I like history. Not just the common 5^th period class we all goofed off in in junior high kind. I’m talking a history of people – particularly those I know.

I may not find it in textbooks, but through time spent, memories secured and conversations had, I can begin to figure out what makes those close to me unique, passionate and perhaps even a bit predictable.

Turns out I like knowing the history of my cattle, too.

Bunk shot30125 Did you know that, like clockwork, each Friday morning, at 10 a.m. Central Time, the American Angus Association releases updated EPDs (Estimated Progeny Differences) to their website? They know we want to know as much as we can about our cattle before we make decisions that will play out down the road.

Just this minute there are more than 18 different traits and indexes that get updated and analyzed that frequently. From those that directly impact production on the ranch, like weaning weight and mature cow size, to carcass characteristics, heifer pregnancy and feed intake, a wide variety of traits are measured to help us learn our cattle.

Not to mention there’s also profit indexes like “$W” (Weaned Calf Value) and “$B” (Beef Value), that help identify the most profitable combinations of those traits. So whether you’re someone producing calves on the ranch or purchasing feeder cattle, that information is available to you to determine which genetics are most profitable.

8,000,000

A number like that can stand on it’s own, and so can the cattle it supports.

AGILogo Dan Moser knows more than a thing or two about cattle genomics and as president of Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI), he says one of the real advantages of the breed is our tradition and culture of data collection.

“We’re talking about a database that includes 8,000,000 animals with weaning weights submitted, over 1,000,000 cattle that have been measured with ultrasound for carcass traits, over 100,000 actual carcass records in the database that are all being used, along with genomics, to do these weekly genetic predictions.”

I stare at those numbers and it looks like a whole lot of history to me. The exciting thing is with Angus genetics so advanced, we can skip much of the time it takes to create history with the simple act of pulling a blood sample from a baby calf.

amundson “The oldest cow around is likely going to produce 10 or 11 calves,” Dan says. “Well, we can do a genomic test and tell as much about her genetics as if she produced 20.”

That means the accuracy of an EPD based on genomics is the same as having 10-20 progeny already measured.

It’s nothing new.

Dating all the way back to the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, Angus breeders have been leading the charge in data collection.

Dan says the amount of data coming in varies with the seasons but, this time of year, it’s common for his office to receive 2,000 to 3,000 genomic tests in a week.

“In some weeks, we might have 10,000 weaning weights come in in a single week.”

Pair those with the EPDs and you’ve got a bovine history book on your hands.

Thanks for allowing me to tell your story,

Laura

PS—We’re on a month-long quest called, “Every number has a story.” Follow along—it’ll be fun.

Day one: $6.93

Day two: 2.5 million

Day three: $204.10

Day four: 12.1 million

Day five: 11/13

Day six: 8 million

Day seven: 139

Day eight: $39

Day nine: 30.1%

Day 10: 120 million

Day 11: -2.26

Day 12: 12 to 15 minutes

Day 13: 30%

Day 14: 32 million

Day 15: $154,000

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A KANSAS RANCHER

We all know it takes a heap of work, coordination and planning to raise cattle. It takes more of the same to get beef from processor to plate. In honor of beef month, we decided to check in with the people who devote their life’s work to producing, delivering and cooking delectable beef products for hungry consumers. So come along with us and experience a “Day in the Life” of these fine folks.

Today, Debbie Lyons-Blythe, who regularly updates her blog “Life on a Kansas Cattle Ranch,” gives us a snapshot of what Sunday looked like at their place. Enjoy! –Miranda

I’m not a winter person—I crave sunshine and warm weather. I wear long johns, coveralls and lots of layers all winter and when spring finally arrives, I am very ready for it! The past couple of years in Kansas we have been dealing with a severe drought. Despite some good snowfalls this winter, we began spring expecting a drought. We have ponds that are totally dry and we have spent thousands of dollars finding ways to bring drinking water to the cattle in each pasture.

