Announcements

• The Registry department is currently about two weeks behind the mail. If you have work that needs to be completed quickly, please remember to mark RUSH on the outside of the envelope or the cover page of your fax. A rush charge of $20/item will be applied.

• The 2010 Canadian Angus Association annual meeting will be held in Halifax in June.

Important Reminder about Payment for Services

Payment is required when you submit work to the Canadian Angus Association. You can choose to keep a credit card number on file with the Canadian Angus Association in our secure database, or you can send a cheque in the mail with your paperwork.

Get Your Angus Tags

It's the busiest time of year for Angus tag orders. You can save time by ordering online.

Tips from Breed Development

If you overfeed developing heifers they deposit fat in their udders (Fatty Udder Syndrome). This results in decreased lactation which means that this heifer's calves will have lower weaning weights than they would if she fed them to her full potential. Your heifers will milk better (and have better milk EPDs) if you do not overfeed them while they are still developing.

Contact Kajal at 1-888-571-3580 if you have any questions about the EPDs or the performance program.

Ultrasound Tips

With ultrasound data being collected this time of year it is extremely important that your animals are identified correctly. Make sure your technician records the proper tattoo for the animal when submitting the barn sheets to the CUP lab. Pre-printed barn sheets are available by contacting Cheryl at the Canadian Angus office. If an animal is misidentified the data cannot be recorded and it causes delays in the processing of your reports. Also note that bulls can be scanned between the age of 320 and 440 days of age and heifers can be done between 320 and 460 days of age. For more information and a list of certified CUP technicians visit our website.

Looking to Buy a Bull?

You can find many bull sales listed on our Events Calendar. You can also look up registered animals for sale in our online sale catalogue listing. Both of these services are free if you take advantage of the Canadian Angus Association's Pedigree Extract Service.

Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed

• Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed beef can be purchased in most regions of Canada. To find a retail location or restaurant near you, visit www.rancherendorsed.com and click on "Where to Buy".

Did You Know?

• We use your email address to communicate with you regarding registration inquiries and performance inquiries as well as to send you this newsletter. If you change your email address, to be sure to let us know so we can update our records.

Business Tools for Purebred Cattle Producers

The Canadian Beef Breeds Council (CBBC), an industry organization that represents all Canadian purebred beef producers, has created  program that will help you analyze your cost of production along with the benchmarked average of all producers. The program is a management tool designed to help you make critical financial decisions. A series of "webinars" started last month, but producers can join the program at any time. If you did not receive a copy of the program, it is available online.
 

Mastering your HerdMaster

It’s “ADD A CALF” time for many Angus breeders. Just a couple points for you to remember:

Did you remember to import your INVENT_2010SRING.zip from the Canadian Angus website? Most breeders are very confused on this file. This file contains only the females that you must report calving activity if you are on the Canadian Angus Performance Program (CAPP). If you don’t report calving activity or a fate code for the dams on your inventory, you will not be compliant with CAPP and will receive Missing Data reports for those females.

Next you may want to enter some default information to the animal details screen when you add your calves. Click on SETUP/SITE OPTIONS/ then click on the Default 1 tab. Remember that even though you set up these defaults, you can still change them. For example, if you have mainly a red herd and a few blacks, you can set the colour to R and then remember to change the colour to B for those black animals. Click on Apply at the bottom.

ANIMALS/ADD A CALF: Note that the calving ease of U has already been entered because of the setting in the default. You should also check on Enforce Inventory Dam. When you click on the box to select your dam, you will only get the dams on your inventory. If for some reason, a dam is not on your inventory (i.e. recently purchased), you will have to deselect this box to find her in your data base.

The only time you enter a nurse code is when you have had twins or have fostered a calf to another dam. Refer to the breeder’s handbook for description of codes 1, 2 or 3.

When you click on Next, you will be asked to confirm the data. If you have entered matings, then the Select Mating for Calf screen will pop up allowing you to select the sire for the calf based on exposure. Remember the rule that if you have exposed the dam to another sire within 14 days, the calf must be DNA’ed to confirm the sire. Click Next.

The Animal Maintenance screen comes up allowing you to enter the animal tag, sex, select a sire if mating were not used, breed by, owner, name, tattoo, colour, etc. Some of the fields will already be filled base on your selection in default 1. Make any changes as necessary. Finally click on next and add the birth weight of the calf.

That’s it — it’s that easy. Any question give me a call 403-668-5251 or email wendy@herdmaster.ca

Wendy Newton
 

Canadian Angus Association

142, 6715 – 8 Street NE  Calgary Alberta  T2E 7H7

(403) 571-3580  ■  1-888-571-3580  ■  Fax: (403) 571-3599

www.cdnangus.ca

If you are a member of the Canadian Angus Association, you will receive this member update, which includes information on important deadlines, news and events. If you would prefer not to receive this newsletter, you may unsubscribe by replying to this email with "Unsubscribe" in the subject heading.