THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCK$ by Luke Bowman Director of Member Events and International Operations American Simmental Association
He brought more than $50,000 and If you sorted the breeds database for YW to MW there was sold to a major bull stud. Lots of was no other animal in the money made, but none of it for me! entire population even close to This is what I get for cutting corners I want to share an important lesson him. GULP. I started to sweat. I learned this past year — I learned and trying to stay cheap, I guess. Had I continued to stay in touch the hard way. It was grass time around I genomically tested the bull, I would with my friend throughout the farm back in Indiana. The calves have retained an interest and reaped the year and the set of bulls were a couple months old, the cows some of the dollars made not only for developed nicely. I heard there had one round of AI and the lush his purchase but also semen sales in were ramblings about folks green growth was calling the herd. finding him on the EPD search the future. My father wanted to cut back on cows before they went to pasture. I live tool with typing in parameters The school of hard knocks taught far away and can’t help out too much to get max growth with under- me that bottom line – TEST YOUR on the farm, so I volunteered to sell a control size, quality carcass, etc. CATTLE. Know as much as you can small portion of the cows that I own. Then came sale day in early before breeding or marketing them to The pairs were sold over the phone March. The bull sold well. someone else! at an agreeable price. I didn’t get rich. I priced each pair the same and I think I even gave a discount if he would PREMIUM AUTOMATIC take all five pairs I had sorted off. My WATERERS friend had the cattle picked up and living in cow country in the central US in a matter of days. Around weaning time, I called to check in on how the calves shaped up at the end of the season. Did they wean off heavy? Which one was his favorite? Did he think they would all make the bull sale in the spring? My friend’s reply brought all good news: the calves did awesome, no one got sick, they should all make the sale, and one of them was a “genetic freak” as he put it. We’ll refer to this calf as “Tag 5.” I asked him what he meant by a genetic freak? He genomically tested the calves, and Tag 5’s EPDs improved with his genomics; however, I was nowhere near prepared for what my friend had to share. He further explained that Tag 5 kept his great calving ease figures (an extremely important trait; I ALWAYS consider CED and CEM when making mating decisions), shot up on growth into the Top 1% of the breed, and also ranked Ritchie manufactures a complete line of livestock watering products with the amongst the very best (lowest) in the highest specifications in the industry. From a single horse Stall Fount to a breed for Mature Cow Weight (based fountain that waters up to 500 head, Ritchie fountains are top quality. Plus, on American Angus Association every Ritchie fountain is backed by our 10 year limited warranty. For more EPDs). information contact us at: Now, this was ideal. Calving ease was in check, all the growth we can Carlson Wholesale - 800-669-4038 get in a moderate, not over-sized package. His carcass traits all landed www.carlsonwholesale.net above average too. But I didn’t really @carlsonwholesale put together how good this calf was until I did an EPD search myself. October 2020
American Beef Producer
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