Progress 07/01/06 to 06/30/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: 1.Age and Source Verification Since inception in 1999, 358,000 calves have been enrolled in the program. This approach has resulted in approximately $12/head ($ 0 to $45/ head range) more income for producers enrolled in the program. During 2008, about 100,000 calves were age and source verified through Verified Beef. This is almost a 50,000 head increase over the previous year because of demands by cattle buyers from the cattle feeding states in the Midwest. As part of an effort to determine prevalence of BVD in Montana cowherds a statewide educational/screening effort was started in 2006. Over 160,000 animals have been tested. The incidence of BVD persistent infection (PI) was .093% (149 animals). About 6% of the ranches tested had at least one infected animal. The first year of this project was the "pilot" year as project managers introduced and tested systematic herd screening protocol. In Year 2 promotion efforts were expanded and cost-share assistance was provided to demonstrate the value of "whole-herd" screening to as many Montana beef cattle producer wanting to participate. In Year 3, while educational efforts continued, cost-share assistance was discontinued allowing producers to determine the "face value" of BVD herd screening. Year 4 is currently underway and project managers expect a sustainable level of about 30,000-50,000 head screened per year to prevail until BVD is recognized as being practically controlled in Montana. PARTICIPANTS: John Paterson, Co-PI Extension Beef Specialist Errol Rice, Collaborator, Executive VP for Montana Stockgrowers Association Tim Watts, CEO of Verified Beef and in charge of Data Management Clint Peck, Director of Beef Quality Assurance Mo Harbac, Administrative Associate in charge of BVD project TARGET AUDIENCES: This project was directed toward beef cattle producers in Montana PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
In June and July of 2007, we collected data from Superior Livestock Video Auctions. These data were then used to determine if a premium existed for source and age verification of Montana calves. Several other management procedures were analyzed as well. For a 600 pound calf, the premium received for source and age verification was $12.83 per head. The average cost of participating in a source and age verification program is $3 per head. The premium less the cost per head leaves Montana cattle producers with a profit of $9.83 per head.. Other premiums received by Montana producers are as follows, VAC 34 cattle received a premium of $14.81 per head. Steer calves sold for $52.43 per head over heifers. Weaned cattle received a premium of $17.64 per head. Producers who were able to supply a semi-truck load of cattle received a premium of $12 per head. With regard to BVD educational programming, ninety percent of participating ranches took part in the program to determine if BVD was present in their cowherd while 67% believed it would increase the value of their calves. Seventy-one percent of the participants did not have an active biosecurity plan for their ranch. Biosecurity planning is being incorporated into each BVD-PI screening "plan" and when overall ranch biosecurity planning is conducted, BVD-PI control is a considering factor.
Publications
- Duffey, Lisa; Paterson, John; King, Marc; Rolfe, Kelse. 2008. Ranch Management Practices of Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and Non-BQA Certified Producers in Montana J. of Exten.. No. 5RIB7. T. Standley, J. Paterson, K. Skinner, B. Rainey,, A. Roberts, T. Geary, G. Smith, and R. White.2008. The Use of an Experimental Vaccine in Gestating Beef Cows to Reduce the Shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in the Newborn Calf. Prof. Anim. Sci. :. 260-263. L. E. Wallace, J. A. Paterson, R. Clark, M. Harbac, and A. Kellom . 2008. Readability of Thirteen Different Radio Frequency Identification Ear Tags by Three Different Multi- Panel Reader Systems for Use in Beef Cattle. Prof. Animal Sci . 2008 24:384-391. Lardy, G.P., B.A. Loken, V.L. Anderson, D.M. Larson, K.R. Maddock-Carlin, B. R. Ilse, R. Maddock, R. Clark, J.A. Paterson, and M.L. Bauer. 2008. Field Pea Inclusion in Finishing Diets: Increasing field pea (Pisum sativum) level in high concentrate diets. 2. Effects on growth performance and carcass traits in finishing steers and heifers.J.Anim. Sci. Loken, B.A., G.P. Lardy, T.C. Gilbery, V.L. Anderson , R. Clark, J.A. Paterson, and M.L. Bauer. 2008. Field Pea Inclusion in Finishing Diets.Increasing field pea (Pisum sativum) level in high concentrate diets. 1. Effect on intake, ruminal fermentation, digestibility, and in situ disappearance in high concentrate diets fed to steers and wether lambs.J. Anim. Sci. R. C. Waterman T. W. Geary, J. A. Paterson, and R. J. Lipsey. 2008. Early weaning in Northern Great Plains beef cattle production systems: I. Performance and reproductive response in range beef cows. J. Anim. Sci. R. C. Waterman, T. W. Geary, J. A. Paterson, and R. J. Lipsey. 2008. Early weaning in Northern Great Plains beef cattle production systems: II. Development of replacement heifers either early or normal weaned. J.Anim. Sci.
