Gelbvieh World

Youth Leadership in the Beef Industry by Kallie Mattison

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The American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) provides opportunities for youth to grow as leaders. Through participation in contests and providing an environment in which the kids are
encouraged to develop relationships with other members, many skills are developed that will help them in positions of leadership. The demand for youth involvement is high, and the
future of the beef industry relies on those willing to take the lead. Youth organizations such as AGJA do just that by offering different contests for juniors to participate in, allowing
them to choose ones that will highlight their strengths and improve their weaknesses. For example, participation in quiz bowl allows juniors to educate themselves on various topics pertaining to
the beef industry, providing them with the knowledge to educate those who may not know much about livestock. Team fitting also helps juniors by giving them the opportunity to take charge, to do what they are good at, and to highlight the strengths of other teammates, ultimately creating a strong team that works together to be successful. These contests further assist in developing skills that will shape good leaders and advocates of the beef industry.

It is important to participate in youth organizations to build relationships and to gain experiences that allow kids to learn and thrive. It is members of these organizations that are responsible
for maintaining the integrity of the livestock industry. Association conventions and junior shows provide a forum where breed members can come together to bring up issues and to improve the organization as a whole, allowing for each voice to be heard.

Every leader begins as a follower. It is entirely up to an individual as to whether or not they choose to reach their full potential as a leader. The AGJA strives to build a network of future leaders that will make good decisions and to be the voice for the beef industry. You do not have to have a fancy title to be able to call yourself a leader. The AGJA encourages you to take every chance to develop your skills and to grow as a young person in agriculture. Participating in the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, is a great place to start, and I hope to see you there!

Ode to a Cow by Tom Strahm

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Ode To A Cow
By Unknown Author • The Old Farmer’s Almanac 1936
When life seems one too many for you,
Go and look at a cow.
When the future’s black and the outlook blue,
Go and look at a cow.
For she does nothing but eat her food,
And sleep in the meadows entirely nood,
Refusing to fret or worry or brood
Because she doesn’t know how.
Whenever you’re feeling bothered and sore,
Go and look at a cow.
When everything else is a fearful bore,
Go and look at a cow.
Observe her gentle and placid air,
Her nonchalance and savoir faire,
Her absolute freedom from every care,
Her imperturbable brow.
So when you’re at the end of your wits,
Go and look at a cow.
Or when your nerves are frayed to bits,
And wrinkles furrow your brow;
She’ll merely moo in her gentle way,
Switching her rudder as if to say:
“Bother tomorrow! Let’s live today!”
Take the advice of a cow.
Although I don’t believe that “the future’s black, and the outlook blue”, the “Ode To A Cow” reminds me that while very rewarding, production agriculture also can be very challenging.

Extreme weather conditions, increased price volatility, and compressed profit margins are just a few of the obstacles that producers are faced with today. Many of these circumstances are beyond any of our control, and to say the least, it can be frustrating at times. Focusing on management areas where good decision making can have meaningful impact is crucial to improving the profit potential.

In his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen R. Covey writes “Our unique human endowments lift us above the animal world. The extent to which we exercise and develop these endowments empowers us to fulfill our uniquely human potential. Between stimulus and response is our greatest power – the freedom to choose.”

Unlike the cow in the poem, who is just living for today, we can make meaningful, proactive choices today that improve our operations for tomorrow and for years to come.

This summer a cattle producer told me something that went like this, “I don’t want to work for my cows. I want my cows to work for me!”

This mindset is influencing his decisions for genetic and phenotypic selection with the intent of improving his efficiency and ultimately improving his bottom line, which is something all cattle  producers should strive to accomplish.

Many of the commercial cow-calf producers that I’ve had the opportunity to visit this summer are choosing Gelbvieh and Balancer® genetics because those cows “work for them.”

“Choose Gelbvieh” is the theme of the most recently released “The American Rancher” episode that aired last month. Maternal superiority summarizes many attributes of the Gelbvieh and Balancer cows that contribute to those cows working for these commercial cattlemen. Fertility, maternal ability, efficiency, and stayability are all very important traits in a mother cow. Many producers want these traits to come in a moderate sized, structurally sound and docile package that is consistent with the visual created in the Ode above. While the cow appears placid and
nonchalant, she just as well be working hard for her owner!

Genetics that work for you should reduce your inputs, hopefully reduce your stress, and increase your profit potential. As seedstock suppliers, the product that you’re selling needs to work for your customers. Keep striving to produce genetics that will work better for your commercial customers, and help them reach their goals. Ultimately, you and your customers have a common goal of producing a safe, nutritional and wholesome product that culminates in the best eating experience for consumers around the world!

AGJA Members Gain Industry-Wide Exposure with Leadership Conference

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In early August, the American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) joined forces with the American Junior Shorthorn Association and the American Junior Simmental Association to put on a unique leadership conference in the beef industry called The Summit. Over 85 members from these organizations came together as strangers and left as friends and contacts they’ll have forever in the livestock industry. I could write in length about the impact this had on the participants’ AGJA experience and their lives going forward within the field of agriculture.

At the beginning of the conference the organizers split the larger group into smaller groups to intermix participants from each breed. For the next three days, these small groups worked as a team and interacted on a more personal level as well as the large group. To kick off the conference, Tom Field, Ph.D., director of the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, really set the tone with a speech about the future. He spoke about the exciting things the program is doing to help students jumpstart their small business ideas in agriculture,
to chase their vision and dream, and never give up. Maddy Ruble from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) also explained how NCBA goes about interacting with consumers as they move forward in a world that’s further and further removed from production agriculture. But, the most fun of the day might have come with a choreographed lip-sync performance/competition between the small groups.

The next day was the very educational with “real world” beef industry visits. The two big stops for the day, besides Memorial Stadium, of course , were at the US Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) and GeneSeek. Visiting MARC was a great educational opportunity to see research projects that affect cattle producers’ day-to-day lives. GeneSeek provided the group with a unique opportunity for members to learn about the complex world of genetics and the genomic testing. Of course, a crowd favorite was the tour of Memorial Stadium and the great history of the
University of Nebraska’s football program. Later that night a little fun was had with a competition of the water Olympics.

On Saturday, there were several speakers in the lineup. In the morning we were given a crash course in meat science and a tour of the UNL meats lab. The group also listened to a very thought-provoking presentation on the impact of genetic selection by Matt Spangler, Ph.D., professor and Extension beef genetics specialist with UNL That afternoon, Kate Hagans with the Kansas Farm Bureau came and spoke on the importance of social media used in agriculture with an expanding technological world. We capped off the day with some bowling and finished the conference the
next morning with goodbyes.

This was an outstanding leadership conference with some tremendous opportunities for our members. These types of leadership events are going to be critical in the development
of our members as we try to feed a booming population while working through it all with more and more people removed from rural America. The connections gained and the skills that were developed made The Summit leadership conference a tremendous success.

Over the Fence with Megan Rolf, Ph.D. by Angela Vesco

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During the member education committee meeting at the American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) National Convention in Wichita, Kansas, the AGA has invited Megan Rolf, Ph.D., assistant professor of animal breeding at Kansas State University (K-State) to visit with the membership about genomics.

