CALF_News_Oct_Nov_2018

12 CALF News • October | November 2018 • www.calfnews.net All In Ever-Evolving Tools of the Trade  CALF VOICES By Chris McClure Contributing Editor W hen we think about technol- ogy, our minds typically go directly to things like cell phones an d computers. We forget that technology is, essentially, tools. This fact really hit home with me since I am writing this from San Anto- nio, which is where, in some ways, the modern cattle industry began. While here, I spent some time in the Briscoe Museum of Western Art. The paintings and photographs spanned a period from the 1800s to the present. Many of them depict various tools of the trade in use through the years – every- thing from a rawhide lariat to a recent photo of cattle processing on a very large Arizona ranch. The museum also included a display of saddles from the 1700s to the present. That is one area in which the external appearance hasn’t changed as dramatically as some things, but the internal technology has advanced. Today, we still use many of the same tools that have been in use for a few hundred years, but we have added many new items to the arsenal. Computers, cell phones, digital thermometers, ultrasound imagery, auscultation equipment and other high-tech tools are found along- side branding irons and pocket knives. Although not commonly seen in the feedlot today, computer printouts with DNA test results are now often found chute side as a tool for sorting animals based on their genetic potential. Appli- cation of that technology to seedstock operations has become commonplace, but more recently it is being used as a tool to aid in projecting performance for feeder cattle. An area that we don’t necessarily think of as technology is in the application of the results of technology.What I am refer- ring to is the use of data analytics.We collect hundreds of data points on every animal that is fed – everything from its tag number and receiving weight to what it is fed on a daily basis, if it is treated for health issues and the response to that treatment and carcass data at harvest. Health data is certainly important because of the implications for perfor- mance, but it is only a small part of what is collected and potentially accessible for analysis. As we see the demand for individual animal information to increase due to consumer preferences, the amount of data that will be collected will increase exponentially. Being able to analyze that data and turn it into usable information will be crucial for meeting consumer demand and for operating efficiently. In a few years it will likely be neces- sary to couple the genetic profile of an animal to health, feeding and implant data in order to project an optimal feeding period and weight for individual animals – not just a group-based assess- ment based on experience and educated guesses. Feeding to the average leaves a lot of money on the table. Sorting beef in the box doesn’t help the cattle feeder; it helps the packer. It is no different than paying more for pre- conditioned calves than you would for “road-weaned” calves. There is a willing- ness to pay for added value. The grids are designed to reward certain behavior. Yes, it is all about pounds, but pounds can be gained in many ways, and some pounds are worth more than others. Increasing the average carcass weight for a pen of cattle is rewarded, but it is rewarded even more for high-yielding cattle that have less waste. Those grids also are skewed toward quality. Cattle grow apart over time. Identify- ing those animals that may grow slowly, but are highly efficient, can also be an area for improving the average in a pen. If those animals can be grouped and fed according to their growth characteris- tics rather than being fed to the average in a pen with high variability, they will become money makers rather than the ones that hold the average down. Such animals may require that some feedyards re-think the way they charge their customers; rather than a markup on feed, maybe a per-head daily charge is the answer. That way it doesn’t matter how much an animal eats on a daily basis, he still pays the “hotel” bill and will make the cattle feeder more money because he isn’t being sold before he should be ready to market. It all comes back to knowledge. I believe knowledge is the new frontier of technology. We need to know more about the animals we are feeding. We need to better understand what drives their performance and construct systems that allow us to optimize their genetic potential while remaining efficient in how we operate our businesses. Data- driven decision-making must be a constant. We need tools that will allow us to know immediately when something is not right and then allow us the ability to “drill down” into the data behind the information to determine what is truly happening. Sometimes what we think we know is a fiction. We need to replace fiction with fact. It is easy to see if a lariat is working; it will either hold the animal you catch, or not. It is usually human failure that causes technology to fail. I’ve never been much good with a rope. When it comes to implants, though, how do you know if an animal is responding to that implant in the way it was designed? He may not have the genetic potential to respond, whereas his pen mate may respond dra- matically. Unless you know the animal’s genetic capability to respond to an implant and then measure that response, you may be wasting your money. Other areas also can be influenced by genetics, but how do we know if we don’t measure? Knowledge is the new frontier of technology and data is the currency. We all need to become more fluent .  E-mail comments to cpaladinmc@hotmail.com