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Progress 07/01/06 to 06/30/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Montana Beef Network has continued to work on certification of feeder calves that have met defined health management protocols. These health management protocols are articulated in the draft 2008 beef quality assurance (BQA) manual that is being routed for comments and concurrence. This manual is a key part of our age and source verification program. Producers are able to obtain BQA training on-line, via a CD we will mail to them, through their county extension agent or by contacting a member of the MBN staff for one-on-one training. The BQA web-site keeps a list of BQA certified producers to enable buyers and feedlots to verify these cattle are being worked in accordance with BQA guidelines. To date we have been involved in over 35 producer oriented educational meetings (varying in size from 10 to 250 producers) to discuss BQA. Our goal continues to be to improve the quality, consistency, and red meat yield of Montana cattle. We currently have 53,000 head of Montana
cattle enrolled in the age and source verification program. Our audits of each ranch enrolled continue to be a well received program. We are in the process of doing an economic analysis based on 590 lots (69,000 head of cattle) to determine what makes a difference in marketing Montana cattle. This information is going to be presented at the Annual Montana Stockgrowers Association meeting in Decemeber and will also be widely published in newspapers and professional journals to aid ranchers in making marketing decisions. Another major part of this program in 2007 has been the bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) herd screening. We have over 400 Montana ranches involved in this program and to date have sampled over 96,000 head of beef cattle. To make this program successful has required the cooperation of producers, veterinarians, extension agents, and the MBN staff. At this time we are receiving carcass data back on 2006 cattle. The results of this will be available at a later date.
PARTICIPANTS: Dr. John Paterson is the P.I. He is the Montana Beef Extension Specialist. He is the expert on beef issues in the state and is a sought after national speaker on issues concerning cattle. Mr. Errol Rice is the Executive Vice President for the Montana Stockgrowers Association. Mr. Rice is responsible for many of the producer meetings we attend to give our educational talks and for assisting us in communicating with the cattle producers in Montana. Mr. Clint Peck is the former editor of BEEF magazine and is the BQA coordinator for the state of Montana. He has had the task of re-writing our BQA manual and also for much of the BQA and BVD education that has gone on in the state and throughout the nation. Ryan Clark, Andy Kellom, Lindsey Wallace and Mo Harbac are research associates who do much of the work assisting Montana ranchers with notching their cattle to test for BVD, tagging their cattle for age and source verification, doing the retainability work with our
electronic tags, collecting the data from all the research and answering the day-to-day questions from Montana beef producers. All of the above individuals have assisted in training and educating or producers. We ensure that as we are on a ranch we are knowledgeable in all of our programs so we can readily answer questions concerning our programs. We have all been afforded the opportunity to take part in state and national meetings of animal scientists so that the knowledge of this team continues to grow. This same individuals provided training in age and source, BVD and BQA at annual and semi-annual meetings of Montana Stockgrower Association members, the annual county extension agent training, a series of inter-active TV programs to reach producers throughout the state that might not be able to make another meeting, 4-H winter fairs, Young Agriculture Leaders (a consortium of members from many ag groups throughout the state of Montana). By far, our most successful educational
approach is our availability and our recognition that no group is too small or too large if they want to learn
TARGET AUDIENCES: Our audiences are varied in size and knowledge. The individual rancher is the key to this program's success. We will reach him however we best can. Our most successful approach has been small group meetings throughout the state. often these meetings are hosted by a rancher who is viewed as a community leader. He might invite several neighbors and we can then reach a larger part of the populace. Our next target audience is the members of the professional cattle organizations such as Montana Stockgrowers. They have the ability to touch many ranches and we are willing educators and speakers for their conventions and regional meetings.
Impacts
The initial findings from our economic survey on Montana cattle enrolled in the age and source verification program shows that age and source verification appears to provide additional benefits over the costs of participating. For a 600 pound calf the premium received for source and age verification was $12.83 per head. The average cost of participating in a source and age verification program is $5 per head. The premium less the cost per head leaves Montana cattle producers with a profit of $7.83 per head. It should be noted that in order to be age and source verified through the MBN, the ranch operation must be a participating member of our Beef Quality Assurance program. Our desired outcome is for the majority of Montana cow calf operations to be beef quality assurance trained and certified to help meet the industry requirements for quality, consistency, safety and red meat yield. The Montana ranches that participated in our BVD study are currently completing a
survey to help us determine their knowledge of the disease, the economic impact it has had on their operation and how they have been able to use our educational programs to develop a bio-security program for their operation. The cost of the presence of at least one persistently infected (PI) animal in a beef herd has been reported to range from $14.85 to $24.84 per cow per year. We feel that the key to this program continues to be the education of Montana producers to develop a bio-security plan of which BVD testing would be a key part. We plan to continue with the educational and technical aspect of this program into the 2008 calf crop. The Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) training is on-going. Key to this program and the success of this manual is that we have taken it beyond injection shots and the physical handling of animals. Our producers are beyond that. We are now carrying this type of training into the use of feeds, the marketing and the record keeping that better allow a rancher
to truly be able to make decisions about his cattle.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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