Smart Ways to Manage Cattle – Importance of Digital Records

Every cattle producer wants to enhance the cow herd—improving cattle quality, calf performance, and profitability. Technology is rapidly evolving to support these goals, and many producers are adopting digital solutions. Raising high-performing cattle is no wall about harnessing data. This is especially important for seedstock breeders and becoming more important for commercial producers.

One of the first companies to offer digital tools for cattle producers is C-Lock. Dr. Patrick Zimmerman created C-Lock Inc.in 2005 in Rapid City, South Dakota. At that time he was Director of the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. At C-Lock Inc. today, a staff of professionals utilize cutting-edge science and engineering to monitor, analyze, and control cattle biological parameters.

The products created by C-Lock can detect problems in cattle that lower their efficiency and productivity. The ability to pinpoint problems, identify opportunities, and offer cost-effective solutions saves their clients’ money.

Scott Zimmerman, who works with this company, says that about 15 years ago C-Lock developed a feeder that dispenses feed at a custom rate (that the producer can selection line) as each individual animal approaches. The animals’ RFID tags are read by the feeder. “When the animal eats, the technology also measures the amount of metabolic gas emissions from that animal. This is similar to measuring emissions from your car. This gives an indication of performance of that animal, feed efficiency, and can also give clues regarding the animal’s health,” he says.

“We have a system called Green feed that measures metabolic gas emissions like methane, a greenhouse gas as well as a lost energy source. One of the byproducts of processing for the rumen is methane. We can measure that with our equipment. Ours is the only system that is patented and able to do this,” he explains. “Between 4 to 12% of what the animals eat is lost as methane gas. Our Greenfeed system can provide accurate information about a certain animal’s efficiency.”

C-Lock’s feeding system measures how much each animal eats. “As the animal approaches the feeder, it reads the RFID tag and weighs the amount of feed it eats. The system automatically adds that up, for all the animals, and can determine which ones are most feed efficient,” he says.

“We also have a system that weighs animals each time they drink. This provides accurate trends of an animal’s weight over time—which is also an indicator of animal health and performance. This is way to track and monitor animal growth over time.”

When a producer uses the C-Lock system, all the data is transferred over the internet, through cell phone networks, into the Cloud. “The producer can log into it via a user-protected website and look at almost real time information about which animal is eating or not eating, etc. It is all internet accessible via a computer or cell phone.” This can be helpful for a feedlot or even cow-calf producers.

“For the cow-calf people we have a supplement feeder; they can use cake or distillers grains in this feeder out in the pasture. It runs off solar power and they can control the amount of supplemental feed each animal gets. It’s like a creep feeder except electronic, and can control their intake accurately,” says Zimmerman.

On C-Lock’s experimental ranch they are working with one of the breeders using this system. “This can help determine genetically which animals are more likely to been feed efficient. In our breeding program we always use animals that have been feed-efficient tested. When feed-efficient animals are on pasture, we can run more animals on that pasture,” he says.

“Usually a cow-calf producer is not using this system directly, but can improve their herd via the seedstock producers who use it. They can purchase bulls, semen or replacement heifers that have been proven feed efficient.” This gives a jump-start on having the right genetics to begin with, rather than having to guess.

“If you can increase feed efficiency, an animal might be able to produce 20% more meat on the same amount of intake. When you have a limited amount of pasture, if you can have 10% more animals on that pasture, over the long term you produce more profit. For cow-calf producers this is probably the most exciting—being able to improve the genetics of the herd and produce more animals with fewer inputs,” says Zimmerman. “We also have a scale we can use on pasture, in front of the water source, to weigh each animal as it comes to drink. In certain countries people need to sell cattle at a specific weight, especially if they are exporting. If cattle are too heavy, the producer is penalized. If you are measuring weight and managing your herd that way, this is useful information. You can also see how fast they are growing, and get an average daily gain.”

Today there are many digital tools available for producers, and more companies providing them. Here are a few examples of progressive producers who are utilizing various tools and even creating their own.

LEGENDARY AKAUSHI GENETICS–This seedstock operation is committed to both heritage and innovation. Steve Cottrell has 1,500 acres in Wisconsin and 6,000 acres in Nebraska, raising Akaushi cattle.

Aaron Harris consults on data and operations for this elite program. “I manage data analytics. We’ve developed proprietary tools to collect comprehensive genetic and performance data,” Harris says. Since 2015, the ranch has focused on preserving Akaushi genetics and advancing breed potential through data-driven decisions.

