Ask Jake Stokman what drives the operation at Stokman Angus Farm, and his answer is simple: “We’re trying to breed the perfect cow. We’ll get there one day…”
Author Archives: anguspro
Maximising Your Investment: Key Considerations for Bull Selection
Selecting the right bulls is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make for your herd’s future productivity and profitability. With the AngusPRO sales offering exceptional genetics, here are essentialContinue reading “Maximising Your Investment: Key Considerations for Bull Selection”
Making Sense of the Numbers: Using Angus Data with Confidence
For many producers, the work of making confident spring bull sale decisions begins well before sale day, with winter providing an important opportunity to review breeding objectives, assess herd directionContinue reading “Making Sense of the Numbers: Using Angus Data with Confidence”
Weekly genetics review: Avoiding common mistakes at this year’s bull sales
Although developing a breeding objective and selecting bulls that suit that objective has been a focus of industry advice for many years, there still appears to be a large gap between those who know what their objective is, and those who don’t.
Many people see breeding objectives as an academic exercise and are often reluctant to define their objective as a result. However, in not being clear in their objectives, they expose themselves more to mistakes that can have costly and long-term implications for their program.
AI program success starts eight weeks before insemination
As August begins, the spring bull-selling season is gathering momentum. Most breeding decisions will continue to involve new bulls and natural mating, but artificial insemination remains an established tool in many seedstock and some commercial programs.
Artificial insemination represents an investment not only in semen, but also in synchronisation treatments, labour and technical services. Choosing the genetics is therefore only one part of achieving a worthwhile result.
Weekly genetics review: Is longevity really the trait that drives herd productivity?
There has been significant research into beef production, and the results do not point to longevity as a standalone driver of productivity.
Breeding for Predictability at Hauiti Farm
On a 215-hectare (effective) Hawke’s Bay block in the North Island of New Zealand, a commercial beef producer is running his operation with the discipline of a stud. The results are making people sit up and take notice.
The C word we shouldn’t avoid
There’s an expression that all cattle breeders, both seedstock and commercial, should consider.
That is: “Great cattle don’t show up once. They show up every generation.” However, there is a caveat, in that this can only happen when producers are consistent across both their management and selection decisions.
Structural defects – what we can’t always pick up, by eyeball assessment
As the bull selling season progresses, physical appearance will form an important part of many producers’ selection decisions.
However the assessment of each bull will have started well before sale day. From weaning onwards, seedstock breeders make decisions about which bulls to retain, develop and ultimately offer for sale based partly on their physical appearance and structural soundness.
Managing mature cow size
Mature cow weight is a consistent theme of discussion among seedstock and commercial beef producers.
Several recent Beef Central genetics columns have looked at implications associated with mature size, ranging from concerns associated with increased feed demands and fertility implications through to impacts on profitability. The emphasis from these articles is that larger cows require more feed and infrastructure, and they may not yield proportional gains in productivity.