AngusPRO Education Module – 11 August

Yearling bull sales are just a month away now so we’d thought we’d get you up to date with everything you need to know. Keep an eye on your inbox over coming weeks as we feed through this information and ensure your bull buying decisions are educated ones.

Get to know what direction your bull breeder is going in, because if they are going nowhere, you will go nowhere with them…

Weekly genetics review: “Don’t send a hungry man to the supermarket without a shopping list”

The phrase, “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success,” is one of the most recognised quotes of Scottish inventor and scientist Alexander Graham Bell.

It is a phrase which can be used to guide any undertaking, and it is one that should be considered as producers across the country turn their focus to this year’s spring bull sales.

Structural Soundness

While many producers have successfully managed the structural soundness of their animals using different selection strategies, such as culling of animals with unacceptable structure, Claw Set, Foot Angle and Leg Angle EBVs provide a useful tool that breeders can use in association with existing management and culling strategies to further improve the foot and leg structure of their animals.

Viewpoint: Genomics prove worth in Cow Selection

It is often said that beef cows are the hardest working, least loved animal on any farm, and The Wandle is no exception. We have high expectations of them; that they wean one calf a year, eat an endless amount of rank feed and don’t melt under pressure. This is the reality of our breeding and finishing operation, where we have many priority mobs, and the cows more often than not play a supporting role. My husband Gus and I manage this 2550ha farm at Middlemarch, under the umbrella of the Lone Star Farms group. Across the three Lone Star properties that have breeding cattle, the company has been taking steps to improve the genetic merit of the Angus cow herds, with 240 head here at The Wandle.

Using TACE percentiles in animal selection

Angus bulls sold within New Zealand are registered in two different databases — Angus Australia and Angus NZ. The TACE percentiles in sale catalogues are only relevant to the population they are compared against, meaning you can compare one AngusPRO animal against another, but these percentiles can’t be compared across different breed societies i.e. animals registered with Angus NZ.