A Publication of:

OSU Extension - Fairfield County

831 College Ave., Suite D, Lancaster, OH 43130

and the

OSU Extension BEEF Team

BEEF Cattle questions may be directed to the OSU Extension BEEF Team through Stephen Boyles or Stan Smith, Editor

You may subscribe to the weekly Ohio BEEF Cattle letter by sending an e-mail to smith.263@osu.edu

Previous issues of the BEEF Cattle letter

Issue # 626

March 4, 2009

Back on September 10, issue # 603, of this publication, University of Maryland Forage Specialist Emeritus Les Vough discussed the importance of cutting height as it relates to the loss or retention of orchardgrass hay stands. Along the same lines, forever during Ohio grazing schools and forage management sessions, grazing and cutting height or residual growth has been a focus as we look at ways to optimize forage regrowth.

To further "graphically" support the importance of leaving appropriate residual growth in order to optimize total forage productivity, last week during a "net meeting" the Cool Season Grass Initiative shared a video and power point presentation by Dr. Ray Smith, State Forage Agronomist from the University of Kentucky.

What you will observe if you look at either the POWER POINT or the VIDEO is the regrowth rate on orchardgrass after it has been grazed either to 3 ½ " or 1" over a 5 day time period. Many of you might recall hearing the statement credited to Dr. Jim Gerrish that, "the way that a pasture looks after the animals have been removed (from the pasture) is more important than what it looks like when you turn the animals in (to the pasture)." Certainly, both links above offer graphic support of this thought provoking concept. Not only does adequate residual offer faster regrowth, but the deeper root penetration it supports allows for better drought tolerance later in the growing season. This is not exclusive to orchardgrass, but includes all the cool season forages we commonly grow in the midwest.

If your internet service does not allow you to view either the video or the power point, the next time you are in your local Extension office, ask them to pull it down and share it with you . . . it's worth the effort to see!

Three Numbers To Think About - Kris Ringwall, Beef Specialist, North Dakota State Ag Extension

Calving time is imminent. This is easy to see as the cows settle into the final weeks of gestation.

Cows are a bit slower to get up. Their movement is not as decisive and the placement of feet is more careful.

There is a noticeable decrease in the willingness to jockey for the pecking order. A certain contentment descends upon the herd prior to calving.

The cows are not stomping at the gate or pushing on the fences. The cows just lie around, chew their cuds and watch the sun rise and set - except those cows that still seem headed to the gym.

These "gym" cows are moving up the pecking order, grabbing the choice morsel of hay or protein cube. These cows show no evidence of a bulky middle and all their joints are well-intact and secure. These are the nonpregnant, freeloading critters.

These open cows are one of three major data points that make the difference for successful beef cattle operators. Aborted cows and dead calves are the other profit thieves.

Successful managers extrapolate information into meaningful data. Today's successful beef operators evaluate their records against benchmarks.

In the North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Association's CHAPS program, benchmarks are the barometers. Let's begin by reviewing the percentage of cows exposed to the bulls that actually wean a calf.

Within CHAPS, 90.8 percent of the cows wean a calf, leaving a freeloader rate of less than 10 percent. The data shows that 6.5 percent of the exposed cows were diagnosed as open or failed to calf in the spring, 0.73 percent of the cows were pregnancy checked and failed to calf (estimated abortion rate) and 3.03 percent gave birth to a calf that died sometime between birth and weaning.

These numbers affect the profit center immensely. If the typical weaning weight is 560 pounds, a producer with 100 cows fails to haul out 5,600 pounds of calf in the fall. This is assuming a 90 percent weaned calf rate (rounding 90.8 percent down to whole calves).

The calves simply are not present. Regardless of how one values the calves, the potential income from 5,600 pounds is no small change.

In business, the loss (dollars) needs to be made up. All those cows that do not raise a calf still generate bills that need to be paid.

There is another thought. If the typical 100-cow herd is weaning 500 pounds of calf per cow exposed, 50,000 pounds of calf is weaned.

Ideally, every cow exposed would wean a calf. If every cow weaned a calf and those calves averaged the typical 560 pounds, then the potential total pounds weaned would be 56,000 pounds.

Of the missing 6,000 pounds of calf, more than 93 percent of the missing weight is due to open or aborted cows and dead calves. Improving these numbers should be the goal of every beef operator.

Several things cause open cows. There is enough research to suggest that nutritional failings would be high on the list. Right now, cattle that are underfed or fed improperly are busy subtracting from the bottom line or profit within a beef operation.

Likewise, those cattle that are not vaccinated for common diseases also are busy subtracting from the bottom line or profit. Prevention of future income losses start today.

Total herd performance is planned and executed months in advance. Those weak, poorly nourished calves with weak immune systems and cows that are slow to cycle are produced and do not occur by accident.

