is now.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) provides one complex case study, she says. There are four main bacteria that cause BRD, and 11 antimicrobials on the market are labeled to treat the most common one: Mannheimia haemolytica.

That’s where much of the research rests.

Studies from 1994, 2004 and 2011 showed an increase from virtually no resistance.

“Basically we had 20 years of not much antimicrobial resistance. We thought, ‘We don’t have to worry about this,’” she says. “That’s foreshadowing.”

Then work from Kansas State University’s diagnostic lab caught the attention of the animal science and veterinary community.

Nearly 400 samples across a three-year period, from 266 unique locations, gave insight into possible trends.

In 2009, only 5% of the bacteria were resistant to five or more antimicrobials; by 2011 that jumped to 35%.

Treatment history of the animals was unknown, “but these data still worried a lot of people,” Woolums says.

That inspired studies in live cattle.

At the University of Georgia, 169 high-risk stocker cattle were measured at arrival, given metaphilaxis—orpreventative antibiotic treatment—and swabbed again two weeks later.

Three-quarters of the cattle came in with bacteria that would respond to any antibiotic they were given. Two weeks later, that 75% number was 1%.

“Ninety-seven percent were resistant to the antibiotics we use all the time,” Woolums says. “They’d only been given one antibiotic.”

Concerning but, she says, “It’s important to note that this was not related to an unusually high rate of morbidity and mortality.”

More research is needed to determine the level that would cause a treatment failure.

Woolums and her colleagues completed an additional study that took those same swabs at four points from day one to day 21, it showed that the number of cattle shedding the bacteria went from 10% on the first day to 88%.

“That’s textbook,” Woolums says. “But what we didn’t really expect was that the pattern of multi-drug resistance would completely follow it.”

By day seven, 80% of the bacteria were resistant to multiple drugs, and they were genetically diverse, meaning they didn’t just proliferate from one carrier calf.

This isn’t meant to be a dire warning, Woolums says, but more of a caution sign. More research is needed and best practices need to follow suit.

Prevention, protocols and precautions

Sick cattle still need to be treated, and there are no new antibiotics on the horizon—in fact, there hasn’t been anew class added since 1978.

So what’s a producer to do?

“The No. 1 goal is efficient use of antibiotics, that we’re really heading off problems before they start,” says Brandi Karisch, Mississippi State University Extension beef cattle specialist. “Good animal husbandry and hygiene practices, routine health exams and vaccination are key strategies.”

To lessen the chances of needing treatment, limit stress, improve nutrition, and identify disease earlier, she says. “So, doing a good job of monitoring those cattle is vital.”

Then use antibiotics sparingly—only for the sick or highest-risk cattle—and use them right: follow label instructions, work closely with your veterinarian and observe proper withdrawal times.

“Treat for the recommended time period,” Karisch says. “How many of you know someone who starts feeling better and stops taking the antibiotic?”

For the greater good

When cattle are sick, cattlemen need medicine that works. When humans are sick, doctors need the same. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has already flagged this as growing area of concern.

“Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health challenges of our time,” Karisch says, citing the CDC. More than 2.9 million people get an antibiotic-resistant infection each year. “So this is a very serious threat, not just on the livestock side of things, but in human medicine as well.”

Growing consumer concerns add another level of urgency to solving this problem.

“We’ve probably all seen the news headlines,” she says.

There’s a chance every tool your veterinarian has today will work for years, and there’s a chance it won’t work next week.

“We don’t really know yet. The negative impact on morbidity or mortality has not been clearly evident,” Karisch says. “But there’s that ‘yet’ that goes along with that.

“In the meantime, it’s really important that we’re doing a good job taking care of those cows,” she says.

Woolums and Karisch spoke as part of the 2020 Cattlemen’s College at the Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio in February.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

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