“We own rare foundational animals from Japan, enabling the development of new maternal lines through data analysis. We have significant foundational maternal genetics, including direct descendants from original Japanese imports,” Harris says. “Our data program is evolving. We use Digital Beef for registrations, Designer Genes for ultrasound data, and DataMars to track cattle interactions and ensure inventory accuracy.” Legendary Akaushi recently integrated MIJ camera technology for more precise meat quality evaluation.

“We began utilizing MIJ camera technology to obtain accurate marbling scores, IMF percentages, and ribeye dimensions, moving beyond general grades like Choice or Prime,” says Harris. The ranch also uses ultrasound technology for carcass evaluation, though comparing IMF across breeds remains challenging.

Legendary Akaushi collaborates with the Australian Wagyu Association and plans to implement Breed Plan’s genomic EBVs to improve the accuracy of Akaushi EBVs. Harris will discuss this data integration at the Australian Wagyu Association’s upcoming conference. “We’ll outline our strategies and plans for sharing accurate, comprehensive data.” Legendary Akaushi is shaping the future of Wagyu breeding and setting new industry standards, and much of this progress is accomplished through use of digital data and records.

SHIEFELBEIN FARMS-Don Schiefelbein is part of a large family operation, raising registered Angus and SimAngus seedstock on the largest registered Angus operation in Minnesota. “As a seedstock producer we do things a little more in depth than most commercial operations because we are looking for the value return for the genetic merit we put into it. Genetics are hugely important. This is probably one of the biggest untapped reservoirs of profitability. When you create an animal, if you set it up with the right genetics for the lifetime of that animal, you can add efficiency and other advantages genetically. If you are raising an animal, why not raise one with all the opportunity to  make the most return on investment and the most profit you can possibly get,” he says.

That animal can stay in the herd and be profitable. Heifers randomly selected may wash out quicker and are not profitable, and neither are their offspring. “The dilemma in our industry is that when you buy a bull and invest an enormous amount of dollars to line up the genetics you think they ought to be, when you get female progeny, how smart is it to reshuffle those based on only a few tests to decide which ones are keepers and which ones are not?” That’s too much of a gamble.

“If you understand the Deming philosophy, it can help guide decisions. Edward Deming’s philosophy was an incredible earth-changing approach to manufacturing that was first utilized in Japan and then in the U.S.” says Schiefelbein.

Deming is known as the father of the quality movement, hugely influential in post-WWII Japan and credited with revolutionizing Japan’s industry–making it one of the most dominant economies in the world. Deming’s philosophy for manufacturing emphasizes continuous improvement, quality focus, and a system-centric approach to eliminate waste and drive long-term success through his14 points and PDSA (Plan-Do-Check-Act)approach to process analysis and improvement.

“That philosophy says that instead of building things and then sorting the good stuff from the bad stuff after you build it, you should spend more than 90% of your efforts making sure the inputs are good, and you are creating the good stuff in the first place,” says Schiefelbein. You need to do it right, to begin with.

“To me, that’s where almost all our emphasis for genetic improvement ought to be made—on the beginning—making sure we are selecting the best genetics in the bulls we buy, to correct and improve everything. Don’t fall victim to what some people do—using bulls and then waiting to have progeny. After they’ve created the progeny, and this is where the big economic cost is occurred—those get sorted after they are produced. That’s an anti-progressive approach. What you should do is fix as many things as possible on the bull side, and not have to do as much sorting on genetics; just sort on the things you must do that are economically significant. These include selecting the oldest heifers (for puberty),heifers that have the best structural soundness, enough weight and body condition to become pregnant at first attempt. You don’t have to worry about the genetics because you’ve already invested in the genetics on the top side,” he explains.

“The world figured it out a long time ago with manufacturing when they said, ‘Let’s not build 2000 cars and then decide that about 1000 will be pretty good and with the others we need to start over.’ The mindset needs to change. If you can spend 90% of your effort on the front side you only need to spend about 10% of your effort on sorting the end product after the creation,” he says.

“Instead of manufacturing cars, we are manufacturing cattle, and that’s why we should use all the technology available before we make the big investment. On all the bulls you buy, you need to know everything possible about them. That’s the time to sort on carcass genetics, fertility, etc. You want to do as much as you can to make the odds of successes high as possible,” says Schiefelbein.

