AZO-lancastw Farming, Saturday, May 16, 1992
Serious
(Continued from Page A 1)
100-cow breeding operation,
keeps careful performance and
EPD records on the animals he
sells.
Now, it’s up to the smaller Pen
nsylvania breed operations to more
closely examine and put to use
what breeders in other states have
come to know why EPDs can
save money and prove profitable to
beef enterprises.
Makes a difference
“It’s a matter of awareness,”
said Anderson. “People just think
they need a bull, that’s all, it
doesn’t make any difference what
he is. But it makes quite a
difference.”
Although about 60 percent of
Anderson’s business is in Pennsyl
vania commercial herds, a hefty 40
percent (20 percent purebred and
20 percent commercial) of the
breeders are in other states.
And that’s what Pennsylvania
breeding operations must under
stand, according to John Comer
ford, Penn State beef specialist. To
remain competitive and to take the
business seriously, Pennsylvania
breeders must come up to par.
Recently, Penn State began an
on-site demonstration project
involving two donated bulls to
commercial herds in southwestern
Pennsylvania. Comerford said the
demonstration project is intended
to compare bulls of known genetic
potential through EPDs and per
formance records with bulls of
unknown genetic ability in the
same herd. Two ordinary bulls
have been placed on seperate
herds. The resulting data in their
offspring will be studied to deter
mine what the actual value of the
two donated bulls are in the herds.
Can be profitable
“What we’re trying to do with
this whole bull selection program
is to convince (breeders) that it can
be a profitable enterprise. Buying
Here, Anderson pours liquid nitrogen into a shipping
container for embryos. About 20 embryos were on their way
to Ohio recently. Sometime next year, Anderson will con
duct a sale of about 75-80 cows, perhaps with the help of the
Virginia Angus Association, in Culpepper, Va.
Beef Breeders Take EPDs To Heart
bulls is like buying seed com
the initial expense must be com
pared to potential production and
profitability,” said Comerford.
“We can tell a beef animal is a bull
by just looking at him, but we
don’t know if he is a potential herd
sire unless we have the records to
prove it”
Many bull buyers balk at the
idea of spending $1,500 on a bull
but spread over the entire herd,
the more profitable genetic charac
teristics more than make up for the
cost.
Comerford said that a bull with
an EPD of +2O (compared to the
one at 0 EPD) would be 20 pounds
per calf, worth about $l6 today.
“That increased value will be cor
rect for each year he is used. The
total additional value of the bull in
a 30-cow herd would be almost
$2,000 if the bull is used for four
years,” he said.
Many Pennsylvania breeders
don’t realize this, and the on-site
project will provide the evidence
on the importance of learning
about and using EPDs.
Herd database
At Meadow Mist Farms, Ander
son keeps an Angus Herd
Improvement Records (AHIR)
database. As a veterinarian who
oversees more than 3,000 dairy
cows, Anderson also manages his
Angus cow/calf operation, keep
ing records on all progeny.
In the personal computer datab
ase, Anderson lists all detail
regarding his herd, including per
formance data (in addition to
registration number, birthdate,
etc.) and a chronological sequence
of data, from calf weight at birth,
205 days, one year, etc. (see the
chart listed with this story). Also,
records on EPDs are carefully
obtained and monitored. The data
can be sorted and printed out by
any number of parameters.
The most important element
about the database, according to
Anderson, is that it gives him
jrson,. .jow Mist Farms, manages a 100-cow breeding opera
tion and keeps careful performance and EPD records on the animals he sells. He sells
semen for about $l5 a straw, $3O for an Al certificate. Here, Anderson checks the
registration number on an embryo straw. Photo by Andy Andrews.
“something I cannot get anywhere Nothing to do with it But it looked
else,” he said. nice.”
“A person’s ability to judge the
value of a beef animal, up until 30
years ago, was soley on the basis of
a judge giving an animal a blue rib
bon at a show,’ ’ he said. “And that
means that animal looked good to
somebody for five minutes in one
show ring, and had absolutely
nothing, in the foggiest, to do with
the genetic value of that animal.
Name: MEADOW MIST PD 724-836
Tattoo ; 836
Appended tattoo
Registration number
Sex
Mult, birth indicator
Artificial insem.
Embryo transplant
Genetic defect #1
Genetic defect #2
Genetic defect #3
Genetic defect #4
Genetic defect #5
Genetic defect #6
Bloodtyped
Dam tattoo
Appended dam tattoo
Dam registration #
Dam birthdate
Sire tattoo
AppendedtSire tattoo
Sire registration #
1 if pathfinder
"Yearling**
Sex at yrlng
Ist yrlng weigh date
Ist yrlng weight
Ist yrlng height
Ist yrlng scrotal circ.
Ist yrlng age (days)
Ist yrlng adj. wt.
Ist yrlng adj. ht.
Ist yrlng ratio
Ist yrlng gain
“The EPD’s**
Birth wt. pert, value ; +6.1
Birth wt perf val accu : 0.34
Weaning wt perf value : +27.0
Weaning wt perf val aocu : 0.30
Maternal perf. value : +3.0
Maternal perf. val. accu ; 0.21
Yrlng wt. perf. value : +46.0
Yrlng wt perf val accu : 0.24
At Meadow Mist Farms, Anderson has designed a software program to help operate
his AHIR database. The software is unique to his farm. In the database, Anderson lists
all detail regarding his herd, Including performance data (in addition to registration
number, birthdate, etc.) and a chronological sequence of data, from calf weight at
birth, 205 days, one year, etc.
**l4o Day Test**
140 day test date : 0
140 day test wt. : 0
140 day test gain ratio : 0.00
140 day test avg dly gn : 0
Hard evidence
Performance and EPD data pro
vide the hard evidence for the per
formance of an animal.
Anderson said the dairy industry
also keeps a “composite index”
for herdstock, which includes, in
Anderson’s Angus cattle, “a low
birthweight.
: 11103315
: C
: Y
: M 724
: 10506756
: 01-13-1984
: 80
: 09894245
: 0
: 89
: 1048
: 53.0
: 426
: 959
: 51.5
; 1.06
: 196
“So with this program, we can
select on the basis of low birth
weight, maximum weaning
weight, maximum milk production
(in the HPDs on cows), and maxi
mum yearling weight,’’ he said.
“We can select on the basis of the
expected progeny differences, and
then also select on the basis of
actual performance within the
herd.”
Tag
Dam's tag
Sire’s tag
Embryo Recip's ragis. #
Weaning
Calving ease
Birth Code
Birth date
Birth weight
Adj. birth weight
Birth ratio
"Weaning"
Weaning weight date
Weaning weight
Weaning height
Weaning scrotal circum.
Cow weight
Weaning age (days)
Adj. weaning weight
Adj. weaning height
Weaning ratio
Weaning gain
"2nd Yearling"
2nd yrlng weigh date
2nd yiing weight
2nd yrlng height
2nd yring scrotal circ.
2nd yrlng age in days
2nd yrlng adj. wt.
2nd yrlng adj. ht.
2nd yrlng ratio
2nd yrlng gain
(Turn to Pag* A2l)
: 836
: 724
: 00000000
: 3
: 1
: 01-21-1988
: 100
: 106
: 1.16
: 88
: 570
: 45.0
: 182
: 645
; 46.0
: 1.00
; 2.58
: 0.0
: 0.0
: 0.00