There are many reasons to consider involvement in your preferred breed’s breed association. And, if active in your breed association, there is even further reasoning to be an active participant in record keeping and EPD recording programs.
“Like many other organizations it’s the camaraderie of the group, the strength in numbers and everyone banding together to support the breed,” said Don Fischer, President of the Missouri Simmental Association.
“Breed associations, regardless of size or species, have a universal purpose of providing its membership with services that will assist them in the growth and marketing of their individual breeding programs. Breed associations are the source for the breeds ancestry records, performance and carcass data, both current adult and junior membership lists, junior association activities, along with breed promotion both on the registered and commercial fronts,” John Boddicker, Executive Vice President of the American Maine Anjou Association, out of Platte City, Mo., said.
So, togetherness, commonality, check. But what about added value? Well, many breed associations keep records of EPDs and performance records, and spend money developing the best ways for breeders to utilize these numbers in their herds, as well as utilize them to gain more commercial customers.
“ASA published the first sire summary back many years ago, and have continued to use the best technology available to them to give us a wealth of information. Some of the other breeds do this as well. Simmental is very active in staying on the cutting edge of that putting it into EPDs making it useful to potential buyers of Simmental cattle,” Fischer said.
Steven Rogers, President of the Missouri Red Angus Association, said he believes purebred breeders should register their cattle to help ensure the quality and accuracy of the entire breed’s genetic records. “I think, first of all, it’s the best way to trace and accurately prove the genetics you’re using. If you don’t register your cattle you have no way to compare them when it comes to hard data of production numbers. And in Red Angus we do total herd reporting, where every registered cow that calves, you’re supposed to report that data on that calf, so we have a true picture on the breed. So we’re not just registering the best cattle, you’re registering all the cattle. And this helps the better cattle look better, because you can see a comparison from the lesser-desired calves to the better-desired.” With knowledge being power, the more records, the better commercial and purebred producers can utilize the numbers to improve their specific animals in specific ways.
Fischer, a Simmental breeder out of Winston, Mo., encouraged producers to utilize the records of the breed associations, regardless of your breed preferences. “As a breeder, my advice is to use and contribute to the database, so we can gather more records and all benefit. The way we utilize EPDs, we’ve tried to use it to breed better cattle. Of course, there’s the visual appraisal, to assure soundness, and we like cattle that are easy to look at, but we have always used EPDs for production, to not only merchandise cattle but truly breed better cattle. All breeds have spent a lot of money to produce sire summaries and EPDs for different animals. If (a commercial producer) stays with higher accuracy bulls, you can believe the data, rely on it.”
Boddicker added, “Breed associations are ultimately partners of individual members and their breeding programs. How much of a partner depends on the breeder and how they choose to use the programs provided.”
Utilizing the Internet is a great tool for researching breed association information, but major breeds also put out trade publications in hard copy, with sire summaries and breeder information, as well as officer, directors and board information on each breed.
For more information on your preferred breed association, call Ozarks Farm & Neighbor at 866-532-1960 or visit us online at www.ozarksfn.com.
