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Fall Newsletter 2014 Vol.16

Cattleman’s ChroniCleF l y i n g H g e n e t i c s

At the beef seedstock level, cooperative marketing is already beginning to take shape. A handful of new ventures that allow “like-minded” breeders to function as a large network or web of breeders full of interconnecting relation-ships and marketing opportunities are quickly developing. The macro or “big picture” benefits of these co-ops include all of the competitive advantages that come with the ability to leverage SIZE and SCOPE: greater control of highly valu-able genetics, enhanced ability to offer superior customer service, and the capacity to offer a variety of premium based products in large, consistent numbers.

Allied Genetic Resources, a cooperative based company designed and founded by tenured cattle industry profes-sional Marty Ropp, is a prime example of these new ven-tures. Allied represents a network of over 50 elite seedstock producers from coast to coast. This group of forward think-ing breeders produce and market over 5000 bulls selling annually across the U.S. It is the mission of Allied members and its founder to work with a coordinated efficiency to increase focus on extensive customer service options. These services will be essential to the success of the customers of “tomorrow”, such as offering quality in great volume, in-creasing profits through captured premiums, and adequate-ly servicing new, dynamic beef herd needs.

Some of you may think that there are seedstock suppli-ers already doing some of these things very successfully on their own. And, you would be right. Most of the produc-ers that belong to Allied currently service their custom-ers at the highest level. However, they are still serious advocates of creating additional market stability through a collaborative system. Collectively, they understand the changing landscape in the beef industry and know it is in their best interest to be part of a larger, symbiotic unit that can offer even greater service and benefits in years to come. The advantage in competition and long term stabil-ity that exists in this type of collective marketing group is very similar to a large corporation.

ong-term collaboration with multiple part- ners, a.k.a. cooperative marketing, has yet to gain a good foothold in the cow/calf sector of Beef Production Agricul-ture. In fact, it remains a bit taboo. Most producers have yet to see the benefits of implementing a business strategy utilizing size and cooperation to achieve premiums and efficiencies. At some point, a coopera-tive style of production and marketing will cease being an innovative strategy and be-come a prerequisite for survival.

Lto the Curb

Continued on page 6

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Step 1: Crossbreed

Breeding for ProfitA C A t t l e P r o d u C e r ’ s G u i d e

*based on information from iGs and AsA

Maximize profit through your breeding program by implementing a simple, yet effective, crossbreeding program.

Animal breeders and industry professionals have long understood that cross-breeding is the number one component affecting profitability in any breed-ing program. Hybrid vigor has a dramatic impact on cowherd traits (fertility, longevity and overall cowherd efficiency); i.e. traits having the greatest impact on RANCH LEVEL profit.

THE BEST COMBINATION OF COMPLEMENTARY TRAITS• Ideal balance of Power & Efficiency – the

performance of the Simmental or Gelb-vieh with the economy of the Angus, Red Angus, or Hereford

• Extra boost in Fertility, Longevity, and Maternal from Hybrid Vigor

• Ideal balance of Marbling (quality grade) & Muscle (yield grade) – a set of calves that will harvest 70% Choice with 70% Yield Grade 1 & 2 is an ideal target to shoot for

Step 2: Breed Selection

Maximize profit through genetics by selecting breeds that excel in economically relevant traits and complement each other.

Step 3: Sire Selection

Maximize profit through genetics by selecting sires that offer the best combination of traits that will be economically relevant to your ranching environment and the industry. In other words, select for genetics that will be profitable for you and beyond.

Genetic selection is a powerful science that has revolutionized the livestock indus-try. It is a fact that EPDs are far and away the most effective tools for making genetic progress. Make the best use of this tool by combining it with good cowman sense to properly select genetics for your specific operation. There is no genetic selection tool available today that will assist you in identifying genetics that are most profitable by environment.

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Angus, Red Angus, or Hereford

+

Simmental or Gelbvieh

COWBOY MATHEMATICS

1/2 Ton Truck

1 Ton Truck

SimAngustM or Balancer®

= 3/4 Ton Truck

The next step is to select the breeds that will deliver the most profit. No single breed can provide the best genetics for every economically relevant trait, so it is important to pick breeds that comple-ment each other.