Megan Rolf is a Kansas native, growing up in LeRoy, on her family’s row crop and cow-calf operation. Rolf ’s involvement in the beef industry started young. She was involved in 4-H showing heifers and was a member of the North American Limousin Junior Association and was on the junior board of directors. Rolf received her college education from K-State and completed her postgraduate degrees at the University of Missouri.

First off, let’s explore the process in which a blood/hair/ tissue sample ends in GE-EPDs. How does that happen?
“Essentially, once the sample is collected, it is routed through the association and submitted to the testing company. Samples are inventoried, the DNA is extracted, and samples will be run in batches according to the number of samples that can be run on a particular assay (genotyping product). Once the samples are genotyped and the data is processed, it will be returned to the breed
association for inclusion into the next National Cattle Evaluation run. There is a lot of work that goes into a genomic-enhanced (GE-EPD) behind the scenes, but from a producer’s perspective, collection of a good DNA sample is the hardest part of this process; you get a good sample and send it in properly and the hard work is done,” Rolf said.

How do genomics impact the commercial producer’s herd when they buy bulls with GE-EPDs? Why is it important for all producers to pay attention to genomics?
GE-EPDs increase the accuracy of breeding decisions. “The main impact of a GE-EPD for a commercial producer is the ability to have a higher accuracy EPD with which you can make selection
decisions. Especially when considering purchasing a yearling herd sire that doesn’t have any progeny recorded yet, this extra accuracy can help them choose a sire with more confidence that he fits their selection criteria and breeding objective. At the moment, genomic technologies are seamlessly integrated into the selection tools we already have available, which is great and provides additional, useful information in a package that we’re already used to using.”

What is the future for genomics?
“I think the future for genomics is bright,” Rolf said. “In my mind, we’re just scratching the surface of what we might be able to do in the future. There are a lot of aspects of genetics/genomics (including imprinting, noncoding RNAs, methylation, histone modification, etc.) that impact phenotype through regulation of the genes that are inherited but that we haven’t had the technology to explore previously on a genome-wide scale.”

“I think some of our greatest insights into the biology of beef cattle will come when we can integrate all of these technologies into a better understanding of the underlying biology of how a  phenotype is created through the complex interaction of inherited DNA (and the mutations it contains) and gene regulation, which can then be translated into genetic selection and/or management tools that producers can utilize.”

What are the future traits that we will be able to predict?
Rolf understands that there are some challenges that impede the process of developing future traits. She says that imagination and the technical capability are two of the limiting factors right now. “Generally, the limiting factor for genomic prediction of novel traits is the need to have a large number of phenotypes on whatever trait you’re interested in predicting” Rolf explained. She
notes that utilizing a large sample size can be expensive and/or complicated and that collecting enough phenotypes to develop a solid selection tool requires a lot of time as well.
Rolf emphasizes how important it is for the selection tools developed to be accurate and effective. “I think this is where a selection index can play a big role in helping place appropriate balances on traits in a defined selection program to help correctly balance out an ever increasing amount of information.”

Is there anything else regarding the future of breeding and genetics that cattle producers should be aware of?
“I think the best bit of advice I can give is that genetics is pretty fast-paced. If they keep an eye on trade publications, and come to conferences like the national convention, I would guess that they’ll be pretty well informed on new developments! I think the next thing that is/will be making a splash is the potential to leverage genomic sequence data, such as what is being done in the fertility project at the University of Missouri and collaborators.”

The American Gelbvieh Association is one of the collaborators on this project. The study is aimed at identifying the genetic cause of less than 100 percent conception rate in cows and then  potentially developing a tool to select breeding stock.

Good Bulls Don’t Cost, They Pay by Kari White

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Ranching for profit has long been a business of tight bottom lines. Savvy ranchers are always looking for ways to reduce costs and spread them over more production points for greater profit. In doing this, one area of expense that might come under question is the price for good bull genetics: is it really cost-effective to pay more for a genetically superior bull?

Bull prices change frequently with the ever-changing markets, but investing in superior bull genetics routinely comes at a higher cost. Research done through the Noble Research Institute by Steve Swigert, agricultural economics consultant, show an additional $31.09 cost per cow for using known bull genetics versus using a bull with unknown pedigree and performance bought at a sale barn. In further research, Swigert investigated bull costs per cow for three different kinds of bulls: 1) bulls with unknown genetics bought at a sale barn, 2) bulls with known pedigree but limited performance information bought from a neighbor, and 3) bulls with known genetics with expected progeny differences (EPDs) bought from a seedstock supplier. Swigert found the total annual economic bull costs per cow to be $23.45, $36.14, and $54.54, respectively, assuming each bull was mated to 25 cows a year for five years.

Clearly, using known bull genetics comes at a greater cost. The follow-up question, however, is if the greater cost leads to greater returns. Swigert found using known bull genetics increased weaning performance of calves by roughly 100 pounds per calf. Pricing the value of increased weaning performance at $1.10/lb (in 2013), the value of increased performance came to roughly $110 per calf. The study further found an increase in yearling performance at $66 per calf, measured by difference in average daily gain. The total increased value credited to increased weaning and yearling performance came to $176 per calf from bulls with known genetics. In cow terms, that comes to a $144.91 marginal return per cow per year when mated to bulls with superior genetics. In bull terms, a genetically superior bull who sired 125 calves over five years had an additional marginal income of roughly $18,113!

Those are impressive numbers, but it can still be difficult to bite the bullet and write that large check for a bull on sale day. Large capital investments do come with a certain amount of risk. Is the risk actually that much greater for more expensive bulls with known genetics? According to an article by Troy Marshall in 2011 for BEEF magazine, the average service cost per cow at 25 cows per year for a $4,500 bull is about $63.14/cow. With the same assumptions, the difference between a $3,750 bull and a $5,250 bull on average cost per cow serviceded is $9/cow. When comparing that to the added value from increased calf performance at weaning, it doesn’t take very much for a more expensive bull to start paying for itself. Based on the calculation of actual costs of a bull per cow from Jim McGrann, Texas A&M emeritus professor, it only takes an added 12 pounds of weaning weight to justify paying $5,250 versus $3,750 a bull.

Buying bulls with unknown origin direct from the sale barn also comes with its own added risk, genetics aside. In an article by Laura Mushrush for BEEF magazine, Dr. Matt Spangler was quoted as calling the risks of such a purchase “multifold”. He points out you might be compromising your operation’s biosecurity since you have no idea what potential disease risks, both reproductive and otherwise, come along with that bull. By comparison, when genetics are purchased directly from a seedstock provider, the buyer will have access to test results for various diseases such as persistently infected (PI) carriers of bovine viral diarrhea. Additionally, many bulls purchased directly from seedstock providers are often yearlings, or come with a virgin bull certificate in the case of older bulls over 18 months. This ensures the buyer will not be introducing damaging reproductive diseases into their cowherd. Spangler points out the uncertainty of buying bulls direct from the sale barn, “…You have no idea if the bull is even fertile, or if he’ll pass a breeding soundness exam”. Couple that with no real idea of how the bull will perform in terms of genetic potential as a parent, and Spangler concludes, “Even though the bull may be much cheaper, it could be a very expensive decision to make if he happens to be diseased, unfertile, or counterproductive to the rancher’s goals”.