“Our industry likes to create cattle and then sort them, but that’s backward. You are far better off to be incredibly fussy at the front end, rather than sort after you’ve invested all the money in creating the product. Economically you can’t afford to make mistakes on inputs. It’s better to pay more to get the right inputs, to make sure you aren’t screwing up your cow herd with things that will take a generation to correct,” he says.

“The data intensity needs to be even greater at the seedstock level. If you aren’t buying genetics from a seedstock producer who eats, sleeps and dreams about how to make it better, you probably need to change your seed stock supplier because he/she needs to understand what it takes at your level for you to have the best traits for your herd.”

Feed efficiency is hugely important, for instance. “It’s enormously important if we can do this at the seedstock level in a way that has an impact farther along—in the cow-calf and feedlot level. We are getting there, but it’s a snail’s pace in terms of the economic significance that can be made,” he says.

“Other things beginning to take shape include more info from DNA. There is opportunity to use it as a tool beyond areas we ever dreamed of, but matter much more—like health.” If you can make the animals hardier and healthier genetically, it is way less costly and labor intensive. If these animals can be feed efficient and stay healthy, there is much less expense to raise them.

“There are genetic predictions we could do to make feedlots more successful. The number one focus at the feedlot is to try to keep most of them alive.” On the cow-calf side if females are fertile and feed-efficient a person can run more cows with fewer inputs and create more beef. If the cow factory is producing regularly and is paid off, the last thing you want is to have to replace her and start over. Longevity is important. We are getting there in our efforts, but it is painfully slow.

“It has to start at the seedstock level and push down to the commercial cow-calf level. That’s what makes the seedstock business so exciting, since the opportunities are immense. There are many things that need to be addressed that can have great economic value. We are looking at making birthweight smaller and growth higher, yet that’s minor compared to whether we can crack the nuts on health, fertility, longevity and all the really important economic traits,” he says.

“Our operation follows the old adage: ‘If you don’t measure something, you can’t manage it.’ Long before genetic predictions were released on traits we were aggressively collecting phenotypes. A good example is teat and udder scores. We had 20 years of data prior to the AAA releasing its first Teat and Udder EPDs. That something else you want to avoid–creating cows with bad udders prior to them entering your herd after you invested a lot of dollars and time keeping them and getting a calf on the ground.

“Collecting data is that all-important first step in the creation of genetic predictions. We’re getting much better as an industry applying the Deming philosophy, making it even more important that seedstock breeders do the heavy lifting in data collection.”

NICHOLS FARMS-Ross Havens is marketing coordinator at Nichols Farms in Iowa. This large seedstock operation sells 500 to 600 Angus, Simmental, and South Devon bulls–and three composite lines made up of these breeds–each year to commercial cattlemen. “I’ve been here 30 years, and this operation works hard at using all the current technologies and information to progress our genetics—not only for our own use but also for our customers, to help them improve their herds,” he says.

“The Nichols family has always been very progressive, using the most current technologies. We wrote our own database back in the early 1980’s to keep track of all our own information. We are still using that today. It’s a programmable database so we can change it through the years as we move forward, using many different technologies. Ultrasound data was developed here at Nichols Farms, with Iowa State University. That data is all part of our database,” says Havens.

Technology has boomed in the last few years, with DNA, etc. and Nichols Farms uses it all. “Information is transferred back and forth digitally between the companies we work with and our database. We are also using new technologies in our feed intake system and methane monitoring. All this data is continually being transferred to the data base, so we can log in and look at it. We are also evolving this into a genetic evaluation to help us get more accurate information to use in our genetic selection. The C-Lock companies is what we use on that front.”

The farm also works with Merck Allflex in their SenseHub program. “We’ve been selecting for genetic resistance to Bovine Respiratory Disease for the past 10 years. They have a unique tag system that monitors cattle for body temperature and movement in the pen. This helps us find any that are sick. This is digital real time information that goes into their database. We can log in and see that data in real time, and incorporate that into our genetic evaluation as well,” says Havens.

SenseHub helps producers increase cattle reproduction rates and stay on top of herd health. By using anestrus detection told during breeding season, producers can increase conception rates, monitor reproductive status of cows, and identify replacement heifers that cycle reliably. The rest of the year, actionable insight supports timely management of common challenges to herd health.

