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cattle breeding, farming and life in general.
Gatepost's aim is to canvass new ideas and current issues. Comments are most welcome by email to gatepost@redgatestud.com.au
Ten Heifers for Beef Week - 2012
Introduction
The backbone of Redgate’s herd, like all others, is its “cow families” of which there are six – two major ones and four others. The heifers on display are predominantly from the “Rachael” and “Regina” families (simply because that is how the numbers fall at the present time) and one heifer representing the “Revival” family.
Redgate’s business is focussed on breeding superior animals for semen & embryos and marketing those genetics. To qualify for this an animal must be far better than average physically (by objective visual appraisal) and genetically (by EBV graphs).
With our industry requiring better and better bulls across the board, it is incumbent on herds such as Redgate to push the envelope and breed truly superior animals. We use AI all the time to optimise our herd’s genetic advancement.
At Redgate we are prepared to be “wrong” and make some mistakes in our breeding operations in order to come up with some animals that are truly superior. We are not prepared to accept “average” as a goal!
Redgate is marketing semen across Australia and internationally in nine countries.
Breedplan is Redgate’s benchmark
At Redgate, we simply rank our animals in the “percentile bands” for EBVs and $Indexes that are generated by Breedplan – the actual EBV and $Index numbers are of secondary importance.
All EBV Graphs show the percentiles across the bottom, 100-0 from left to right with the lower numbered percentiles on the right hand side being more favourable.
The 50th percentile is “breed average”. For simplicity we say that an animal which is ranked between the 70th & 30th percentile should be regarded as “around average” because the vast majority of animals across the Hereford breed will fall within this range and such animals can be quite acceptable.
We say that an animal which is ranked between the 30th & 10th percentile should be regarded as “above average”. Fewer animals will fall within this range.
An animal which is ranked between the 10th & 0 percentile should be regarded as “well above average” and relatively few animals will fall within this range.
Redgate objective
Redgate aims to have all females ranking “well above average” for all $Indexes and as many EBVs as possible. All the heifers displayed are in the top 10% [or 10th to 0 percentile] for $Indexes and physically, we believe they are “true to Hereford type”.
“Rachael”
Our “Rachael” cow family originates with “Allendale Cora R32” a cow purchased from the Day family in 2005. AEDR32 has done us proud and three granddaughters are displayed, REDF809, REDG908 and REDG909. Their genetic progress can be traced in the following sequences of EBV graphs: click on the animal’s ID highlighted below.
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“Regina”
Our “Regina” cow family goes back to “South Bukalong Bandana A7” a heifer purchased at the South Bukalong dispersal in 2006. SBPA007 was an exceptional heifer from which we have had natural and ET calves. Six progeny are displayed – REDF304, REDF306, REDF807, REDF808, REDF913 and REDG905.
F304 and F306 are full sisters by “Koanui Rocket” out of A7 and F807 and G905 are full sisters by “Allendale National” out of REDD828. Their genetic progress can be traced in the following sequences of EBV graphs: click on the animal’s ID highlighted below.
“Revival”
The “Revival” cow family also originates from the South Bukalong dispersal when we purchased “South Bukalong Favourite” SBPY639. We have made steady progress here and a young heifer REDG907 is displayed.
Again genetic progress can be traced in the following sequence of EBV graphs: click on the animal’s ID highlighted below.
Heat stress…
As a general rule, cattle are affected by heat stress once the maximum daily air temperature exceeds 25 deg C at low humidity and 22 deg C at high humidity.
Feed intake drops by 10-20% during heat stress resulting in a loss of milk production of 10-25%.
Managing cattle during times of heat stress is very important and requires -
- access to adequate shade;
- ample supply of fresh water; and
- feeding enzymes to break down fibre in the rumen.
Summer pasture tends to have a high component of coarse fibre (mature ryegrass or phalaris) which needs to be broken down in the rumen.
A simple approach to Breedplan…
In Breedplan all EBVs and Indexes are published in a range of “top” to “low” values. Click here for the current table of "percentile bands".
Our approach is simply to be guided by the EBV graphs. The graphs give a “picture” which is worth more than a thousand words (or numbers)!
All EBV Graph show the percentiles across the bottom, 100-0 from left to right with the lower numbered percentiles on the right hand side being more favourable.
The 50th percentile is “breed average”. For simplicity we say that an animal which is ranked between the 70th & 30th percentile should be regarded as “around average” because the vast majority of animals across the Hereford breed will fall within this range and such animals can be quite acceptable.
We say that an animal which is ranked between the 30th & 10th percentile should be regarded as “above average”. Fewer animals will fall within this range.
An animal which is ranked between the 10th & 0 percentile should be regarded as “well above average” and relatively few animals will fall within this range.
To access an EBV graph for any animal –
- Open the HAL website www.herefordsaustralia.com.au
- Click on “Database search”
- Click on “EBV search”
- Click on “EBV enquiry”
- Enter animal registration ID in second field and “press enter”
- Click on words “EBV graph” or graph “Icon”.
When the graph appears, the numbers (100, 90 etc to 10, 0) across the bottom from left to right and vertical grid-lines, show the percentile bands and the coloured horizontal bars depict the EBVs and Indexes for that animal.
Different colours for EBVs show them in relevant groupings (for example, green = growth, blue = carcass).
Breedplan has its flaws but at least it is an objective yardstick of likely genetic performance.
Quotable…
“If your vision can be accomplished in your lifetime, it’s too small.”
Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm, Virginia, USA
Redgate genetics – ‘opening new opportunities’.