“Looks like using SimAngusTM & Balancer® bulls in a crossbreeding program is really paying off for Clint.”“No kidding, his cows and bulls are the same size as ours, but his calves are a lot bigger.”“Well, that’s one of the benefits of planned crossbreeding. Your cows stay the same convenient & efficient size, but raise bigger calves.”“I also read they even last longer and breed back better.”“They call that heterosis or hybrid vigor.”“Yeah. It looks like he is getting even more by using cross-bred bulls on crossbred cows.”“That’s Heterosis X 2!”

Continued on page 6

If you live in the Fescue Belt, identify breeders that put selection pressure on FESCUE tolerant genetics. Then use EPDs & Indexes to help select the most profitable genetics for your specific goals.

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A11 • 2807321

SIMMENTAL • Sire: Top GrAde 018XCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

11.0 62.0 94.9 10.1 31.2 26.3 0.44 0.68 139.1 74.6

323 • 17690939

ANguS • Sire: S B rF G d p 1116Ced WW YW MiLK CW re MB $B $W $F

+0 +55 +96 +25 — — — — +28.96 +40.26

A6 • 1658970

REd ANguS • Sire: BeCKToN HALFMANNHUSTLer r588Ced WW YW MiLK Me MB CW re FAT

9 37 66 4 5 0.55 7 0.01 0.00

A148 • 2774301

SIMANguSTM • Sire: SUre FYre 5028YCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

10.9 64.7 93.5 10.9 22.0 26.4 0.23 0.85 121.8 71.8

Z89 • 2774217

SIMMENTAL • Sire: AMeriCAN pride 0987XCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

5.9 65.6 109.9 10.4 26.5 40.0 0.24 1.14 119.1 70.8

A115 • 2774289

SIMMENTAL • Sire: Mo BeTTerCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

3.5 66.5 107.6 7.6 17.0 41.3 0.11 0.78 107.1 64.0

A22 • 2807326

SIMANguSTM • Sire: LoAded Up Y02Ce WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

8.0 68.9 110.5 9.4 21.2 41.7 0.19 0.81 109.9 66.6

A726 • 2871649

SIMANguSTM • Sire: FirST ASSeNT 117YCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

10.2 63.1 99.1 7.3 22.9 30.7 0.49 0.57 127.0 72.6

A774 • 2810460

SIMANguSTM • Sire: oLieCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

13.5 58.3 89.8 9.1 21.2 23.9 0.35 0.51 131.7 68.0

SIMANguSTM • Sire: Hoover dAM

d12A • 2829474

Ce WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

9.3 55.1 87.8 7.8 29.8 23.2 0.45 1.01 123.1 69.4

Home of

B U L L Sprofessor 22W

Sire of many of the bulls above

Most of the

bulls are Homo.

Blk & pld

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A16 • 2858261

SIMMENTAL • Sire: SUBSTANCe 820YCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

11.1 61.9 92.2 9.5 25.9 26.4 0.29 0.57 128.4 68.7

311A • 2856796

SIMANguSTM • Sire: ALL pAYdAY 729Ce WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

2.3 65.0 99.5 4.4 26.1 33.1 0.11 0.61 79.1 60.8

116A • 1265143

BALANCER® • Sire: YUKoN 044X

Ce WW YW Ced MiLK CW MB reA $Cv $FM

11 68 86 3 26 26 0.18 0.34 33.54 23.30

20A • 1262723

BALANCER® • Sire: MANdAN 5664Ce WW YW Ced MiLK CW MB reA $Cv $FM

4 72 113 2 37 39 0.21 0.60 50.45 44.87

108A • 2779809

SIMANguSTM • Sire: Top GrAde 018XCe WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

11.2 67.2 103.1 8.9 28.7 32.9 0.60 0.49 134.3 77.4

108A • 1262772

BALANCER® • Sire: Top GUN

Ce WW YW Ced MiLK CW MB reA $Cv $FM

10 68 108 8 26 36 0.27 0.53 54.42 42.96

Jared Wareham, MO 417.309.0062James Sparks, MO 660.287.4149

Cody & Casie Helms, MO, NE 303.842.9071Kyle & Kayla Helms, NE 308.962.6490Dick and Bonnie Helms 308.962.6500

FLYING H GENETICS

www.flyinghgenetics.com

Saturday,October 25, 2014 1:00 pm • Lowry City, MO

Call, TeXT,

or email your

Sale Book request

Today!See Website for Sale Book, Videos

& Ultrasound DataA12 • 2858269

SIMANguSTM • Sire: UpGrAde U8676Ce WW YW MCe MiLK CW MB reA Api Ti

12.3 64.9 105.7 9.6 26.9 33.2 0.60 0.96 145.1 79.8

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• Using EPDs, carefully consider your specific operational and environmental needs and select high value Simmental, Gelbvieh, or high % SimAngus or Balancer (3/4 blood) bulls.

