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Shifting the Workload to Your Livestock - Presented by Meg Grzeskiewicz
- 1. Workload to Your Livestock Meg Grzeskiewicz Rhinestone Cattle Co. LLC Colden, NY
- 3. Life on the Average RanchConventional livestock thinking (Gearld Fry) • Maximum production • Buy whatever you need to get there • Individual management Who’s doing the work? Who’s reaping the benefits?
- 4. Life for Bison on the Plains adventurescience.org They survived for thousands of years without our help. (Actually we killed them…)
- 5. Shift the Workload Make your livestock do the work so you reap the benefits! • How? • Get out of nature’s way • Minimize man-made inputs • Radical alert! This is exactly opposite of everything commodity livestock holds dear. • This isn’t right for everyone. It won’t be pretty at first.
- 6. Step 1: Make the RulesYour only obligations are to provide food, water, and humane habitat. • Create a basis for your rules • Dream farm • Farming philosophy • Basis for my rules: • Get out of nature’s way • Eliminate purchased inputs • Chase optimum, not maximum • Do as little work as possible • “Sign the back of the check, not the front!” -Gabe Brown
- 7. My Rules One herd • All ages & classes • No weaning • Leave bulls in • Labor Breeding • Multiple yearling bulls • Sell them after breeding season as steers • Singles out infertile cows • Bad bulls become a genetic dead end Ian Mitchell-Innes, Greg Judy
- 8. My Rules Grazing and Health • Tall grass mob grazing (bison) • No preventative treatments • Regular health & feed quality testing
- 9. My Rules farmshow.com Mineral program • Free choice mineral provided (keeping animals in a fence isn’t natural) • Capable of dietary self-regulation • Brunetti and Albrecht: EVERY disease and disorder can be traced back to __________ • Research proof & veterinary defense: e-mail me for links • Why I don’t use a premix
- 10. J F M A M J J A S O N D Low--->High Month Traditional Jan-Feb Calving Cow Nutrient Needs Grass Quantity/Quality S U P P L E M E N T S U P P L E M E N T
- 11. My Rules J F M A M J J A S O N D Low--->High Month May-June Calving Cow Nutrient Needs Grass Quantity/Quality Calving Season • Match nutrient needs with grass supply • Wildlife in my area • Summer hair coats • Not chasing maximum • Wintering pairs
- 12. Step #2: Assemble Capable Genetics DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON BREEDING STOCK! Buy from nearby • Environmental adaptation is crucial • Find a farm that manages as close to your “rules” as possible • Proven herd history of doing what you want to do • AVOID SALE BARNS What makes a capable animal?
- 13. Step #3: Select the Toughest Herd on Earth Initial selection of breeding stock AND annual keep/cull decisions www.paleocastle.com First priority: Proven high meat or milk quality! • Don’t take your eye off the ball • Eat it if you can • Don’t fall for claims of “maximum”
- 14. Maintenance Energy and PerformanceEnergy ingested – maintenance energy = energy for gain/milk/repro Most important factor in workload-bearing capability High - maintenance cow Low - maintenance cow Staying alive Performance Staying alive Performance Whole diet fed
- 15. Maintenance Energy and Performance High - maintenance cow Low - maintenance cow Staying alive Performance Whole diet Staying alive Performance Whole diet What if we demand the same performance from both?
