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Three years ago John Todd started tagging his calves going into the feedyard. Two years ago, he started tagging his calves at weaning. Last year, he started tagging them around 75 days old. The Georgia rancher now tracks his cattle from branding through slaughter. He tracks them through summer grazing, fall grazing and the feedyard. He obtains performance data from the feedyard and carcass data from the packing house. Todd wanted to establish benchmarks along the production trail so it would give them a better idea of how to sort the cattle. "This year, in 1999, we've now tagged all of our cattle, 100 percent of everything we own, with electronic ear tags," Todd said. "We've also gathered information on our cows." They don't match up calves with their mothers. He looks for group dynamics. He sorts the calves that aren't doing well, mothers them up and either eliminates them or puts them in a different breeding program. The reason is simple -- more revenue. While he's not trying to establish a branded product, he is trying to improve the product and establish carcass value with a packer or retailer. Todd's looking for 55 to 60 percent Choice, or about 95 to 97 percent Select or Choice with an 85 to 87 percent yield grade ones and twos. His cattle include crosses of Brahman, Beefmaster, Gelbveih and Charolais. The calves are sorted as they come into the feedyard. The light weights are often sorted again at reimplanting. Each has an electronic ear tag. Using that ear tag, Todd can trace those calves back to the ranch, the herd and the bull that sired them, all electronically. This information will eventually give him the ability to see how the herd's genetics work and plan his breeding programs accordingly. Todd plans on using the information to put together individual herds and market those herds if they don't fit the program, or rebreed them using other bulls. His initial cost has been about $.475 a calf, including tags and computers. He figured the program paid for itself in the first year. Under the grid he uses, the system returns about $40 a head at the top end. It has cut his losses at the bottom end to almost nothing. Todd has sold cattle to three different packers and has not had a problem getting carcass data back. Most recently, he sold his cattle to Excel. He said he is able to use the data he has collected to go to the packer and negotiate a better pricing grid because the packer can see the evidence of what to expect from his cattle. "We're extremely satisfied with what we've done and the way it's working," Todd said. "It's not complicated at all." |
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