Cow Work and School Work

GW JUNIOR CONNECTION GW Cow Work and

School Work

By Dani Stock

Greetings from my living room where I am quarantined with the rest of my family. If your family is like mine, the conversation always turns to Gelbvieh cattle and how to make them better. This drives my mother crazy. We can be focused on a movie or TV show then boom, we’re talking cattle. With all the schools closed, Drew, my little brother, needed something to learn. My dad put him to work using Excel to start the beginnings of our 2020 breeding. He was responsible for entering all the cows’ sires, maternal grandsire, and Gelbvieh percentage into the document.

After the cows’ pedigree and performance information had been recorded, a field trip was taken to the pairs pasture. We spent a few hours judging this year’s calf crop. Each sire contemporary group was evaluated for conformation and growth. From this information, it was decided that we would be reusing five AI sires. Next, each cow’s udder and feet were scored. This phenotypic data would be taken into mating considerations.

Next, we told Drew to hit the books. Sire directories that is. My dad and I gave him culling levels for expected progeny differences (EPDs) and performance records. Drew looked through hundreds of bulls this season. He would find one that he loved. Then my dad would shoot it down for one reason or another. Every operation has its own ideals in their cattle. Choosing bulls that meet your exact needs can be difficult, but you cannot give up; that is what Drew found out. From the hundreds of bulls he evaluated, only 30 met our farm’s criteria. The number of bulls was then reduced again when we started to contact their owners and other producers. Our final number of AI sires is seven.

After my dad finalized our semen inventory, Drew started to make breeding decisions. He compared the EPDs and genetic information for every bull and cow. There was a lot of mixing and matching to find the right combinations for the 2021 calf crop. After two long months of work, we finally finished our breeding chart for 2020.

Every breeding decision will have an impact on your future. You could be creating the most conformationally correct heifer in the Gelbvieh breed. Maybe you will be breeding an animal that is in the top 1% of the breed for several EPDs. That calf could also not live up to the original expectations. No matter the result, every mating is one that you will not be able to exchange. If you have free time right now, why not use it to explore Gelbvieh genetics. Just remember your ideal herd sire or AI sire is out there. You might not be looking in the right direction at first, but do not give up. D

Jake Renner Member & Youth Activities Coordinator 303-465-2333 • jake@gelbvieh.org Emily Griffiths, Adult Advisor Kendallville, IN • 260-242-1552 ejgriffiths.eg@gmail.com Andrea Murray, Adult Advisor Kingfisher, OK • 405-368-9601 murrayfarm@pldi.net Lori Maude, Adult Advisor Hermosa, SD • 303-809-3789 lori.maude@gmail.com Tom Vehige, Adult Advisor Billings, MO • 417-772-2002 tbarscattle@gmail.com

Grace Vehige, President (2017) Billings, MO • g_vehige@hotmail.com

Colton Ivers, Vice President (2018)

Austin, MN • coltoniverscattleco@gmail.com Danielle (Dani) Stock, V.P. of Leadership (2018)

Waukon, IA • danielle.m.stock@gmail.com Madalynn Welsh, Secretary (2019) Franklin, NE • madalynn.welsh@outlook.com

Alexx (Lexi) Starr, Treasurer (2018) Stapleton, NE • lexi.starr@icloud.com

Jacob Barwick (2018) Orleans, NE • jacob.barwick99@gmail.com Cody Forbes (2019) DeSmet, SD • forbesbros.livestock@hotmail.com Cade Cameron (2019) Danville, IA • cameroncade15@hotmail.com Brooke Nowack (2019) Bland, MO • vbnowack@gmail.com Grady Hammer, Ex-Officio (2017) Wallace, KS • gradyhammer@yahoo.com