“We also use digital information in advertising our bulls, working with various catalogs, newspapers, etc. It’s phenomenal how things are advancing. I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet compared to the advent of Artificial Intelligence. We use some of that, right now. The technology age will be interesting, but you need the right people on board to help with that information—people who understand it and are comfortable with it. As long as you are not afraid to learn, it’s a good thing!”

More producers, especially seedstock breeders, are becoming more progressive in their use of available technology, even though ranching has always been fairly traditional. “In our customers we are seeing a lot of progression. We’ve used our database to keep track of phenotypes—birth weights, weaning weights, disposition scores, etc. but this tool wasn’t available for commercial cattlemen. Now there are programs that can help them keep that data on their cattle. Cattle Max is one example,” says Havens.

“On the feed side, there are all kinds of digital feed programs. The one we work with now is Cattler. It’s a real time feed program to help us monitor the feeding everyday, which bunk they are fed in, making sure rations are mixed correctly, etc. We can look at our phones and get all that information, making our business easier and better.” It also provides records. “It helps us keep track of our feed inventory, especially when buying outside ingredients like distillers byproducts. It helps us keep accurate inventory on our hay and other things during the year, to make sure we are not getting ahead or behind. It also helps us keep track of production costs.” The more information a person has, the better any important decisions can be made.

“There have been several systems over the years for heat detection, but now they are becoming more defined. SenseHub has a new tag to help producers monitor cows or heifers for movement as well as estrus, for AI programs. There are other tag systems available, like CowDog. That digital program can monitor cows regarding which pastures they are in, as well as the bulls. There’s also a collar you can put on cows for virtual fence to keep track of those cows and the area they are supposed to be in. ”The producer to see the location of a cow if she is out in a big pasture or in the wrong place.

“A person must be computer-oriented to do some of these things. The younger generations have grown up with it, but even some of the older folks are receptive to facing new challenges. We deal with some ranches where the owners are in their 70’s or 80’s but they put the right people in place in their operation so they can utilize and take advantage of these programs,” says Havens.

DEBRUYCKER CHAROLAIS-The DeBruyckers are third-generation ranchers near Dutton, Montana, raising purebred Charolais. Lloyd and Jane DeBruycker were leaders in promoting the Charolais breed. Their legacy continues through their seven children. Four are directly involved and the other three assist where and when they can. Some of the grandchildren are coming back to join the family business.

Early on, Lloyd began feeding cattle at a local feed yard as a tool to improve the Charolais cattle in performance and feed efficiency as well as collecting carcass data to assure that DeBruycker genetics were top quality. They created cattle that are born easily ,grow efficiently, gain cost-effectively, and have good carcass quality. The DeBruycker family built a steady customer base and continues to utilize the feedlot as a tool for improving the breed, following the cattle through to harvest and using the resulting data to strengthen their breeding program.

Brett DeBruycker is one of the 2nd generation. As the operation embraced modern technology for digital record-keeping, they couldn’t find the right kind of computer program—off the shelf—that they needed for their purposes. “My sister and brother-in-law worked together to develop what we use today, creating it from Microsoft Access. In this program we can make our own queries and get whatever information we need from our accumulated data. We can then dissect it any way we need, rather than having a programmed set of guidelines on an off-the-shelf type of program,” he says.

“This has been very beneficial. It is similar to Excel but better, for us. It has been a great help in looking at or presenting the data we put together on our cattle, so this is the basic record-keeping we use. We’ve been slow to utilize electronic ideas because there has be nothing off-the-shelf that we found that could really work for us for correlating our data,” Brett says.

“We did finally find one that works. We recently began using EIDs and a wand, and found a way to utilize that type of system to integrate with our Access program. We haven’t gotten it to the point where we are totally satisfied, but we are working with it.”

“We’ve done another thing that has been extremely beneficial to our customers—and I don’t know if anyone else in the purebred industry has done this yet because I haven’t seen it. Associations have done this but I don’t think individuals have. I think we are the first to develop a phone App to utilize for our bull sale—to present the videos of our bulls, and their data. In that App is also a connection to our DeBruycker Charolais Meats; people can order the meat from us directly over the phone App. These are some of the things we are using that are similar but different from other programs. We are either the first or one of the very first to develop an App for our customers. We’ve had a lot of good feedback from customers on how they like it.” This makes everything a lot easier to transfer information and communication

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Heather Smith Thomas