I’m sure that everyone is enjoying the spring weather! Especially since most places had more winter than normal. Spring has brought many positive things to the cattle industry. Cattle prices are higher then they have been for a couple of years due to a decreased supply of beef in the US. Corn planting is ahead of schedule so far this spring and looks to continue that way and many people are about ready to start on their bean crop. These crop reports will hopefully keep feedstuff costs from increasing, allowing for more profit margin for the cattle industry.

Spring bull and female sales have been very good. Chi cattle have demanded top prices across the country. There is a lot of positive energy for Chi producers to thrive off of.

The ACA board of directors met the second weekend in April and was very progressive in making some changes to better the ACA. They took action regarding membership status and registration fees that will be discussed in this journal to explain the actions to the membership. I want to touch on one of the issues; this issue isn’t a new action, just a name change. The board currently voted to change the name of Terminal Registrations to Performance Registrations to make it a more “user friendly” program. Performance Registrations are basically a way for members to report their data to the association and keep track of all of their calves.

Performance Registrations are $5 per animal submitted. This animal can later be upgraded to a full registration when the member decides that the animal needs a full registration. The member will be charged the registration fee for the age of the animal at the time it is upgraded minus the $5 that was initially paid for the Performance Registration.

An animal has to be fully registered if you are going to register a calf out of them or if the animal needs to be transferred to another member.

Registration certificates are only issued on animals that are fully registered animals.

Performance Registrations are a great building block for members to start from. Members can go through and send in birth and weaning data on every animal that is born in their herd right after all of the weaning data is collected. This information is then in one place and makes it easier on everyone involved.

Members can then submit yearling data on the cattle that yearling data is collected from. Once all of the data is collected and members decide which bulls and/or females are going to be marketed and kept for in herd use, members can then upgrade the registrations on these animals.

Performance registrations are a great way to get data into the database and not have to go back to search for data at a later date if an animal is overlooked. This system allows the producer to have data on all their animals in the system and in one place.

There are many advantages to submitting data on all of a members animals. By submitting data on every animal it helps to prove EPDs and increase the accuracy of EPDs within the breed and on a members animals in their own herd. Also by collecting and submitting data on every animal, a producer knows where an animal stand within their herd and can figure out what is the best option for that animal in their program.

Table 1 (adapted from Dr. Bob Weaber) exhibits the benefits of reporting all of your animals versus just what you think are your best animals. By just reporting your best animals it makes some of your best animals look like some of your less than average animals and they aren’t really that way. By turning in information on every animal born on your farm it helps you, the ACA and everyone involved. It can help improve your performance information and the accuracies of your EPDs.

Beef Derby Update
The beef derby steers look really great. The feed lot had a really mild winter and this was beneficial to the cattle on feed. The beef derby steers will be harvested over the next few weeks. We should have results in the next issue of the journal.

Travels
Places I have been since the last issue:
Decatur County Feedyard, KS
Kentucky Beef Expo, KY
Buck Cattle Company Sale, OK
Lazy SB Sale, TX
Schrick Cattle Company Sale, TX
Clarahan Farms, IA
Bremer Show Cattle, IA
Stream Cattle Company, IA

Places I am headed soon:
Meat Animal Research Center, NE
Bull Test Facilities in MO and KS.

I will also be doing some spring farm visits, so if you think
I might be in your area and want me to stop by, just give me a
call and let me know.

Bull Test Opportunities:
If anyone is interested in placing bulls in a bull test this fall, please contact Ed at (816) 431-2808 or acamarketing@earthlink.net.

A Guide to Contemporary Grouping

1. Use group codes on registration application or performance data submission forms to assign calves to contemporary groups.
2. Use the group codes to put a sick or injured calf into a single animal contemporary group if the illness or injury affected the calf’s performance.
   
3. Take weaning weights and measurements on all calves on the same day (when a majority of the calves are between 160 and 250 days of age), including as many calves in each contemporary group as legitimately possible.
4. Weigh all animals in a group before separating them, especially before separating show calves or bulls for a test station.
5. If the age spread of calves in greater than 90 days, choose two or more weigh dates, using as few as possible.
6. Have progeny from two or more sires in each contemporary group.
7. When calves are within an appropriate age range for each trait, record yearling weight, height, scrotal circumference, pelvic area, and ultrasound measurements on the same day.
8. If carcass data are to be collected on cull bulls, heifers or steers, report weaning weights on all animals. These data allows selection of replacement females and bulls to be accounted for in genetic evaluations and help prevent bias in the predictions.
9. Do not weigh each calf individually as it reaches 205 days of age but rather weigh each calf in a group individually when calves average approximately 205 days of age.
10. Do not include calves receiving special treatment (show, bull test, sale) in the same group with those that did not receive an equal opportunity to perform.