If bull buying is a game of dollars and cents, purchasing a bull with known superior genetics from a seedstock producer definitely pencils out. Comparatively, sale barn bulls with unknown origins and disease profiles are both high risk and potentially low producing. Despite a somewhat greater cost per cow, added value from greater weaning and yearling performance of calves coupled with greater security from potentially costly disease risks make buying seedstock bulls with known genetics a “no brainer”.

Sources
Swigert, Steve. “Buying known bull genetics adds value”.
October 2015. Noble Research Institute Ag News and
Views.
Marshall, Troy. “How much can you afford for a bull”.
March 2011. Beef Magazine.
Mushrush, Laura. “Don’t play Russian Roulette with your
cattle genetics”. February 2017. BEEF Magazine.

A Foundation for the Future by Aubree Beenken

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If you were fortunate to be raised in a small town you know how easy it is to become involved in a multitude of organizations. Growing up you can be a part of 4-H, FFA, FCCLA, National Honor Society, Student Council, breed organizations such as the American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA), and countless other organizations. Youth programs are the backbone of American agriculture and they lay a foundation for the future by equipping youth with lifelong skills and connections that cannot be built within the walls of a classroom.

Through my involvement with multiple organizations I learned one of the most critical skills of all: communication. Standing up to deliver the FFA Creed, leading an advocacy workshop, or even giving a presentation at a 4-H meeting taught me the importance of being able to speak clearly, loudly, and in terms that my audience will understand. The ability to communicate becomes ever more important each day; whether it is talking to another producer, a veterinarian, a teacher, or a consumer. With each audience we address, our vocabulary changes and our body language shifts because the terms we use on the farm are foreign to some of the people living in our own communities. Youth organizations taught me that being able to communicate with others in understandable terms is crucial to preventing misconceptions and ensuring a positive image of the agriculture industry. Learning how to properly communicate has allowed me to share my beef story in an effective manner.

A skill often overlooked, but a vital skill I gained from my years in different youth organizations is time management. Growing up, I held leadership roles in many clubs that I was a part of and with all those leadership roles came a multitude of responsibilities that had to be fulfilled. The only way for me to be a successful leader was proper time management. Time management goes beyond just being a good leader. It teaches you to balance time and work in a manner that is effective and efficient, which showcases many benefits when it comes to school, work, or even responsibilities on the farm. A future employer will notice when you can balance multiple tasks at once and still produce high-quality work. Learning how to properly manage time is important for being successful in life at work, school, and at home.

Youth organizations instilled in me the importance of hard work and dedication. I remember spending hours practicing the FFA Creed or coming into school early for mock-job interviews, all to ensure I was fully prepared for my upcoming contest. These hours were not required or mandatory, but rather it was the extra effort I was willing to put in so I could be successful at whatever endeavor I was embarking on. Youth programs showed me how hard work and dedication pays off in the long run. Each day we have the choice to spend extra time studying EPDs to find the perfect match for the upcoming breeding, to take an extra fifteen minutes to practice showmanship, or even taking time to meet with a nutritionist to formulate the right diet for your animal in all stages of life. Our dedication to the beef industry, and our own cattle, make us willing to go the extra mile and put in extra hours because we know the time spent now will produce large rewards in the end.

My involvement with youth programs shaped me into the person I am today. I can stand up and speak in front of a group and be confident; I can share the events occurring on my farm to anyone no matter what background they may come from; I know how to balance my time to ensure all my obligations are met, and I have learned that hard work and dedication can go a long way. While youth organizations may seem like another responsibility to squeeze into an already busy schedule, I ask that you take a moment to reflect on how you have been impacted by youth programs. For me, my years spent in different youth programs laid a foundation for my future that allowed me to have a successful college career, an understanding of what lies outside my community, and even to my role at the Iowa Beef Industry Council this past summer. Youth programs have been, and will continue to be, the backbone of American agriculture by equipping youth with knowledge and skills to be successful.

Over the Fence with Kurt Johnson by Tom Strahm

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Kurt Johnson is part of a multi-generational ranching family that runs a commercial cow-calf operation in north central Nebraska. Kurt is the fourth generation of Johnsons to ranch near Stuart, Nebraska, dating back to 1929. The family’s ranching roots run just as deep on his mother, Twila’s side of the family. Twila’s grandfather, Walter K. Smith, started out with Herefords in 1941.

Today, the family runs approximately 500 commercial cows, and utilizes Gelbvieh and Balancer® genetics to help accomplish their beef production goals. The operation raises hay and enough forages to maintain the cowherd.

Twila and her husband, Ron Wherley, are still involved as Twila does all the recordkeeping and bookwork for the operation.

Kurt’s children, Amber and Paul, are also returning to the ranch, becoming the fifth generation on the land. Amber graduated from Wayne State, and is currently teaching junior high science and coaching athletics in Norfolk, Nebraska. Amber enjoys coming home to help during weaning, working calves, and moving cows.

Paul has recently returned to the ranch full time with his new bride Mikayla. Paul graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in animal science. Paul is now working alongside Kurt to complete the daily responsibilities of running a ranch and raising cattle.

When and why did you start using Gelbvieh and Balancer genetics?

“We started using 75 percent Gelbvieh bulls in 1994. We had been using terminal cross sires on our cows, but we wanted to start keeping our home-raised heifers as replacement females,” Kurt said.

Kurt and Twila agree that there were many attributes of the Gelbvieh breed that led them to begin using Gelbvieh bulls. Fertility, maternal ability, longevity, and docility are all very important traits in a mother cow. These females have good udder quality, but the Johnsons also wanted cows with moderate mature size and weight. They have been very happy with the results they have found in these cows while maintaining performance and growth in their calf crop.

What are some of the advantages to the crossbred cow with Gelbvieh and Balancer genetics?

These cows can raise a good calf every year, and breed back with minimal inputs. A short calving season is very important on Johnsons’ operation.

“We start calving in mid-March, and will be 85 percent done calving in 21 days. We are completely finished calving by May 1. We wean our calves in October. Weaning weights are collected and recorded for each individual calf. The calves are taken home for weaning and backgrounding. The cows run on corn stalks from November through January. We pregnancy check all of our cows in the fall. Maternal ability, fertility, and longevity are all very important to us,” Kurt said.

Structural soundness is another requirement. The furthest summer pasture is 23 miles from home. The Johnson family has a two day cattle drive to move cows to stalk fields near the ranch headquarters after the calves are weaned. “Feet and legs are important. These cows have to be able to walk.”

What decisions make up your calf weaning and marketing strategies? 

“We wean and vaccinate all of our calves. The calves are then backgrounded on a growing ration of wet distillers, homegrown roughage, and rolled corn. We want to grow and develop the calves, and add some frame but keep the cattle in desirable body condition for potential buyers.” The steers are sold at Bassett Livestock Auction in Bassett, Nebraska, and are usually marketed in January weighing 700-800 pounds.

Approximately 40 to 50 heifer calves are selected to be kept as replacements. The rest of the heifer calves are sold in mid-February.

Shane Kaczor, co-owner of Bassett Livestock Auction, explains that a large portion of the females are bought by other commercial cattle producers as replacements.

“I sort the heifers for sale as potential replacements how I would want to buy them,” Kaczor said. “More of these heifers are sold as replacements than are sold as feeders,” says Twila. In recent years, replacement heifers have been sold into six states. Kurt keeps in contact with the buyers and has numerous repeat customers.

