EXECUTIVE CORNER
THE REGSTR BREEDING LOG: A TREASURE TROVE OF FERTILITY DATA by Darrell Wilkes, Ph.D., International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) executive vice president Recent upgrades to the Regstr software include the Breeding Log. This is a unique feature that many breed registries do not have but, in reality, might be one of the most powerful genetic improvement tools in the toolbox. It directly addresses the most important economic trait in the cattle business – fertility. The Breeding Log is pretty simple. You already have one – either in the form of a notebook that fits in your shirt pocket or a spreadsheet on your computer or both. You keep track of which cows are bred (or exposed) to which bulls and the dates of those AI matings or pasture exposures. This is basic data that every seedstock producer has. The Breeding Log in Regstr is nothing more than a “copy” of what you already have, but it creates an opportunity to collect an enormous volume of fertility data that currently is untapped. Let’s start this discussion with first-calf heifers. When you record the birth date of a new calf from a first-calver, we calculate the age-at-first-calving. The median age-at-firstcalving for modern Brangus females in our herdbook is right at 24 months. Is it fair to conclude that a heifer that calves at 24 months is more fertile than a heifer that calves at 26 months? Many people might jump to the conclusion that the heifer that calved at a younger age is more fertile. In many cases, that would be an unfounded conclusion. Without information on when and how those two heifers were exposed for breeding, it is impossible to draw a fact-based conclusion to the question of which one is more fertile. If both heifers were exactly the same age, and they were contemporaries that were exposed to the same bulls for the exact same period of time, then we would conclude that the early-calving heifer is more fertile simply because she conceived two months earlier than the other heifer and each had an equal opportunity to conceive. Conversely, if the heifers were two months different in age when they were synchronized and bred AI and they both conceived on the same day to the AI breeding, then there is absolutely no basis for suggesting that the heifer that calved at 26 months is less fertile than the one that calved at 24 months. In this example, she conceived at the first opportunity and so did her twomonth-younger herdmate. I could even convolute this story and argue that the heifer that calved at 26 months might be 14
November 2021
more fertile because her dam calved two months ahead of her contemporary and, therefore, is an early-calving fertile cow – so her daughter is expected to be fertile too. This whole comparison can get twisted up like a loose strand of barbed wire wrapped around the u-joint on your truck. The only way to ever draw valid conclusions is to log the breeding information in a standard format in a single place – and that place is the Breeding Log in Regstr. If breeders will use this tool, it won’t take long before we can begin to really hone in on fertility differences. I predict that we’ll identify sires whose daughters tend to conceive early in the breeding season and sires whose daughters tend to conceive later (i.e. more estrous cycles required to finally “stick”). The robustness of our Heifer Pregnancy EPD will increase dramatically, which feeds into our Fertility Index, which attempts to express the single most important economic trait in the cattle business. Let’s do this! The Breeding Log is also the perfect place to set up your multi-sire groups. Many members utilize multi-sire breeding pastures. In the Breeding Log, you can set up a multi-sire group and give the group a name and a PHN. When a calf is born to that group of sires, you simply record the multi-sire group as the “sire” of the calf. Assuming DNA is on file for all the sires in the group, we will identify the sire of each calf as an automated process once the calf DNA file is uploaded. Utilizing this process will reduce the time required to sireverify calves and will save an incalculable number of emails between members and staff trying to qualify sires. I strongly encourage every serious breeder to open up the Breeding Log feature in Regstr and enter your breeding information from the spring 2021 breeding season. Likewise, as you get into the fall 2021 breeding season. You’ll see how easy it is. It is a critical first step in developing a robust system for evaluating fertility. You’ll also appreciate how the Breeding Log is integrated into the registration module, which will make the registration process more efficient for you. When it comes to raising high quality cattle in the southern tier, the fescue belt, and the western deserts, there is nothing that can match a Brangus cow. Let’s make them even better by enhancing our fertility data through the Breeding Log.