But all that has changed for us in eastern Kansas—near the end of April, the rain began to fall again and we now have some water in most of our ponds and a few of them are actually full! So this past weekend was a time of hope and fun, preparing to take cattle to the pastures.

Spring is also a time to plan the matings for our cows and heifers. I use proven AI sires and we select bulls based on EPDs from our own herd as clean up sires. We have a commercial heifer development program in which we raise 150 to 350 heifers each year to sell in the fall. I select the sires for those heifers with criteria including low birth weight and high calving ease, as well as good growth and carcass traits. It is most important to get a live calf from the heifers, as well as a quality calf. Since I will sell these heifers, I select bulls with fairly high EPD accuracies and in order to improve accuracies, we DNA-test all our yearling bulls. I use the genomically-enhanced EPDs to improve confidence—both in me as the seller and in others as the buyer. In addition, we use GeneMax on our entire crossbred heifer herd to select animals to include in the program.

So last weekend, we called the college kids to come home to work the heifers for breeding season. Unfortunately, Meghan was at Virginia Tech putting on the Raising the Bar conference for the National Junior Angus Association, and Allie had to work at the Texas Roadhouse all weekend, but Trent said he could come home. Also, Tyler and Eric are juniors in high school, and with Duane and me and the three boys, we had a great working crew!

The morning begins early for me, as I like to make a good stick-to-your-ribs lunch for the crew. I put meatballs and corn casserole on to cook for the morning and began calling the boys to get up around 7:00 a.m. By 7:30, I could hear the boys finally moving and I started gathering up the equipment and medications we needed for the day. We use prostaglandin to synchronize the heifers, and apply a heat detection patch to aid in heat checking. I gathered replacement ear tags, syringes, prostaglandin and the patches as the boys ate breakfast. My husband Duane was already feeding the cows that were not being worked and I brought him a cup of coffee as the boys and I pulled into the barnyard.

Duane laid out the plan for the day as he sipped his coffee. It was a chilly, misty morning and we had to walk the heifers about a mile to get them home to working pens. They had to walk through a lush waterway of brome and around a large alfalfa field. We knew it would be tricky keeping them moving. We don’t use horses, but prefer a tractor with a feed wagon to lead the heifers and ATVs and people on foot to push them. With each of us driving one of those vehicles, we started off.

There are 200 heifers and a few steers in this pasture. After they are through the brome and alfalfa field, they will walk a quarter of a mile on the state highway along our property border. I block the few cars at the top of the hill as the heifers trot down the highway.

Do the cattle make it to working pens without incident? How long does it take to work through 200 head? Find out how processing day turned out in Part II tomorrow.

PS–

To catch up on the entire series check out these posts:

A Day in the Life of a Kansas Rancher part I & part II
A Day in the Life of a New York foodservice distributor part I & part II
A Day in the Life of an Ohio meat cutter, part I

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

by Lindsay Runft | 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.

Quality Wins, Again

by Morgan Boecker | Oct 9, 2023

Sara Scott, Vice President of Foodservice for Certified Angus Beef, emphasizes the importance of taste over price in the beef market during the Feeding Quality Forum. As consumer demand for high-quality beef grows, Scott highlights the need for increased supply and encourages communication with packer partners to meet the demand for Prime beef.

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Earlier this week Mark told you a herd bull is a big investment, and getting more so all the time. Since you’ll be putting so many of your proverbial eggs into that one expensive basket, you want to make sure he’s the right guy for the job. But with so many numbers and figures to sort out, do you ever feel overwhelmed?

Bull pic — Looking for a bull like this?

We get it. That’s why we asked Mark for his top tips for bull buying. Here’s what he had to say:

Consider your females.

Will these bulls be used on heifers or mature cows? If the bull is going to be used heavily on heifers, more importance should be put on calving ease. That’s a priority, where it might not be at the top of the list if you’re breeding him solely to older cows.