Proper management means precalving preparation. Precalving preparation actually starts prior to breeding by using effective vaccination programs and good nutrition.

So, look those cows over well. Start thinking about calving, as well as next year's breeding program.

Bull Selection 101 - John L. Evans, Ph.D., Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist, Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University

For many cattle producers, this is a time of year when important decisions are made regarding the cow herd. Many producers begin to receive sale catalogs, view sale publications, and may be receiving calls from previous bull suppliers. It is important for producers to make sound judgments about their herd sires. A poor bull buying decision might leave a producer with a product they don't need or don't want in their herd. On the other hand, a good bull buying decision will increase the producer's chances of having a more profitable calf crop.

Why is bull selection important? Sire selection, on average, has a greater impact on the genetic improvement of a herd than most producers realize. Because the sire is more likely to produce a higher number of calves in his lifetime compared to a cow, a sire has the potential to contribute a larger portion of the genes to the herd. Because of the large genetic contribution a sire makes to a herd of animals, it is important to manage the risk associated with the purchase of a new bull. Fortunately, the level of risk associated with the selection of a new bull is manageable using well planned breeding programs and high quality information.

Setting Herd Goals: A good breeding plan is very useful when establishing both short and long-term herd goals. Many times, we fail to spend adequate time defining our selection priorities. Most successful cattle managers have a written plan and a list of both short and long term goals for their cow herds. Their goals are well defined, achievable, and revised on an annual basis.

Where do you start? The answer to this question is not straightforward because of the diversity within the cattle industry. Therefore, a producer should assess their current position in the industry and ask themselves several questions:

What type of cattle do I produce?

What industry segment(s) do I belong to (cow-calf, stocker, feeder, seedstock)?

What impact do my cattle have on different industry segment(s)?

The next logical step is to determine the current status of the herd for performance and profitability. It is difficult to make improvements in a herd's performance and profitability when the present status is unknown. It is necessary to evaluate current performance records, herd averages, costs of production, and sources of revenue. Having an established starting position makes it easier to develop goals for genetic improvement.

Many cattle producers are able to determine their herd's performance level because they record information on the performance of their cow herd. For example, a producer might record birth weights, weaning weights, and yearling weights. Unfortunately, the average cattle producer does not maintain the same level of information for the financial status of their operation. For some producers, it is difficult for them to quote their current average cost per cow. If costs and revenue are well known, the task of determining the economic importance of traits is easier.

Customers: How often do you think about the goals of your customer? Do you know who your customer is? If you take the time to study most successful businesses, a majority of them have a customer evaluation system to determine customer satisfaction. This same principle must apply to the cattle industry and our herd goals must be synchronized with the goals of our clients. Understanding the needs of our customers is a necessary step to deciding which bull is best and an important start to understanding the needs of your customers.

Selection: What traits should I emphasize in my bull selection? This is a common question and there is not a simple answer. A large number of predictions for traits are available for most beef cattle breeds. Using this information and other types of information, cattle producers can select the best animals to match their production and marketing environments. Trait categories can be grouped into the following categories: growth and production, maternal traits, carcass traits, reproductive traits, survivability and adaptability traits, and convenience traits. It is important to determine the traits of economic importance. A producer should the question, "Do the trait(s) we have in our selection criteria contribute to reducing costs of production or increasing revenue?" Are the traits we select for in our herd important to the success and profitability of our customer(s)?

Ideally, the traits of economic importance include those that increase profitability. For example, one producer may have a limited amount of labor during calving; therefore, calving ease would most likely be on the list of economically important traits. Another cattle producer might market his cattle through a retained ownership program, and premiums or discounts are awarded for carcass quality. This producer would place a larger emphasis on carcass traits. These examples do not promote selection emphasis on one trait or trait category. Important trait categories, such as reproduction, should not be overlooked. Previous research has shown that in a cow calf operation, where calves are sold at weaning, reproduction has greater economic impact over growth and carcass traits. According to Roy Berg, "a dead calf has a very poor growth rate" and "a dead calf also has very poor carcass performance".

Bull Buying: The late Robert Taylor at Colorado State University often stated that the best approach to buying the right bull was to develop a Want Ad. In their Want Ad, the producer would identify the desirable characteristics of both the cattle and supplier. Purchasing a bull can be similar to buying a car. For cattle producers to get the best deal available, they need to research and study all available information about the cattle before going to the sale. A buyer needs to ask what features are mandatory for my bull and what options do I want in the bull? Some options might include high growth rate and easy calving. Additionally, the producer should ask how much they are willing to pay for the different options above the basic model price.

Selection tools available to cattle producers to assist with selection decisions include, but are not limited to, pedigrees, EPDs, ratios, carcass data, financial records, indexes, and many others. Having a large amount of information is a benefit; however, the volume of information can be overwhelming. If a cattle producer devotes the needed time to analyze many of the previously mentioned items, including their financial records, the economically important traits should start to surface.