What traits are important to you when selecting bulls, and how do EPDs influence your decisions? 

The family tries to buy top-end bulls and wants each one to be a complete package. Semen is collected on several bulls the family uses as commercial herd sires, and thus these bulls are being used in seedstock operations as well. Johnsons look for moderate framed, heavy muscled, structurally sound bulls and evaluate the EPDs on each individual.

“We want bulls with moderate birth weight EPDs because we don’t want calving problems. We have to start with a live calf! We also want bulls with moderate maternal EPDs because these Gelbvieh and Balancer females are good milkers,” Paul said. “We look for bulls with good weaning weights because growth and performance are important to us. We don’t want to buy bulls with extremely high yearling weight EPDs because we want to maintain moderate mature sized cows.”

The Johnsons buy bulls that are between 18 and 24 months old. They are maintained on hay with salt and mineral. Bulls are given breeding soundness exams in the spring before being turned out with the cows. What are some of your goals for the future? Kurt and Paul have a couple of things in mind for future improvement of the herd. “We would like to start a fall-calving herd. Also, we would like to start keeping more of the heifers, breed them, and then sell as bred replacement females,” Kurt said.

The family believes in continual improvement towards increased uniformity and consistency of their calf crop. Like most ranching families, Twila’s primary goal is to continue passing the ranch on to future generations.

Defined Success with Gelbvieh Influence by Rebecca Mettler

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What does it mean to raise a productive cow? Does she have to have a calf every year, produce a calf that meets or exceeds your expectations at weaning and breed back each season without fail? Chances are you answered yes to each of these questions and maybe even require a little bit more out of your cowherd.

Profitability on the farm or ranch starts with the cow. Selecting the right cow for the environment plays heavily into the success of a cowherd. A cow that cannot maintain her body condition with the resources available has a greater probability of being open when the vet comes to pregnancy check. And every producer knows, an open cow is not a profitable cow.

Adding body condition to thin cows before breeding also requires more feed resources and more money. Instead, having a moderate-sized cow that will maintain herself on forage and minimal supplementation is a goal that most cow-calf operations can get behind.

The U.S. Meat Animal Research Center data shows Gelbvieh females have the most moderate mature cow size of the four major Continental cattle breeds.

Producers across the country are finding the benefit of Gelbvieh and Balancer®-influenced females as a part of their breeding program to maintain a moderate framed female without forfeiting calf performance.

“Between 1,250 to 1,350 is the cull weight on our cows and we’ve gotten to where we are selling 900-pound calves at 10 months of age,” said Bill Far of XA Cattle, near Moorefield, Nebraska. “Why we choose Balancers is because cow efficiency is number one. They are low maintenance, whether it’s from the work end of it, or the feed end of it, they are really efficient.”

Maternal efficiency equates to maternal profitability. Efficiency in the cowherd encompasses many factors. Reproductive productivity and genetics are two key factors of maternal efficiency. For years, Gelbvieh and Balancer seedstock suppliers have been providing producers with genetics that directly impact economic efficiency.

Commercial producers who have been raising Gelbvieh and Balancer cattle have witnessed substantial improvements in fertility and longevity of the cowherd while seeing increases in weaning weight coupled with low to moderate birth weights.

Bill Tucker, Tucker Farms, Amherst, Virginia, is quick to point out the ability for his Gelbvieh-influenced females to maintain their reproductive status, when stressed, better than any of the other breeds that they raise. This becomes very important during times of drought. His Gelbvieh influenced females can maintain fertility at a full body condition score less than other breeds.

“That in and of itself doesn’t only translate to her longevity, but also her economic efficiency in times when we don’t perhaps have the ideal inputs, but we don’t have animals falling out of the system,” Tucker said.

Cow-calf producers need to raise cows with staying power. Selecting genetics with built-in stayability is something that will provide a good return on investment for cattle producers.

The American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) publishes a stayablity EPD that predicts the genetic difference, in terms of percent profitability, that a bull’s daughters will stay productive within a herd to at least six years of age. According to a study (Brigham and Enns), Gelbvieh females in the AGA registry have more success staying in the herd at six years of age compared to females in the American Simmental Association and Red Angus Association of America registries.

Gelbvieh Influence Beyond the Cow 

Gelbvieh cattle are not only known for their maternal capabilities, but also for post-weaning growth. Combine the Gelbvieh breed’s positive post-weaning traits with the power of heterosis gained by crossbreeding, and you’ve got a force to be reckoned with.

The advantage of crossbreeding is apparent both in the feedyard and on the rail. Balancer bulls have the ability to increase carcass weights, and the industry demanded quality grades without sacrificing yield.

“If you are looking for calves that go to the feedyard, in my experience, these composite calves grade well from a quality grade standpoint, and they also have favorable yield,” according to Wesley Welch, president and CEO of Spade Ranches, Lubbock, Texas.

Tucker uses Gelbvieh influence to add carcass weight, which is an important trait for him since his operation has been finishing out their steers for the last 22 years.

“We still get paid by the pound. Gelbvieh adds ribeye area, gainability and feed efficiency, which are all things we find highly valuable,” Tucker said.

Gelbvieh and Balancer seedstock suppliers are working hard to provide the industry with genetics to meet modern beef industry demands from the cow-calf to packer sectors.

Sources:
Brigham, B.W., Speidel, S.E., Enns, R.M., Garrick, D.J.
(2007) Stayability to Alternate Ages

Meat Animal Research Center Progress Report #22

Recapping a Week in Grand Island by Callahan Grund

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I know while reading this it feels like it’s been an eternity since we’ve all been at The Big Red Classic, and for those of you who were not in attendance, it was a fantastic week. June 25, 2017, junior members from across the nation gathered in Grand Island, Nebraska, for The AGJA Big Red Classic. The weather was fantastic and the facilities were above and beyond everyone’s high expectations. The Junior Gelbvieh Association in Nebraska and the Gelbvieh Association in Nebraska put in a lot of long hours and hard work to prepare for this event and on behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank you once again! It was a great week of fantastic competition between members and time was spent fostering friendships and relationships once again that will last a lifetime. One of the things I spoke about throughout the week was the unique experience that our classic brings to our members each year. The competitions help hone the skills that are molding the future leaders of our cattle industry. As a younger member it’s easy to get overly concentrated on the prizes and coming in first, but it’s when you become an older member that you realize it’s so much bigger than that. Whether it be sales talk, where you utilize the skills it takes to market livestock in a real life scenario, or the judging contest where you have to make quick decisions and be able to defend them, these are valuable skills you’ll use for the rest of your life. Going into my last year in the association I’ve been able to see members older than myself take these skills and become leaders and innovators within the livestock industry and beyond.

Another reoccurring theme that was described throughout the week was the family atmosphere that is special to the Gelbvieh family and particularly junior nationals. Of the seven members that ran for spots on the junior board, we went a perfect seven out of seven running on the platform of unity and the goal of keeping the family atmosphere. This year the junior board released a strategic plan with four main points, which can be found on pages 18-20 of this edition of Gelbvieh World. Two of these points relate directly to junior nationals: increase educational opportunities for members and maintain the family atmosphere. It was fantastic to watch both of these goals be accomplished throughout the week in Grand Island and we hope to continue that into the future.

