2021 Herd Assessments By Taylor Buckley
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new year means a fresh start to a new years’ worth of records. Along with health and sale records, it is essential to keep up with which females are active in your herd. The American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) refers to this recordkeeping as the annual herd assessment. The $25 per head annual herd assessment fee applies to females over 13 months of age and is the foundation of AGA’s total herd reporting. Herd assessments are now open until the deadline of March 15, 2021, in the AGA Online Registry Service. Accessing the Herd Assessment: First, log into your account and find the red “Herd Management” tab on the left work menu. This will give you the option to click the green “Inventory”. Once in Inventory you will have access to all of the females for the herd assessment process. On this screen find “Assessment-Age” in the white tabs that run across the top of the screen. Under this tab is a list of all females that are of breeding age, or that would be expected to calve in the upcoming year. For any young heifers that may not be 13 months of age as of January 1, but are expected to have a calf in the upcoming year, look under “Optional Females”. Completing Herd Assessments and Culling Cows: As you view the list of assessment-age females, you now have the ability to cull cows that are no longer active in your herd and record any exposure data that you may not have yet recorded. To dispose of a female, click on the grey trash can to the right of her birthdate. Use the
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dropdown menu to select the specific reason code to describe why she is no longer in the herd. Next, click the green checkmark to lock that selection in. Remember, annual herd assessments should not be used as a tool to skip a year of calving for a cow. To keep our data as honest and accurate as possible, please record all calves born throughout the year. If you do try to skip a year of calving information for a cow, you will have to pay for all of the years that she has been “disposed of ” to record future progeny. After making all necessary culls and disposals you can select each cow individually by clicking the “2021” button in the “Assess for” column or complete all cows at one time by clicking “Complete yearly HAS process – Assess all for 2021” at the top of the page under “Assessment-Age”. After completing your assessment, pay your balance online by following the pop-up box that takes you to a checkout screen. You have 30 days to pay any balance incurred on your account. The association does require exposure data to be recorded on all first-calf heifers. There is a box next to all heifers expected to have their first calf in 2021. If the heifer was exposed to a bull or AIed, simply check the box “AI” “PE” or “No”. As always, if you ever run into problems or questions, call the office, 303-465-2333 and we would be happy to help you. If you need to request a printed herd assessment form, please request that in plenty of time to receive it, complete it, and get it back into the office before the March 15, 2021 deadline. D
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