Breed IMPROVEMENT

By Sean McGrath Breed Improvement Coordinator for the Canadian Simmental Association

The Accountable Cow Herd

One of the definitions of Accountable is to be “subject to giving an account of: answerable” (Merriam Webster). I think this is a valuable concept when thinking about performance reporting, particularly in the context of Whole Herd Enrolment (WHE).

The concept behind WHE is reporting on the production of every cow, every year. This has several valuable outcomes. Perhaps the most obvious is making each cow “answerable” or “giving an account of” her production each year. Having an accountable cowherd is essential for getting at the genetic components of fertility which have a major impact on the profitability of users of Simmental seedstock. Understanding what a cow produced, when and why she did not produce and when/if she exited the cow herd are important measures for breeders and their customers.

Over time, we all have favourite cows that end up aging well in our herds. These cows likely represent a mating or genetic combination that worked really well, however they also often provide a distorted or nostalgic picture of genetic merit. These old cows are a good example. That favourite old cow from Herdsire A may produce a fond remembrance of Herdsire A and his maternal excellence and how well his daughters performed. By holding each cow accountable, every year it may present a very different picture. Herdsire A may have sired some winners but may have also had a very high proportion of daughters fall out of the herd early. Is the maternal value of Herdsire A the same if 80% of his daughters make it to 6 years of age, or if 10% of his daughters make it to 10 years of age? Is a Herdsire worth more if 60% of his daughters produce 5 average calves in their lifetime or if 20% of his daughters produce 5 above average calves in their lifetime.

These questions don’t necessarily have straightforward answers, the key concept is that by providing an account of each cow’s production every year, we can examine and answer these questions for the various situations that Simmental genetics are expected to excel at.

The other area that is sometimes overlooked is the impact of making every cow accountable to give true credibility to the mating decisions and cattle that really excelled in a production system. It is tempting to report on just the better calves in a herd, for example sending weaning weights on the calves that are worthy of registration. This approach does not hold each cow accountable, but also fails the best calves in the herd. If for example, we don’t report on the bottom 25% of calves (or cows) are we giving those subpar cows a free pass? Perhaps it is simply a mating that did not work. Is there value in measuring mating combinations that do not produce the desired results? As well, by not reporting on the bottom end, we have artificially raised the herd average and disadvantaged the better calves as they cannot be compared to their full contemporary grouping. In other words, the amount that the best calves excel over the entire group is higher than the amount they excel over the top 75%.

An example scenario using 100 calves with weaning weights ranging from 600 to 700 pounds in 1 pound increments can show the potential impact. The impact in real life with a greater spread in weights will be much greater, but in this simple scenario, we have negatively impacted the top 25 weaning weight calves in the cow herd by 11 pounds. Remember, in real life, failing to report the bottom calves will have a much larger impact on those top calves.

Cows are cows and they do cow things that may in fact make 100% complete reporting an impossibility sometimes (ever have a cow escape on weaning day or get lost in a large pasture?), however it is important to the best of our ability to hold each cow to account every year. Doing so provides the best possible picture of fertility and maternal genetics and ensures that our best calves are given due credit for how well they are performing. Failure of a cow herd to provide an account is unfair to the herd and the breeder of that herd. Members are encouraged to submit complete breeding, pregnancy, calving, weaning and disposal data on their cowherds. This level of accountability provides benefits to the cow, the herd and the breed moving forward.