The other highlights of the week were, of course, the cattle shows. The judges on Thursday for the Balancer show and showmanship were Alan Miller and Will Coor. Friday, Jason Elmore sorted the steers and Gelbvieh bulls and females. As always, the champion females and bulls were fantastic representations of good-looking cattle that will hopefully go out and be functional cornerstone pieces of breeding operations.

In all, it was a fantastic week and we look forward to the start of a new year as a junior association!

It’s Not Just Another Cattle Show by Andrea Murray

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I hope that this issue of the Gelbvieh World finds our members caught back up on rest and back to the normal routines of their daily lives. I am sure many of you are busy putting up hay and preparing to wean calves; the fruits of your last year’s labor. I would like to take this opportunity to extend a great thanks to the Junior Gelbvieh Association in Nebraska and the Gelbvieh Association in Nebraska for the time and hard work they devoted towards hosting an amazing and successful 2017 AGJA Big Red Junior Classic. I also want to thank our junior board for the commitment and devotion they put into not only Junior Classic, but also the junior program and its members. I would be remiss if I did not send my gratitude to the parents of our juniors that help make this program possible and devote countless hours at home and take time out of their own careers to further the skills and knowledge of their young Gelbvieh members. Congratulations to all our juniors for your rewards and successes, but more importantly for your hard work and dedication!

Junior Classic is a fun-filled six days that draws our junior members and their best cattle together. Classic is not just another cattle show; youth also compete in various contests to prepare them for their future both in our breed and the beef industry. Video, poster, graphic design, and sales talk contests encourage members to establish priceless promotional and marketing skills that they will use in their own operations and for the breed. Undoubtedly, the most dreaded contest is impromptu speaking. The abilities acquired in this contest will continue to reap benefits for our members no matter what career path they choose. Quiz bowl and skill-a-thon push junior members to be well versed in beef cattle, the beef industry, and specifically Gelbvieh and Balancer® facts and trivia, and rewards them for their wisdom. In team fitting they must work together and communicate to obtain a common goal. They must also be able to see their animal’s flaws or weakness and disguise them with craft and steady hands. Programs like mentor/protégé enable more experienced juniors to lead and form bonds by helping first or second time junior classic attendees negotiate the action-packed week. Through these contests our members learn hard work, dedication, and perseverance; all of which are traits to be admired of our upcoming leaders of tomorrow’s beef industry.

Classic for many juniors is centered around time spent with friends. Underneath these friendships they are forming their very own network of peers that will help them blaze new trails for themselves and Gelbvieh and Balancer cattle. They establish firm relationships with these peers and established breeders through social time. They also leave lasting impressions on contest and cattle show judges, as well as sponsors. As a parent, I have encouraged my boys to seek out someone new to participate in contests with and make new friends! The bonds they form at Classic are invaluable and will last them a lifetime.

I believe one of the true advantages we hold as a breed is our junior program and the individuals that comprise it. I would encourage and challenge all of us to reach out to our own young members and to those that are not yet members and find ways to inspire, help, lead, and guide them. It is imperative that we continue to keep our junior program and junior classic high on our priority list. Our juniors are a jewel and they are the precious future of our
Gelbvieh and Balancer cattle. Through their annual meeting, contests, and running their own programs as committee and board members, we are ultimately preparing them to be adult members. As I consider the successes that some of our past junior members have achieved, I cannot help but think we will be truly amazed by the accomplishments of our current and future junior members.

Over the Fence with Brad Bennett by Megan Slater

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Brad Bennett is the extension educator for livestock evaluation and youth programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Brad serves as the UNL livestock judging team coach as well as the meat animal evaluation team coach in addition to teaching several courses. The primary focus of Brad’s extension program is youth education using animals as the vehicle to create knowledge, teamwork, critical thinking, and communication skills.

The American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) was grateful to have Brad join the AGJA at the 2017 Big Red Classic in Grand Island, Nebraska. He served as the announcer during both show days and helped coordinate and officiate the livestock judging contest.

What programs or opportunities does UNL offer students looking to seek a career in the agriculture industry?
In the UNL College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, we have 30 degree programs preparing students for careers in everything from animals to plants, soil to climate, golf to business, mechanization to leadership, and food to forensic science. We provide individualized academic advising to all our students so they can tailor their education and experiences to their interests and career goals. In addition to a wide range of majors, we have a program called Ensuring Your Future that guarantees participating students will have a job offer in their interest area within six months of graduating or we will pay to retrain them. To make this possible, we have our own career expert to help students with their resumé and interviewing skills as well as introducing them to numerous employers who attend our twice yearly career fairs. We are committed to student success at every level, which includes providing students with fabulous facilities, internationally recognized faculty, and significant scholarship dollars. We also offer the opportunity for students to create their own businesses through our Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship, get involved in an incredible line-up of clubs and organizations, conduct cutting-edge research with faculty mentors, or experience the world in far-flung locations through Education Abroad.

What does UNL look for in prospective students?
In a single word, we look for passion. That doesn’t mean you must know exactly what you want to do in life. More importantly, have an outlook that allows you to find something you love, dedicate yourself to excellence, and always work to make yourself and those around you better. We have a set of world class academic programs, student involvement, and campus engagement programs that can give you all the knowledge you’ll ever need. But we can’t replace dedication, drive, and passion. They say “there’s no place like Nebraska” and that’s all because our students come in with that passion and they transform it into something great. We’d be happy to host you on a visit and to have you as a part of the Husker family.

How do junior programs, such as the AGJA, 4-H, and FFA, help to prepare youth for future success?
In my opinion, nothing can replace the value of involvement in junior programs. Speaking from personal experience, it was involvement in 4-H, FFA, and junior breed associations that have opened up every opportunity I have ever had, both in college and my professional life. Often, we think of these associations as a way to show livestock and hopefully come home with some ribbons and banners, and that may be true. But what you will realize as your show career is coming to an end is that the livestock weren’t just there to be shown – they were there as vehicles to mold you into the person you are. Late nights in the barn, countless hours of work, and competing on the biggest stages build accountability, work ethic, and a competitive spirit. But they also instill communication, problem solving, and decision-making skills that are key components to anyone’s success in the future, whether you know that at the time or not. Beyond that, the network of people from all over the country that you have the chance to interact with will become your peers and mentors in the agriculture industry moving forward. I’ll paraphrase Jason Elmore’s comments at the conclusion of junior nationals that I thought best summarized how important these organizations and events are. “There is a lot of negativity in the world today. I wish everyone would witness what happens at a junior nationals and embrace the positivity we are building here.”

Why do you think it is important for youth to be involved in their junior breed association?
You’re never supposed to answer a question with a question, but hopefully we can make an exception this time. Would you grow up wanting to play professional baseball without first playing youth baseball? I think the answer would be no 100 percent of the time, and I’m a firm believer that it’s the same for those who want to be involved in the agriculture industry. Even if running a 500-head Gelbvieh seedstock operation isn’t in your long-term plans, chances are you’ll want to be involved in agriculture in some form and it’s organizations like the AGJA that will show you all the opportunities that exist in agriculture.