Currently, Expected Progeny Differences (EPD) are the highest accuracy selection tool available and a superior prediction of performance compared to an animal's actual trait observation. Expected progeny differences account for differences in herd management and feed environment, genetic differences between herds, the genetic merit of parents, and culling for poor performance. Unfortunately, EPD cannot account for incomplete reporting, inaccurate reporting of data, incomplete pedigrees, and inaccurate assignment of animals to contemporary groups. Therefore, it is very important for producers to correctly and accurately report all information on their cattle.

What is an EPD? According to Rick Bourdon, formerly with Colorado State University, an EPD is a prediction of the difference between the average performance of future progeny of an individual and the performance of theoretical reference animals with an EPD of zero. Using birth weight EPD as an example, imagine there are two sires being mated to the exact same cow herd. Sire A has an EPD of 0 and sire B has an EPD of +4. On average, sire B is expected to produce calves 4 pounds heavier at birth than calves from sire A. Simply, an EPD is a prediction of progeny performance.

What is accuracy? Many sire summary catalogs will list accuracy values next to the corresponding list of EPDs. Accuracy is a measure of the amount and type of information used to calculate an EPD. It determines the reliability of the EPD and provides you with a way to determine the level of information going into the each individual's genetic prediction. For example, an individual with an accuracy of 0.10 might just have pedigree information contributing to its EPD; however, an accuracy value of 0.99 has thousands of observations contributing to its EPD.

How should a person categorize accuracy? One way to evaluate accuracy values is to group accuracy levels into low, moderate, and high categories. The low range for accuracy might range from 0 to .40, the moderate range from .40 to .80, and the high range from .80 to 1.0. On the low end, the EPD are much better than just guessing and probably include information on the animal, its parents, and maybe some brothers or sisters. The moderate accuracy values are still considered risky but they are useful for making selection decisions. The high accuracy genetic predictions are very reliable and useful in making comparisons. Often yearling bulls are criticized for having low accuracy EPD, but this is only because they haven't had a large amount of data collected toward their EPD. If given the choice between the EPD and the actual observation to make a selection decision for a trait, the most reliable decision will be with the EPD.

As good beef cattle managers, take the time to admire your successes and critically evaluate your mistakes. It is important to maintain quality financial and performance records. Always be critical of the performance and profitability of your cattle in their production environment. Keep profit in mind when making selection decisions and ask yourself if you can raise better cattle at a lower cost and higher profit.

Weekly Roberts Agricultural Commodity Market Report - Mike Roberts, Commodity Marketing Agent, Virginia Tech

LIVE CATTLE futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) finished down Monday on sell stops, Wall Street troubles, and chart signals. The APR'09LC contract closed at $83.950/cwt; down $1.975cwt. The AUG'09LC contract was down $1.275/cwt at $82.950/cwt. Declines in outside markets and the other commodities were just too heavy on the market. The commodity markets are not immune to what's happening in the stock market. Higher cash cattle last week and on Monday were not enough to lift futures. Fund and speculative selling accelerated as futures declined on weak money flows into fund's pockets. The Dow Jones industrial average fell below 7000 for the first time since 1997. The USDA 5- area average was placed at $81.455/cwt as cash cattle were $0.50/cwt - $1.00/cwt higher. USDA on Monday put Choice Boxed beef at $132.21/cwt, down $0.44./cwt. According to HedgersEdge the average packer margin was placed at a negative $22.10/head based on the average buy of $79.75/cwt vs. the average breakeven of $78.06/cwt. It would be a good idea to hold off pricing short term corn needs at this time. If the economy continues to weaken opportunities to price feed will be better in a week or two. Cattle fundamentals are in place to hold at least current levels for a bit.

FEEDER CATTLE at the CME closed off on Monday. MAR'09FC futures were off $1.150/cwt to $91.450/cwt. The APR'09FC contract closed at $92.350/cwt; down $1.525/cwt. Feeders followed live cattle lower in light trading with all the bearish outside influences being major players. Normally bullish lower corn futures couldn't help feeders finish in the positive column. Cash cattle in Oklahoma were off $4-$8/cwt on fears of a very shaky economy. Some profit taking was noted on chart based selling. The premium to the CME Feeder Cattle index and spreading of May into March were also contributors to the pullback in feeders. If you can afford to wait for a week or two to price corn you are in good shape.

Visit the OSU Beef Team calendar of meetings and upcoming events

BEEF Cattle is a weekly publication of Ohio State University Extension in Fairfield County and the OSU Beef Team. Contributors include members of the Beef Team and other beef cattle specialists and economists from across the U.S.

All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension. TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868

Fairfield County Agriculture and Natural Resources