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Large Number of Cattlemen Take Advantage of Services Offered by eMerge Interactive by Jill J. Dunkel In spite of some initial skepticism on the part of U.S. cattlemen, eMerge Interactive is making its mark in the beef industry. Since January of 2000, when the company began its first full year of operation, a large number of cattlemen have jumped on board, taking advantage of many features eMerge has to offer. More than 330 feedyards, representing 60 percent of U.S. feedyard capacity, now utilize the company's operations-management tools. By last December, over 1.7 million head of cattle had been marketed through its CattleinfoNet(TM) information-management and marketing network, with 2001 transactions expected to reach 4 million head. And, according to eMerge, the company remains in solid financial shape, with $43 million in cash and cash equivalents. For those who are still skeptical of eMerge Interactive, their doubts often lie in not understanding exactly what the company is all about. To answer many of those questions, Feed.Lot Magazine went searching for answers. According to Chris Corsbie, Director of Marketing Communications, eMerge Interactive is a technology-based company that is working to establish a national cattle business infrastructure to allow commerce and information to efficiently flow throughout the production chain. By tapping into all necessary facets of the beef industry, eMerge is working to facilitate broad improvements and improved profitability in the beef-production process, he says. But what does that mean? It means that eMerge officials know that in order for the beef industry to better compete with other sources of protein, it has to work together from the producer, through the stocker and feeder phases, all the way to the packer and ultimately the retailer. In order for cattlemen to produce a high-quality end product, each segment must share information about the product up and down the production line. This information aids in fine-tuning the product, encouraging good performers, eliminating outliers, and promoting consistency. Managing cattle throughout the beef-production system also ultimately reduces costs through added efficiency and value. But this is a daunting task. So eMerge took advantage of available technology -- including the Internet -- to help make it happen by establishing a multi-faceted business network for the beef industry called CattleinfoNet. eMerge and its CattleinfoNet network are the result of many individuals' input to keep the beef industry moving in the right direction. We're incorporating a lot of people's ideas together in one company," says Scott Crain, D.V.M., Vice President of Strategic Planning for eMerge. Work in Feedlots eMerge initially targeted the feeding industry due to the relatively small concentration of businesses handling very large numbers of cattle. Last fall, eMerge introduced the eMerge Interactive Platform (eIP), a satellite-based hardware/software system designed to provide high-speed, wide-bandwidth Internet connectivity. With eIP, even customers in rural areas without reliable Internet access can participate in real-time premium network auctions and view full-motion video of all cattle, buy products and supplies online while managing their inventory records, and take full advantage of such data-intensive management tools as CattleinfoNet Interactive Manager(TM). How can this program help a feedyard manager? Well, Interactive Manager is an application custom-designed to aid feedyards in the decision-making process. It allows users to monitor such parameters as consumption, morbidity and mortality, and to make management decisions based on current market situations. This can also be monitored in conjunction with their veterinarians and nutritionists, who can be given remote access to the data this application generates. Interactive Manager also offers benchmarking, so a feedyard manager can compare his results to those of other feedyards of similar size and location -- a capability that evolved from the Performance Management Systems reports of PCC (Professional Cattle Consultants), which was purchased by eMerge in 1999. However Interactive Manager offers these comparisons day-to-day, rather than on a monthly basis. Information for All Cattlemen eMerge believes information plays a key role in efficient beef production. With this in mind, eMerge's Cattleinfonet.com Web-site offers many areas of interest to beef producers, including commodity prices, weather and news. CattleinfoNet.com also offers an Interactive MarketPlace(TM). This online arena provides cattlemen a platform for buying and selling cattle, either in real-time during bi-monthly internet auctions, or by looking through lots posted with eMerge's brokering service. It also allows cattlemen to purchase a variety of products, from animal health products to office supplies. But won't this marketplace eventually put product suppliers out of business? "Absolutely not," according to Corsbie. "We are giving suppliers the opportunity to conduct e-commerce without having to develop costly sites of their own. What if a business wants to maintain the relationship with their animal health sales person? "When people order from the Interactive MarketPlace, suppliers will either ship the products to them or their current animal health sales representative will deliver the products as always. Customers also can take advantage of pre-existing prices or promotions they have with that supplier," Corsbie explains. Premium Network Auctions In order for producers to receive premiums for quality cattle, eMerge has capitalized on the Premium Auction model initiated by Jordan Cattle Auction, which is now a CattleinfoNet Interactive Facility(TM). It allows for electronic identification of individual animals, each "de-commoditized" with a permanent record of the care it's been given -- including weaning and pre-conditioning. This model also allows for comingling of cattle to form large uniform drafts of cattle, pro- cess-verified or not. As more and more livestock markets become CattleinfoNet Interactive Facilities, process-verified, comingled cattle will be available across the country, and all of these cattle can be tracked using eMerge's CattleLog' system. CattleLog eMerge's CattleLog animal-tracking and information-management system includes a handheld computer that captures individual animal data in the field or at chute-side. Once information is loaded, it can be reviewed and analyzed immediately, then uploaded, over the Internet, into the secure, password protected CattleinfoNet database. Through the database, it can be accessed and augmented by subsequent owners. "The calf's health, processing records and feed-consumption history are passed down the production chain," says Crain. In addition, CattleLog will one day enable carcass information to go back to the feedyard and ultimately the producer. It All Ties Together "We're developing an entire system that -- until now -- didn't exist," says Crain. "The cattle industry is undergoing a major makeover. The results will benefit every link in the chain, from ranchers to the consumer, with technology leveraging the information. "There is unparalleled opportunity for profit in the cattle industry. The beef economy in the U.S. is $94 billion a year, with the production side receiving $40 billion and retail sales $55 billion. CattleinfoNet is adding profit to the production side while enhancing customer satisfaction," Crain explains. With demand for beef increasing, there's never been a better time for beef producers to share a larger portion of the profit. |
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