How does livestock judging prepare youth for a future career in the agriculture industry?
We hear from employers all the time that experiences outside of the classroom are huge factors in deciding who to hire. Livestock judging both at the youth and college level is a way to give you those experiences. Judging has grown into much more than learning how to place four head, even though that’s still a major component. It’s also communication, problem solving, and decision-making skills that can be near perfected by devoting your time to judging programs. There aren’t many other activities that can teach you to evaluate a situation, arrive at a conclusion, and then confidently explain why in a matter of minutes. When you enter your career that same process becomes a staple of your everyday life.

In our program, the focus is on building better people. When thinking about the list of pioneers that have brought the livestock industry to where it is today, many will trace the reason for their success back to livestock judging.

What do you see is the biggest challenge facing youth in agriculture? What can they do now to prepare?
Challenges are simply opportunities for the next generation. The agriculture landscape is changing rapidly and it’s up to youth to understand where we’re at today and where we need to be in 10, 25, or 50 years. Often, we can get bogged down by what’s happening right now. I would challenge youth to always be forward-thinking. We need you to be innovative, willing to adapt, and knowledgeable enough to lead this industry well into the future. There’s not a silver bullet that can prepare you for everything you’ll encounter in life, but no matter what, ask questions, reflect on what does and doesn’t work, and always be willing to step outside of your comfort zone for the sake of progress.

Keys to Association Success from a Scientific Viewpoint By Rebecca Mettler

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As referenced in President Scott Starr’s “View from the Board” article on page 6 of this edition of Gelbvieh World, The American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) Board of Directors had the opportunity to hear from a guest speaker at the latest board meeting. Matt Spangler, Ph.D., beef genetics specialist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, covered a broad range of topics and answered numerous questions from the board regarding the direction of the AGA.

Genomics History Lesson 

AGA and the rest of the International Genetic Solution (IGS) partners are moving away from a two-step approach to genetic selection and toward a single-step approach of incorporating genomics into genetic evaluations, using a software known as BOLT. “Instead of the training process and blending after the evaluation (as done with the two-step approach), those genotypes fit directly into your national cattle evaluation along with pedigree and performance information and are all estimated together,” Spangler explained.

One benefit of BOLT is its speed. Spangler calls the software exceptionally fast, which will make it possible to turn out evaluations more than twice a year as AGA currently does.

By nature, genetics, genomics, expected progeny differences (EPDs), and accuracy are a complex subject matter. Spangler understands that if a producer didn’t have a handle on EPDs and accuracy before, genomics only muddied the waters. Spangler spends a fair amount of time educating producers at every level of the industry on the science behind genomics as well as the practical applications of genomics.

Proper application of genomics technology is essential. Spangler challenges the entire membership of any beef cattle breed association to genotype complete cohort groups. When he pulls the trigger to genotype at the University, he tests every calf born. Spangler explained that the technology is to be used to determine the animals that are going to make the sale.

“I don’t want to use it once I’m putting together my catalog to try and make a bull bring more money; that’s not what the technology was meant to do.” He also cautions breed associations and individual producers about only genotyping their best animals. “Cherry-picking inherently leads to bias in your genomic predictions. You need to do the entire cohort.”

Forward Thinking to the Future

“The trick to a successful breed association going forward isn’t just that the commercial industry recognizes and values Gelbvieh and Balancer germplasm, but they recognize and value the AGA,” Spangler said.“The commercial industry needs to think that if it weren’t for the stuff that the AGA does for me, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

The Gelbvieh breed prides itself for maternal capabilities. Some maternal traits and fertility traits are hard to measure. Spangler points out that one breed will never get enough data within that particular breed to accurately describe fertility traits through EPDs. One would have to harness the power of the commercial cow-calf sector and collect the overwhelmingly large amount of data that could be provided.

“The entity that can leverage commercial cowherd data wins the race. There needs to be a large investment and collaboration to get that done, and it’s not an easy task,” Spangler said. Taking swine production into consideration, Spangler described those swine firms that invested in genomics that doesn’t own commercial assets are heavily involved in genomics. Those that do own commercial assets interest invest in phenotypes before genotyping.

While it’s not an easy task in the beef industry, ideally, data needs to be collected on a mix of Gelbvieh, commercial Balancer females, straight-bred Angus, and straight-bred Red Angus females. Spangler understands that the commercial producer must benefit from the transfer of data in some way. Preferably, the association can provide the producer with impactful herd management tools to make their life easier in one step in the right direction. This falls in line with the Meeting Modern Industry Demands Strategic Plan goal of AGA having the largest commercial cowherd database in the industry. Moving toward that goal calls on AGA members to direct their customers to enroll their cattle in the Smart Select Service, which is AGA’s commercial data management tool.

Being a Seedstock Breeder is Hard Work

“You inherently bare the expense that’s related to genetic evaluation and improvement. Then there’s the investment you made over a long time to increase the genetic merit… It’s all part of being a seedstock producer,” Spangler said.

In closing, Spangler said that he understands that being a seedstock producer is expensive and a lot of work, but each producer chooses to be in the seedstock business.

After all, it’s the seedstock producers’ job to influence genetic progress within the nation’s collective beef cow herd. That task can be daunting and incredibly rewarding all at the same time.

What Every Young Family Farmer Should Know By Austin Miles – Cattle and Technology Research Associate, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

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The 2012 Census of Agriculture compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service revealed some shocking (and maybe not so shocking) truths: farmers and ranchers are getting older, fewer in numbers, and there aren’t as many “new” producers entering the industry. While these facts may sound gloomy and disheartening, let’s look closer at some of the information and, more importantly, how young producers like myself can contribute to their family’s operations.

When looking at the farm facts below one wonders, what does this mean for you and your family operation? How does a young producer get involved? What can or should you do to improve upon the legacy of the family farm or ranch?

As a young producer, I have pondered these questions myself. Our family operation in Whitesboro, Texas, is the stereotypical small family farm as defined by the agriculture census. My great-great-grandfather homesteaded there more than 100 years ago. Since then, my family has raised everything from cotton and corn to peanuts and cattle. My grandparents both had jobs off the farm, as did my parents, as do I. While I’d like to think the farm has always been profitable, I know that is not the case; without outside income, our operation would not have survived. I’d like to reflect on my experiences as a young producer and share some observations that could hopefully aid and encourage other upstart farmers, ranchers and land managers.

Be willing to assume risk.

Risk can come in a variety of forms: financial, occupational or reputational. Any time you put skin in the game, you’re going to become more invested in the success and well-being of the operation. Be motivated and push the needle to accomplish your goal(s).

Speak up, but know when to shut up.

Proposing new ideas can be seen as challenging the status quo but, in reality, without the injection of new ideas, an operation can become stagnant and possibly miss out on an opportunity to become more efficient and/or productive. It can be something as small as how and what we feed cattle to exploring new marketing opportunities for our crop, such as direct marketing to consumers. However, you can learn a lot from listening. Seek out those who have been in the business, who have had success and failure, and learn from their experiences. That kind of education is free and real-world tested.

Ask questions. 

This goes hand-in-hand with my previous point. Sometimes being the silent observer is fine, but do not be timid about asking why things are done the way they are. Try to gain some perspective and history before you offer input or thought into why or how an operation could be doing something differently.

Get your hands dirty.

I’m very proud of the degrees on the wall of my office, but I’m equally proud of the experiences and lessons learned from others I have encountered and worked with in the field. I am convinced that formal education empowers a person to continue to learn after they graduate and enter the professional world. Who better to learn from than those already actively engaged and doing the work?