He encourages cattlemen to consider the Calving Ease Direct (CED) EPD as much as the Birth Weight (BW) EPD because “it truly is a better indicator of the trait” they are trying to achieve.

“Calving ease takes into account birth weight, but it also accounts for things like gestation length,” Mark says.

Data is good, but EPDs are better.

“Too many times,” he says, “an auctioneer will call out, ‘This bull has a 78-pound birth weight. Until I know what the EPD is, I couldn’t care less about his actual birth weight.”

While actual data — whether it’s a birth weight, an ultrasound scan or genomic results — is one piece of the puzzle, its usefulness can’t compare to EPDs.

“Those EPDs have all of that information in there,” Mark says. “Use them — they work.”

Think of the calves.

Of course, in any production management decision, the desired final product should be considered. What’s the hope or your plan for these calves?

Will they be replacement heifers, or go to the feedlot? If it’s a combination of the 2, Mark says the producer should take a balance trait approach and look at both maternal and carcass traits.

Even for cattlemen who sell their entire calf crop at weaning, it’s important to look beyond that point.

“They need to be paying attention to carcass traits because I can guarantee you the buyers of those calves are paying attention. Feedlots today know who’s producing those better calves and who’s producing the not-so-good ones. So it really makes good sense for the cow-calf guy to be paying attention, too,” he says.

That’s why Mark is a firm believer in the dollar-value ($Value) tools, multi-trait selection indexes expressed in dollars per head that assist beef producers by adding simplicity to genetic selection decisions. The $Value is an estimate of how future progeny of each sire are expected to perform, on average, compared to progeny of other sires in the database if the sires were randomly mated to cows and if calves were exposed to the same environment.

He thinks the Weaned Calf Value ($W) and the Beef Value ($B) are especially significant to cattlemen. The first is a maternal index that takes into account birth weight, weaning weight, milk and mature cow size. The second represents the feedlot and carcass value of the potential bull.

Numbers aren’t everything.

While EPDs are one of the most valuable tools at a cattleman’s disposal,Mark urges producers not to forget the big picture.

“You’ve still got to go look at that bull,” he says. “Make sure you are comfortable with his structure, his disposition and how well he’ll fit into your environment and operation.

“The numbers, while they’re great, still don’t take into account some of these other traits that you need to be out there in the pen doing your own evaluation on.”

Want to read more about specific EPD recommendations for cow-calf producers who want to more effectively target the CAB brand? Check out our Best Practices Manual.

Quality beef starts with you

April 13, 2011

Consumer demand for high-quality beef has been on the rise, and so have cattle prices. A more secure future for ranching points toward quality, but what does it take to get there?

This month Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) teamed up with Purina Land O’Lakes, Pfizer, Oklahoma State University and the Oklahoma Angus Association to bring Sooner beef producers a series on “Managing for Success.”

The seminars kicked off April 6 at Haines Land and Cattle, near Lexington, followed the next two days with similar events at McAlester and Claremore, Okla.

Larry Corah set the stage: “The consumer is a real key to this beef industry – it’s their money and they don’t have to buy beef.” The CAB vice president discussed trends in the beef industry, telling participants, “Consumers like brands, and that includes braded beef.”

To improve herd quality, producers can turn to a variety of tools including the strategic use of genetic selection using EPDs (expected progeny differences) and DNA markers.

“EPDs are the best predictor of high quality cattle,” said Mark Johnson of Oklahoma State University. “Knowing your intended market will help you decide which numbers will work for you.”

The use of genomics testing for DNA markers can make EPDs more reliable and maximize the value of an animal’s genetic profile. “Integrity of pedigree is everything,” said Kevin Millner of Pfizer Animal Genetics. “Genomics testing does not replace EPDs; it enhances them.”

Chris Richards, Oklahoma State University animal scientist, turned the discussion to the use of growth implants. “Implanting is part of a complete management plan,” he said. But if average gains are less than 1.75 pounds (lb.) per day, the benefits of implanting cattle may be limited. Above that threshold of gain, the implants have more of a chance to drive lean tissue growth.

