THE Compliance Reports

By now most members will have received their THE compliance reports. These new reports are designed to help with identifying animals that may have missed having data submitted. The CSA appreciates that you as breeders are busy and sometimes data entry gets pushed to the back burner or is done while burning the midnight oil. If you do have cattle identified in the reports as missing information, please try to complete their profiles as it can directly impact your herds' resulting EPD. This is particularly true in the case of reporting on inferior animals. Lack of information on these cattle actually harms the EPD on the best performers in the herd. As well, reporting disposal information is important, both to keep your cow inventory current, but also to properly identify genetic for stay ability in the cow herd.

BOLT and Percentile Ranks

Animals reported from the genetic evaluation have an EPD and Accuracy reported and also have a percentile rank for that EPD presented online. The EPD and Accuracy should match those published by other associations on the same animal, however the percentile rank is calculated within the Canadian Simmental Association data and is a description of where that animal fits for the trait, relative to the current Canadian population (All calves born in the last 2 years). When looking at percentile ranks for the same animal in other associations, such as ASA, please be aware that their percentile ranks are comparing the animal within their specific population or sub population. Fullblood ranks are available in Canada on request from the CSA office. This report ranks fullblood cattle in relation to other Fullbloods born in the last 2 years.

Example: BH Right Time 520E Calving Ease EPD (November 30, 2018)

CSA EPD 7.2 Acc 0.78 Percentile 45

ASA EPD 7.2 Acc 0.78 Percentile 85

Right Time has the same EPD from the evaluation calculated from all of the combined data on his progeny, however on the Canadian site he is being compared to all calves born in the last 2 years. 45% of the Canadian cattle born in the last 2 years will have easier calving and 55% of the Canadian born cattle will have more difficult calvings than BH Right Time when mated to the same group of heifers.

In the US site he is being compared to US born purebreds and so ranks much lower.

API and TI

Many breeders may now be aware of the All Purpose Index (API) and Terminal Index (TI) that are presented on the CSA site. These indexes combine relevant EPD to produce a value (API or TI) that reflects the relative economic contribution of the traits that make the index. The Indexes balance the EPD based on their income/expense relationships to the production system. The API describes a system where a sire is used to produce replacement females that are kept in the herd, with the remaining cattle finished and sold on a value based grid. The TI describes a system where the sire is used to produce terminal mating's and all calves are fed to slaughter and sold on a value based grid marketing program. Depending on the system you are selecting Simmental genetics for will determine which index best fits your production systems and overall goals.

Ultrasound

While several breeders are already collecting ultrasound on their Simmental seed-stock, there is still a very small percentage of Simmental animals that are scanned every year. This data is very important to help assess the carcass contribution of Simmental to the industry, particularly since they represent such a large percentage of the cowherd. The only new money that enters the beef production chain comes from consumers buying beef. Scanning is relatively inexpensive, is non invasive and our Canadian ultrasound technicians are very friendly folks. Cattle can be scanned from 300 to 440 days of age. A list of technicians can be found at

https://www.cuplab.com/FindATechnician.aspx .  We have technicians in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta and they do travel. In many cases if you can partner with a neighbor or two you can greatly reduce travel costs. Ultrasound may help to find new markets for your seed-stock, however it may pay to consider scanning your replacement heifer pen, as each female will bring that record with her into your production program as well as informing you about her sire and dam. Over the course of a few years you can have an entire cowherd with a background of carcass information.