• Once you start retaining females, gradually convert your Angus herd into an SimAn-gus (Angus X Simmental) or Balancer (Angus X Gelbvieh) herd and switch to high value SimAngus or Balancer bulls.

• To further increase the positive effects of hybrid vigor and capture more profit - use SimAngus bulls on Balancer cows or Balancer Bulls on SimAngus cows

Let’s say you’ve purchased 100 cows that are straight Angus and you want to maximize profit through your breeding program.

Step 4: Maximizing Profit Example

Angus cow with Simmental sired calf

Kicking Monogamy to the Curb ... continued from page 1

Breeding for Profit ... Continued from page 2

The fear of “corporate” agriculture has forced shrewd producers to study that model well and adapt. They know their history lessons and remember the evolution that oc-curred not so long ago in the pork industry that devastated the “independent” producer. Those that can stay ahead of the curve and implement the strengths and advantages of the corporate design will be well leveraged as these changes occur in the beef sector. Furthermore, the new cooperatives like Allied are only corporate in design and function. They remain “family” at the ranch level. It is yet another ex-ample of producers using an innovative tool to coordinate the survival of their family businesses for another 20 – 30 years. Moreover, there is no reason why family farms and ranches can’t be business-like in their structure and market-ing strategies, yet remain tethered to their roots and secure that opportunity for the next generation.

As this industry continues to evolve, individuals that look ahead and sharpen their skills essential to successful collaboration will be viewed as prized assets when op-portunities arise. Those that put themselves ahead of the group or are held back by excessive “ego” will feel the same ice cold awkwardness that comes with being picked last for dodgeball, or not being picked at all. Those that grasp a true understanding of “team” and cultivate that indispens-able network of key relationships will have their futures well leveraged.

Try to be forward thinking enough to research, plan, and implement similar cooperative ideas at the cow/calf

level. Organizing a day to sell calves as a large group with friends to leverage your size, buying cattle supplies together in quantity to achieve savings, and owning ex-pensive equipment together all seem like very novel con-cepts and rarely exist today. However, at some point, they may become requisite to maintaining the family opera-tion. Simple cooperative strategies like these help achieve greater efficiencies and keep the competitive edge needed to preserve the farm or ranch for the next generation.

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SimAngustM replacement heifer

• You have now established a simple, easy-to-use system for generating extra calf perfor-mance and maternal power, with increased value beyond your ranch.

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Missouri team members, Drew, Jill, and Jared, enjoyed the opportunity to share their story with college students from all over the country. The Flying H team represents a real “youth” movement in the seedstock genetics industry. At 35 years of age Jared is the old-est of 8 employees that make up the Flying H Genetics team. He shared some encouraging thoughts about how none of the Missouri team were born into the business, but was given the opportunity by Flying H Genetics to build the business through hard work, passion and dedication. They also stressed that additional young talent was needed in the beef industry now and into the future.

Agriculture students take part in the National Block & Bridle Tour

I N d u S T R Y P R o v E N − R A N C H R E A d YSiMMeNTAL | SiMANGUSTM | ANGUS | BALANCer® | GeLBvieH www.flyinghgenetics.com

AgE AdVANTAgE BuLLS

our Entire offering will be18-20 month old

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GRowTH + MuSCLE

W h e r e t h e r A n C h e r C o M e s F i r s t

Call, TeXT, or email your Sale

Book request Today!

Saturday, October 25th, 2014 • 1pm • Lowry City, MO

Jared Wareham, MO 417.309.0062James Sparks, MO 660.287.4149

Cody & Casie Helms, MO, NE 303.842.9071Kyle & Kayla Helms, NE 308.962.6490Dick and Bonnie Helms 308.962.6500

FLYING H GENETICS