The Angus Conversation recaps the most recent Board meeting
A state of constant improvement — if there was a phrase to sum up the work the American Angus Association Board did this week and the updates they heard from staff, that would be it.
“Angus is strong right now, very strong,” said Barry Pollard, Enid, Okla., chairman of the Board. “You look at the bull sales and the cattle sales across the country, things are looking great. I think a lot of that’s due to the data that we’ve collected through the years and everything that we’ve done to build a database and Angus Genetics and everything that we stand for.”
Pollard and fellow Board member Jerry Theis, Leavenworth, Kan., along with Kelli Retallick-Riley, president of Angus Genetics Inc., joined The Angus Conversation at the conclusion of the Board meeting to summarize the discussions around the table.
This episode focuses on “core” updates to the National Cattle Evaluation, a discussion around parentage protocols and a rundown of the improvements of genetic tools for commercial cattlemen, including additions to AngusLinkSM and GeneMax® Advantage™.
As rebuilding starts to take hold, Pollard says it’s the ideal time to give commercial cattlemen more data on their Angus-influenced animals.
“Whenever you can use the tools to evaluate and select that commercial cow that you want to put in your herd that will produce a calf that’s worth more than a regular, average cow, then why not take that opportunity? It’s really an opportunity for them to come back and replace that herd with better cattle and make potentially more profit,” he said.
The AGI team will be busy this spring completing those projects and also working on routine updates to the National Cattle Evaluation. That includes the annual economic assumptions updates for inclusion in the indexes and updating the core group of animals that the single-step evaluation model uses in the weekly data run.
“It keeps us current and accurate, but it also helps us speed up our times,” said Retallick-Riley, noting the number of data points in the set has increased exponentially since the last update.
The Board discussed heifer pregnancy contemporary groups, parentage protocols, photo editing and more. This episode includes notes from each of the entities and the National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) board and an encouraging outlook for the year ahead.
“All segments of our membership are represented well [on the Board], and I take a lot of pride in that in seeing that that’s how we function,” Theis said.
To hear the full episode, “Board Recap: National Cattle Evaluation Improvements, Parent Protocols, the Role of Angus in Herd Rebuilding and More,” search for The Angus Conversation anywhere you get your podcasts, or follow this direct link: