6 minute read
A Different Pathway to Performance
A often overlooked option might lie in selection for Stayability. Stayability is a trait that is defined as “given that female offspring are retained in the herd, what is the relative probability she will survive to 6 years of age”. Stayability includes a variety of factors, but in essence it is a description of the potential for a cow to calf and breed back on a repeated basis. Let’s walk our example cowherd through this…
We will not change the weaning rate, although there is an argument that calf survival is better from cows than heifers, but for simplification purposes we will assume that we wean 95 calves from our 100 cows. Our initial replacement rate is 20%. This means that if we sell open cows, cows that don’t wean a calf and a few other cows for age or other reasons, of our 95 calves, we will need to keep 20 for replacement heifers to maintain our 100 cow number. This is quite a realistic or even low replacement rate for most cow herds. It also means that in an average year we have 75 calves to sell. (47.5 steers on average and 27.5 heifers on average). This amounts to 24225 pounds of steers + 13475 of heifers = 37700 pounds of Saleable Weaning Weight. What if we could increase our stayability by only 1%? Or stated another way, what if we could reduce our replacement rate by 1% while still maintaining a 95% weaning rate?
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Immediately we know we can sell 1 more heifer since we don’t need to keep 20 heifers anymore. At 490 pounds we have boosted our weaning sale weight by 4.9 pounds per cow, but if we keep digging a bit deeper, it also means we have one less calf from a first calf heifer and one more from a mature cow. Remember earlier when we mentioned that first calf heifer calves are 50 pounds lighter than those from mature cows? This means we also added another 50 pounds of average weaning weight to our cow herd or 0.5 pounds per cow. Also, if we follow the logic, we are somewhat likely to have 1 less calf from the second calvers, and one more from the mature cows adding another 25 pounds to our herd total. We have added 565 pounds of weaning weight to our herd total through a 1% improvement in stayability. This process did not incur extra cost, in fact it eliminated the cost of developing 1 replacement female. 565 pounds is more than our average weaning weight of 500 pounds, so in essence we have added the equivalent of more than 1 calf to our total sale weight and seen more than a 1% improvement in average weaning weight.
At a 5% increase in stayability is shown in the table below
The math in every cow herd will be different, however this example serves to illustrate the importance and potentially outsized multiplier effect of matching a cowherd to the environment. The next time you are selecting for performance, keep in mind that performance can travel many paths and sometimes the one less travelled leads to the desired destination.
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50years Gelbvieh Breeders on Page 52 • Summer 2022 • Gelbvieh guide
CANADIAN CATTLE IDENTIFICATION AGENCY - CCIA REPORT
CCIA Annual General Meeting
At the Annual General Meeting in April, CCIA saw the departure of three long standing board members, Doug Sawyer and Pat Hayes, both representatives of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and James MacLean, the Canadian Livestock Dealers Association (CLDA) representative. Doug has been on the Board since 2015 and has been a dedicated member and Chair of the Board Governance and Development Committee. After 11 years on the Board, James is also departing, his industry insight will be missed. Pat Hayes has been with CCIA since 2009 and will remain involved as Past Chair for the next year. Pat will be remembered for his commonsense approach to traceability and his active role in assuring CCIA was financially sustainable under a fair business model for all species being administered by CCIA. Thank you, Pat for your 12 years at CCIA.
CCIA also welcomed two new representatives from CCA Matt Bowman from Ontario and Brad Osadczuk from Alberta as well as David Saretsky from CLDA. Associate Member Shawn Wilson was welcomed as the Canadian Beef Breeds Council representative. These new representatives bring a wealth of experience to the table.
The remainder of the CCIA Board remained the same with the Executive Committee is as follows:
Chair – Lyle Miller, Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association
Vice Chair – Howard Bekkering, Alberta Beef Producers
Finance Chair – Dr. Oliver Schunicht, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
Executive Members – Ivan Johnson, Maritime Beef Producers and Ken Perlich, Livestock Markets Association of Canada
Moving Forward with Ultra-High Frequency (UHF)
Industry has indicated there are benefits to be captured using Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) technology beyond the capabilities of the current Low Frequency technology tags. Even ahead of international standardization of numbering schemes, which is required for national adoption of the technology in Canada, CCIA is exploring ways to rapidly introduce UHF management tags into the existing system in a cost-efficient manner that supplies benefits of the technology to on-farm data collection and supports traceability. Traceability integrity is enhanced, and data capture is simplified by pairing a UHF tag number with a CCIA tag number and storing the cross reference in the CLTS.
Age Verification and entering birth date of animals into the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) remains an option for producers and is internationally recognized as valuable to traceability. As part of CCIA’s ongoing responsibility to improving data integrity a “Birthdate Modification Flag” has been added to make aware of changes to the original birth date. If a birth date or a modification is made after the animal is 9 months of age a note will appear on the Tag History and Birth Certificate indicating this change has been made.
Tag Supply Chain Issues
As with many other industries, CCIA has also been affected by supply chain issues which have impacted the availability of some livestock identification devices. CDMV (CCIA’s distributor) is receiving weekly shipments, but not at a normal, reliable. As a result, some products are on back order. To ensure fair distribution, some products are subject to a weekly purchase allotment until adequate supplies are available.
It is important to place your order at tags.canadaid.ca (CCIA’s Webstore) even if your selected products show as ‘Back Order”. By placing your order, you secure your place in the queue, and it will be filled in sequence as soon as there is availability.
Upcoming changes to tag distribution
CCIA has had a longstanding goal of owning our own building consisting of both office and warehouse. The new building, located in SE Calgary, is bright, comfortable and provides lots of room for the next phase.
By having ample warehouse space in a location that has easy access for a distribution centre we can realize our goal to increase in-house services and become more self-reliant to better serve the industry.
All tags and tag accessories that are available through tags.canadaid.ca (CCIA’s Webstore) will soon be distributed exclusively from the Calgary office.