- 16. Not Just Any Animal Will Do!Kit and Tyson Pharo rated AI company bulls on $EN EPD Each star is 20% of breed Genex Angus Bulls ABS Angus Bulls 1-star …… 47% 1-star ……43% 2-star …… 20% 2-star ……31% 3-star …… 17% 3-star …… 9% 4-star ……12% 4-star …… 11% 5-star …… 4% 5-star ….. 6%
- 17. Economics of Frame Size450-pound calf 550-pound calf 1,000-pound cow 1,500-pound cow 45% of cow weight 36% of cow weight
- 18. Economics of Frame Size450-pound calf 550-pound calf 14,600 lbs DM consumed 21,900 lbs DM consumed 32.4 lbs DM per lb calf 39.8 lbs DM per lb calf
- 19. 43,800 lbs DM = $3,375 43,800 lbs DM = $2,750 Economics of Frame Size
- 20. < High Percentage v Low Percentage Weaning Weight Percentage Smaller frame = higher weaning percentage
- 21. Proper Conformation Beltie.org • Leg design • Locomotion and stride length
- 22. Hormones and Hair CoatsEndocrine system controls everything! Haircoat indicates hormonal function Sebaceous fluid repels flies, indicates high immunity Early spring slickoff, shiny coat www.crystalyx.com
- 23. Hormones and Hair CoatsDark spots of sebaceous fluid correlate to high endocrine function • Topline: oily line down spine, adrenal whorl in middle • Pancreas sign under belly • Thymus whorl on sides of neck http://americanherbataurus.com/ahs/animal-evaluation
- 24. Hormones and Hair CoatsEscutcheon characteristics (Francis Guenon, 1854) Amount of milk, time to get to max output, time before dryoff http://americanherbataurus.com/ahs/animal-evaluation GOOD BAD
- 25. Maternal TraitsUdders: bald, level, short thin teats Temperament and mothering instinct Pelvic size measurement (heifers) www.beef-cattle.com Redangus.org
- 26. Bull Fertility Traits • Coarse curly hair on head and neck • Large neck crest • Thick tail with coarse hair • Testes • Football shape (not teardrop) • Identical • Walnut-sized epididymis • No nipples on neck of scrotum! Directly related to tilted udders • Fertility traits are highly heritable
- 27. Bull Fertility Traits • Scrotal Measurements • Yearling bull: length 6-7 inches, circumference 38-40 cm • 2-3 year old bull: length 7-8 inches, circumference 43-45 cm • Semen Evaluation • Before purchase and every breeding season • 75-90% live normal sperm • Semen count 980-1380 yearling, 1380-1850 adult • Very high motility Details on fertility evaluation: Herd Bull Fertility by James E. Drayson
- 28. Linear MeasuringJan Bonsma: 1960s Rump Width Shoulder Width Topline Body length Heart girth: behind shoulders Rump Length Neck Length
- 29. Linear Measuring Females: • Heart girth equal or greater than topline • Neck = half of body length • Shoulder width = rump length • Rump length = 38-40% of body length Males: • Heart girth equal or greater than topline • Shortest neck possible • Widest shoulders possible • Rump length = 38-40% of body length Reproduction and Animal Health Charles Walters and Gearld Fry
- 30. The Problem With CrossbreedingConventional ag’s obsession with hybrid vigor • Only works on F1 generation: TERMINAL crosses • Need pure stock to crossbreed for F1 heterosis • Hides harmful recessive traits (GAR Precision 1680) Switching sires every 2-3 years scrambles your progress How do we uncross what everybody crossed? Morgan Hartman (Black Queen Angus) at www.onpasture.com
- 31. Step #4: Line Breed • Sewall Wright: inbreeding coefficient • Keep influence of any one animal below ½ (50%) • No “family” relationships • Brings out harmful recessive traits so they can be eliminated • Creates bulls that stamp their calves: uniform and predictable (homozygous)
- 32. Step #5: Cull the Rule Breakers • Manage the HERD • Any animal that breaks your rules has to go • Tom Lasater: every cow must wean a calf every year! • When you lose a calf for any reason, cull the cow (economic reason too) • “But there’s no proof of heredity!” • Create perfect genotype for your farm • If you make excuses for problem animals, you’re running a petting zoo
- 33. Reasons to Cull Reasons correlate to your rules • Needed any individual attention • Loses a calf for ANY reason • Too big • Too old • Unsound or bad udder • Aggressive or flighty, escapes fence • Low weaning percentage of body weight • Calves don’t linear measure well • Does not breed back within desired window (value-added culls) • Can’t maintain body condition under your feed/management program • Haircoat indicators of low fertility/hormonal function Don’t just cull the worst. Keep only the best!
- 34. Consequences of making excuses for unfit animals
- 35. Happy Ending
- 36. Here’s the Kicker! Your rules must not predispose your herd to problems! Management must come before removal of preventative treatments
- 37. Shifting the Workload 1. Make your rules 2. Assemble capable breeding stock 3. Select the toughest herd on Earth • Meat/milk quality • Frame size and weaning percentage • Conformation • Hair coats (escutcheon, whorls, slick) • Bull fertility traits • Linear measuring 4. Line breed 5. Cull anything that breaks your rules
- 38. Contact Meg for questions and/or consulting services! (716) 517-6415 rhinestonecattle@yahoo.com www.rhinestonecattleco.com
Editor's Notes
- Cows eating 4% of body weight. DM consumed is annual. But a big calf still sells for more, so it compensates for more feed inputs right?
- Calves sell for $2.50/lb. Small cows eat 14,600 lbs DM/year each. Big cows eat 21,900 lb DM/year each.