Even with all of these management tools, proper herd health is crucial to ensuring cattle reach their full genetic potential. Michael Nichols, Pfizer Animal Health DVM, discussed treatment, control and prevention strategies.

“We have to build a health program based on what we need to protect our cow herd from,” he said. “Cowherd protection has an effect on how calves ultimately perform at the feed yard.”

Dale Moore of Cattleman’s Choice Feedyard brought the day’s discussion full circle with a message about buying cattle from a feedlot perspective.

“What you guys do goes all the way to the plate,” he said. “We’re going to pay for quality, and it starts at the ranch.”

Over the three-day series, Oklahoma cattlemen gained a toolbox of information and best management practices to improve their herds and aim for high-quality beef. Corah concluded with inspiring advice: “Target something you believe in – it starts with you.”

$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

by Courtney Weekley | Mar 20, 2024

Raised with Respect™ Cattle Care Campaign Launched This Fall

by Lindsay Runft | Dec 20, 2023

Drought Impact and Cattle Industry Dynamics

by Courtney Weekley | 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?

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Adding, capturing calf value

March 17, 2011

Cattlemen may hear about the shrinking beef industry and wonder about their role in the future. They can take heart in the expanding high-quality end of the business, however.

Licensed partners of the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand worldwide sell more than 2 million pounds of branded product per day, and supply has increased 92% in the past five years. That’s according to Mark McCully, CAB assistant vice president, supply.

Addressing producer-members of the Pittsylvania County Cattlemen’s in Chatham, Va., earlier this month, McCully said demand for CAB products grew along with supply, and that represents opportunity for producers.

Overall higher cattle prices and premiums for the best cattle are two results of strong demand, but producers can take steps to move a greater share of their calves into that premium category, he said.

Genetic selection tools available on registered Angus cattle, specifically EPDs (expected progeny differences) can help any herd make progress. “EPDs are used to compare animals within a breed but you should also pay attention to the average values of the breed,” McCully said. “For example, using a bull in the top half of the breed for Marbling EPD, or those above +0.40, is more in line with a genetic focus on the CAB brand.”

Given the genetic potential, cattlemen can see it realized through comprehensive herd health and nutrition programs and low-stress management, he added. “Then, find ways to get carcass data by working with organized state programs, your bull supplier or a CAB licensed feeding partner. Keep detailed records and use that data in sire selection and cowherd culling.”

To illustrate value differences, McCully shared three scenarios with 750-pound (lb.) feedlot calves. Groups one and two were both age-and-source verified, gained 3.5 lb. per day (ADG) with feed-to-gain (F:G) conversion of 6.1. After a theoretical 1% death loss, both groups finished at 1,325 lb.

The key difference was in carcass grading: Group 1 had 5% Prime, 40% CAB and 90% Choice or better along with 30% Yield Grade (YG) 1 or 2 and 15% YG 4. Group 2 was leaner with 40% YG 1 or 2 and just 5% YG 4, but no Prime, only 10% CAB and 50% Choice with 5% Standard.

Then there was Group 3, the calves without age-and-source verification, ADG at 2.9 lb., F:G at 7.0, apparently in poorer health with 4% death loss and finishing at 1,250 lb. They managed the same carcass results as Group 2, but came in $195 per head lower value than Group 1 under current market conditions.

McCully concluded by emphasizing the importance of marketing options to capture the value in “value-added” calves.

- - - Retain full or partial ownership of calves through the feedlot
    - Direct marketing to feedlots with bonus options for carcass premiums
    - Commingled sales of high-quality calves with other like-minded producers
    - Calves backed by a resume that documents their profit potential
    - Age-and-source verification with AngusSource®, which generally returns at least $25 per head.

Tag: EPDs

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A KANSAS RANCHER

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Adding, capturing calf value

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