Seemingly small things can yield major rewards.

Change can be as drastic or subtle as you make it. As a small operator, my goal for our farm is to be as efficient as possible with our finances, natural resources and livestock. This past winter, my dad and I decided to change how we feed hay. Historically, we’d put hay rings around a round bale, knowing we were wasting a significant portion of the bale (and money). My exposure to current research and different management techniques proved that we could do better with little-to-no additional effort required. Once we began rolling the bales out instead of simply setting them down with a hay ring, we noticed a greater portion of the hay was consumed and less was wasted. This decreased how many bales we needed to purchase to feed through the winter. That money we saved from not buying hay could be reinvested in our pastures through fertilizer this spring. Small improvements stack up quick and can quickly change the landscape and character of an operation.

Lead change and become involved.

American agriculture has overcome many challenges and obstacles in the past, but I feel our greatest contest is yet to come. With increasing regulation, more competitive global markets, and a general population who continues
to grow removed from and distrust modern agriculture, we as an industry must ensure our livelihood and rural heritage endure. It is easy to sit back and say, “Well, I can’t do anything about it. I’m a little guy.” National and state
organizations are the collective voice of our industry. It is imperative to not only become a member but also be actively engaged in that organization, and promote its creed and mission.

Be able to admit when you need help.

Know your limits and when you need assistance. It is OK to admit you do not know something or your abilities aren’t as advanced as those around you. More importantly, be the helping hand when you are called upon by others.

Working with family is where memories are made and life lessons learned.

Some of my fondest memories growing up involve riding on the tractor and in the wagons during peanut harvest. I’ll never forget the smell and sounds of harvest as a young boy (and the stomachache from eating too many fresh peanuts). My working relationship with my grandfather and dad has changed since then from shotgun rider to partner, and for that I am truly blessed and grateful. Now that I have a family of my own, I take every opportunity I have to take my daughters with me to check cattle, get on the tractor, fix fence, etc. The time spent together is irreplaceable; I know that because my mentors and role models took the time to take me along on similar chores. Take time to give back to younger generations; they will be the caretakers of the future we are all working to make a reality.

The future of agriculture in our great country is bright and full of opportunity for those willing to grasp it. As young farmers and ranchers, we are blessed with tools, technologies, techniques and information our predecessors could only dream about. Though we face challenges that previous generations did not, we are still in contest with some all too familiar ones. I am encouraged by the fact that so many still commit themselves to feeding and clothing their fellow man. It is a noble effort that is forgotten by so many.

Source: The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

 

 

Going the Extra Mile By Caitlin Griffin

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It’s that time of year to make sure your herd is up to par. Have you been checking on the productivity of your herd this year? Make sure your herd is up to date on vaccinations, provided with the proper minerals, good nutrition and parasite control. All four of these management practices go hand in hand to impact the productivity of the herd.

Developing the appropriate vaccination schedule for a herd is what prevents disease and is a must for any beef operation. Base the vaccinations on what type of herd you are managing and the region in which you are located. Diseases can be transmitted from wildlife, insects or simply from the environment itself. Even if you diligently vaccinate cattle, they may still get sick if they are below their nutrient requirements or have a mineral deficiency.

Trace mineral deficiencies can be corrected by using supplements (added to salt mixes) or given to each animal orally or by injection. Mineral concentrations can be used as a guide when choosing a mineral supplement to complement a particular feed ingredient. The most important points to consider when purchasing minerals are the calcium to phosphorus levels, salt level, bioavailability, level of “trace minerals” in the supplement, and additives. Mineral feeder placement is a very important part of supplying minerals to the cowherd. Make sure to use an adequate number of feeders for the stocking rate. A rule of thumb is to provide one mineral feeding station for every 30 to 50 cows. A great area to place mineral feeders are near water and near the best grazing areas.

Nutrition plays a big role in herd management. A balanced and adequate diet that fits each class of animal is essential. Whether we’re talking about young calves, lactating cows, bulls or yearlings, they each need a specific and sufficient diet to be able to perform and excel in production. Poor nutrition is a huge cause of diseases such as scours, respiratory illnesses, and foot rot, along with infertility in adults and slow growth in young animals. Pregnant cows with inadequate protein levels don’t produce enough colostrum for their newborn calves, which makes those babies more prone to disease during their first weeks of life. Separating heifers from older cows for winter feeding time is ideal because they are still growing and need a higher level of protein. Protein helps optimum health, growth, breeding, or to produce adequate colostrum if they’re pregnant with their first calves.

Always provide adequate sources of clean water because dirty water can spread disease. If cattle are short on water, they suffer from dehydration or impaction, and steers may develop urinary stones if they don’t drink enough during cold weather, causing their urine to become too concentrated. Parasite control can be overlooked because the herd may look healthy but parasites could be taking away nutrients. Parasites result in lower weaning weights in calves, less milk production, less efficient immune system, and lower reproduction rates. External parasite prevention can be maintained by using insecticide application or insecticide ear tags. Internal parasites can be prevented by vaccination. Also keep in mind that cattle that are spread out in a large area together are less prone to get internal parasites compared to cattle that are held in small areas. A healthy herd is a prosperous herd. These four essential management strategies play a huge role in maintaining that prosperous herd. So the main question is, are you making sure your herd is up to par?

Preparing for the Future with Today’s Growth and Change By Scott Starr

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As the summer activities progress, there always seems to be many tasks that need to be completed before time can move on. By the time this publication reaches mailboxes, I will be finishing up calving and working on breeding decisions for the next calf crop. Many operations are past this point and are starting to see the fruits of the past year in calf performance. Breeding decisions are, in my opinion, the most important single act any one of us can make. As we are moving forward, the world’s best live animal protein source deals with the enormous handicap of a one-year interval for genetic advancement. The pork and poultry industry are much, much faster and I guess that’s God’s way of keeping it fair by giving the lesser products faster intervals. The time constraints of beef production prove the tremendous ability of beef producers to keep ahead. The poultry industry can change genetics 5.7 times in one year; just think what we could do with beef cows if we had those capabilities. It also means we cannot make mistakes and I believe this really sums up the Gelbvieh and Balancer® breeders! As time rolls on you will see that chasing fads or single trait selection did not, and will not pay off for other breeds.

During our most recent face-to-face board meeting, a lot of time was spent on trying to read into that crystal ball for the future and stay true to our strategic plan. We want to make sure the success of our breed is moving along at the proper pace. It is more evident now than ever that we cannot make mistakes and must work hard to propel our breed and breeders forward. One of the programs that have been in the planning stages and came out of the board meeting with a specific direction is the AGA Expanded Services program. I encourage all AGA members to investigate these services and see if they can help your current program. Another program, which will be released later this year, allocates incentives to breeders that turn in highly relevant data. It will be beneficial to keeping the AGA database ahead of other databases. These incentives will be applied to feed intake data, DNA, and carcass testing.

