Utilizing Genetics To Its Fullest Potential
Thought From A Cattlemen: Utilizing Genetics To Its Fullest Potential
Bull sale advertisers will have you believe that buying their genetics will greatly improve your herd to its fullest potential and bottom line. That doesn’t happen automatically. Utilizing genetics to its fullest potential will also require proper nutrition and a solid herd health protocol.
Nutrition begins with your cow herd. Fetal programming is real and if you want greater birth vigor, rapid gain, healthy calves, easy feeding calves and better grading calves, it all begins in-utero. It is great to utilize cheap feed anytime you can and that may include grazing as late into the year as weather allow. Awesome! Just make sure to visit with your nutritionist to ensure that protein levels are maintained, total dry matter if fed a ration is adequate as well as energy. The most overlooked nutritional piece is often salt and mineral available year-round. Proper health and growth in your calves may begin with solid genetics but it takes proper nutrition to better express that genetic potential.
Herd Health – You should routinely go through your herd health protocol with your herd vet to make sure you haven’t missed out on something new. Properly monitoring your cows and calves will help prevent any major outbreaks of illness and allow for timely treatment of injuries. A lot of times your bottom selling calves will be your chronically ill calves from birth, calves that foot rot hindered them for most of summer, or that blind calf where pink-eye was missed. Take care of health risks through vaccinations but also prevent lingering problems with routine checks and include treatment for internal and external parasites. Let’s all work together and as a bull supplier who offers sound, balanced, and thoroughly researched genetics we will improve your bottom line. We just won’t promise to do it alone. To learn more go to www.toppangus.com.
Article courtesy of Topp Angus, Paul Topp, Grace City, ND
February 2021
