The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
9/10/2008 column
I love the fall season. Harvest time has its own rhythm and rituals. Nothing beats a sunny fall afternoon driving chopper boxes listening to a Twin’s baseball game. It gives your mind time to wonder between loads and pitches. In my wonderings, I’ve come to the conclusion that baseball and breeding cattle have quite a bit in common. Both rely upon relevant and irrelevant statistics.
September is pennant race time between the Twins and White Soxs this year. We listen everyday to hear if we’ve closed the gap between us and Chicago. September is also the time the dust has settled from the August bull proofs. For the last two weeks, the kids have been pouring over the Red Book to find bulls they are interested in using on their favorite cows. They are closing the gap on their choices, but are sometimes frustrated with the final breakdown of information.
The pace of a baseball game allows for the announcers to spout off the most obscure fact or statistic. Everything is analyzed and calculated. It’s like bulls proofs. Everything can be figured out, but what does it truly mean?
Baseball figures the odds of a batter hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with a 3-2 count against a left-handed pitcher with a southwesterly breeze blowing on a Thursday evening at 10:30 central standard time. What are the chances and do all of the facts contribute to the outcome?
Productive life statics in bull proofs remind me of obscure baseball facts. What are the chances? There are so many factors to consider in the calculations of productive life that are not a part a bull’s genetic make-up. There is management, feed, weather and luck. PL is a low heritable trait, but some in the dairy industry are putting a high emphasis on this single trait. Most bull’s PL is based on his sire and dam’s sire statistics. I think good bulls are going to be missed because we focus on figures that may not have the biggest genetic impact on our herds.
We look at productive life in three different areas…foot and leg…udder composite and stature/strength. These three areas will have the largest impact on production and hence the productive life of an animal.
The industry continues to find different ways of locating the genetically perfect animal. Today we are testing males and females to discover their genomic traits. It is a breakdown of an animal’s DNA. This information is being used by some AI companies to select future bulls to prove out. Hopefully this new information will benefit both the breeders and AI companies in developing a longer lasting and more pro I agree that we have health issues that must be dealt with in the industry. We need to keep looking at ways to improve our animals, but with reliable and relevant statistics. Our AI technician pointed out that 40 years ago, the goal was to breed the prefect cow. We’re still trying to find her. As the generations progress, the model of this perfect animal continues to adapt to the needs of today’s market.
It looks like we’re still in a pennant race for a few more generations. I guess we will keep on batting and hoping for that grand slam homerun in the bottom of the ninth.
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As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.