Matt Spangler, Ph.D., with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Animal Science Department also came during the board meeting as a guest speaker tasked with explaining the AGA’s EPDs and how DNA is incorporated to produce the genomic-enhanced EPDs that the association’s breeders and customers see in print. Dr. Spangler’s session was tremendously enlightening and will help guide the AGA down the road. Dr. Spangler also further explained BOLT, which is the new software that AGA and the other International Genetic Solution (IGS) partners will use to conduct the National Cattle Evaluation. In short, the capability for real-time data updates is the major take-home message regarding a very intricate system. With BOLT, as soon as breeders input weights, EPDs will be generated.
While all of this is important for the board to know, the most interesting and thought-provoking portion of Dr. Spangler’s talk was about databases and the things that are required to sit in the cattle industry’s driver’s seat in the future. He simply explained that whoever has the most commercial data and how that breed can influence this data will be the leader of all databases. With that said, our Smart Select Service program is perfect to help the AGA be the best database in the industry! I personally want to ask all of us as AGA members to get as many of our commercial customers enrolled as they possibly can! Do whatever means necessary to get the cows in our database, e.g., offer to pay the first year. Once they can see the value of the data, I believe they will stay enrolled.

Speaking of our future, considerable time is spent at each board meeting with members of our American Gelbvieh Junior Association Board of Directors. We all see our juniors as the next generation of AGA members and want to help develop them into outstanding leaders of our breed as well as the beef industry. We have a tremendous set of forward-thinking and talented juniors. I hope all can attend the Jr. Nationals in Grand Island, Nebraska to show your support for the organization. This group has stepped up like no other in the past, so please show your support when you can, either at their national show or another event throughout the year.

The Summit is coming in August and is a tremendous leadership and beef industry-training seminar for our AGJA members and other youth interested in the beef industry.

Hope you all have an enjoyable summer. I will leave you with a couple of quotes. First, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” And secondly, “You are under no obligation to be the same person you were a year, a month, or even 15 minutes ago. You have the right to grow. No apologies.” Let’s grow the AGA!

Is Your Cowherd Efficient? by Andy LeDoux

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In today’s beef industry, there are many buzzwords: local, organic, and sustainable. These words are often used to compound what I like to call the drama effect, and this most often causes an emotional response. In this day and age, it seems most of us are too comfortable doing business as usual — like my dad, and his dad did things. Like most new technology in the beef industry, it seems that the first responders normally reap the benefits. The discussion on feed efficient cattle is still relatively new, but again, the first seedstock producers that acknowledged the need
are getting to set the standards within the industry and reap the rewards. One segment of efficiency that is almost non-existent today is efficiency within the cowherd. The main reason for this is the inability to gather data on grazing herds in different geographical regions across the country.

Efficiency in a cowherd could possibly be the kingpin within future beef production. To me, the word efficiency is synonymous with profitability. So, with regional requirements and locations being held neutral, profitability now takes center stage. Profitability on the ranch is determined primarily by two factors: 1. Pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed 2. Control of production costs, e.g., feed costs

Increasing costs associated with feeding supplements to the cowherd may lead to greater distinctions between economic and biologic efficiency. A proven and simple way to enhance biologic efficiency is to readily adopt heterosis into your cowherd. Heterosis is responsible for the largest improvements in lowly heritable traits. Balancer® cattle have been shown to be an efficient method to improve reproductive efficiency in commercial cowherds regardless of the region. All research points that the most cost effective way to improve efficiency in the cowherd is to select for the appropriate biologic type that fits your environment or region. With that said, they should also be crossbred or Balancer-based for the added benefits of maternal heterosis as well.

In other words, seedstock producers that are committed to improving their cowherd efficiency as well as their commercial customers better start simple. First and foremost, you should select a seedstock supplier that has a verified feed efficiency program intact. Educate yourselves on what selection indexes they place an emphasis and if this particular suppliers’ cattle will acclimate to your environment or region. The sooner you start to pay attention to the efficiency of your bull battery, the quicker your cowherd will follow suit. Reproductive success is just as important; the cowherd must breed and produce a highly marketable calf crop.

Utilizing body condition scores (BCS) is one of the easiest ways to get a feel for the productivity and fleshing ability of a grazing cowherd. This approach helps readily determine if your regional forage availability is meeting nutritional requirements demanded by the high reproductive levels desired on the ranch.

There are two very different mindsets on how to best achieve success when it comes to BCS and high levels of reproduction. First, is to feed the cowherd into a certain stage of somewhat forced production. I will let that thought sink in for a while, and you tell me if we all could be guilty of this one. Secondly, push our operations to find common ground with our individual environments or regions and see what they will support regarding biologic type or genotype.

So again I will ask, is your cowherd efficient? Be prepared and do your research concerning efficiency because it will ultimately affect your profitability. I know at the end of the day I will be in the second group and have a cowherd that can thrive in my environment and work for me, but also exceed the expectations in efficiency of any kind.

I found two articles to be helpful when researching the topic: proceedings from the Range Beef Cow Symposium titled “Feed Efficiency-How should it be used for the Cow Herd?” and “Using Genetics to Get More Efficient,” by Bob Weaber, Ph.D., cow-calf extension specialist with Kansas State University. With a little more digging, I’m sure you could find a couple more articles discussing the importance of cowherd efficiency for the future of the beef industry.

Unforgettable Experience by Aubree Beenken

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For many of our families the summer is filled with baling hay, fixing fence, going to cattle shows, and a hundred other tasks that need to be done on the farm. While most days become very long and tiring, it is always exciting getting ready for another show. Of all the shows that are
attended during the summer months Gelbvieh Junior Classic is the best.

Junior Classics are not just “another” cattle show, it’s a reunion of friends and family, a time to test your true knowledge of the industry, exhibit the cattle you have spent months working with all while creating memories that will stay with you forever.

Preparing for junior nationals seems like an endless process between time spent in the barn getting cattle ready, loading everything in the trailer, capturing the perfect photo, and studying for quiz bowl it feels like you may never be fully prepared. You start getting cattle ready months before junior classic actually arrives and you begin contest preparation as soon as school ends for the summer. The moment you pull out of the driveway, hoping you remembered everything, you are filled with a mixture of anticipation to see friends and anxiousness for how the events of the week will play out.

It was exciting watching all the families pull into Stillwater and begin to unload their trailers, knowing that we had a week packed with fun contest and events for all the juniors. While the first day was spent settling in and catching up with friends, Monday kicked of early with sales talk contest in the morning and quiz bowl in the afternoon.

As the contest were underway it was encouraging to see the older members help the younger members whether it was with words of advice, a pep talk before going into a contest, or a helping hand with fitting an animal. While every junior will remember their junior classic experience a little differently, they will never forget the time someone took out of their day to help them. The week of junior nationals is not just about showing cattle; it’s about gaining life-long skills and learning to appreciate hard work.

Junior classic gives juniors unique opportunities. Junior classic empowers juniors to go beyond their comfort zone and test their skills. The friendly and encouraging environment created by the parents, junior board, and other peers makes it easier for juniors to try something new and more challenging. In one week spent at junior nationals we can give juniors the knowledge, skill-set, and inspiration to become emerging leaders within the Gelbvieh breed.

No other week in the year can compare to the unforgettable week spent at junior nationals. It’s a week surrounded with juniors that have the same passion and love for the Gelbvieh breed, and the drive to work with others to improve and grow the breed. By the end of the week exhaustion starts to set in, but no matter whom you speak with they don’t want the week to end. The Oklahoma and Kansas Gelbvieh Associations did a phenomenal job of hosting the Dirt Road Classic and making it a week that will never be forgotten. Thank you to everyone that helped put on a successful junior classic event!