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Cornell University Study Validates Advanced Individual Animal Feed Pro-ration Methodology Leading beef industry nutritionists from around the country learned about the latest research validating a critical piece of the individual animal profitability puzzle at the spring meeting of the Plains Nutrition Council in San Antonio, April 6. Matt Cravey of Micro Beef Technologies presented the results of a study conducted by the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University testing the accuracy of the individual animal feed pro-ration methodology used in Micro Beef's ACCU-TRAC Electronic Cattle Management System (ECM). The study indicates an average prediction accuracy of over 99 percent across all cattle. The complete study results will be published in the Journal of Animal Science later this year. A study currently being conducted at Mississippi State University (Williams, et al.) indicates similar results. ECM is an individual animal value-based management system. The feedyard component of the ECM system uses multiple objective measurements on each individual animal to sort cattle at their own optimum economic endpoints. This requires comingling and allows the feedyard to ship uniform groups of cattle for maximum marketing profitability rather than incurring the costs associated with pen topping. "How do I know that I'm not paying for someone else's feed?" is an expected and often-asked question from new users of the ECM system, according to Dr. Cravey. When a person's cattle are comingled with other cattle, it is natural to expect some hesitancy about the feed bill because of the expectations built into cattle feeders from the traditional way feed has been billed in the past. Historically, only one ownership has been represented in any one pen of cattle in a feedyard, so billing was unsophisticated. All the feed that went into that bunk was charged to a single owner. "Today, producing a more consistent carcass is rapidly becoming the expectation rather than the exception." Dr. Cravey maintains. "And value-based marketing is driving change in our production processes. The new feed pro-rationing system is just one example of that," he adds. Here is how the ECM feed pro-ration methodology works. The actual feed fed to each pen is recorded. The Projected Dry Matter Requirements (PDMR) for observed Average Daily Gain (ADG) is calculated for each animal each day. A ratio of each individual's PDMR to the total projected for the pen is calculated. Each ratio is multiplied times the actual feed fed to the the individual animal's billing share. Then all the billing shares for each lot are added up and that owner is billed for the feed fed to his cattle only. In a value-based marketing situation, the cattle feeder often does not know all the costs associated with hitting the carcass targets, avoiding the discounts and still maintaining production efficiencies. "This is especially true of management practices that target only one characteristic such as a Choice quality grade. But with the ECM method, cattle feeders can know that the all-critical feed cost is accurate and that they aren't paying for someone else's feed," says Dr. Cravey. In the Cornell study, a feedlot data set of 12,106 steers and heifers that were managed under the ECM system at a commercial feedyard was analyzed. Total feed DM (dry matter) delivered verses the sum of each animal's predicted DM required was compared. The results show DM required was predicted with great accuracy and very little bias (-0.91 percent for steers and 0.89% for heifers). The daily DM requirement prediction accuracy is being tested in the Mississippi State study; also with 48 steers that are being individually fed a feedlot ration. Through 84 days on feed, ECM's average feed pro-ration prediction error is less than one percent. For more information please contact Dr. Cravey at 800-858-4330 or mcravey@microbeef.com. |
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