The Source
Make marketing your New Year’s resolution.
How can you make marketing a priority without blowing up your budget or bank account?
One way is to always look for the best deal. AngusSource® now offers every cattle producer the option to enroll their calves in a USDA Process Verified Program (PVP). This year AngusSource added four programs and updated the original program. Today, everyone, no matter what breed of beef cattle you own, can enroll your calves in AngusSource. We updated our original program by removing the genetic component. In addition, we added Non-Hormone-Treated Cattle (NHTC), AngusSource Never-Ever 3 (AS-NE3), AngusSource Cattle Care and Handling (AS-CCH) and AngusSource Calf Management (AS-CM).
AngusSource has the best enrollment deals around. Below are some prices so you can compare our prices by headcount with other programs on the market. If you choose NHTC and AS-NE3, an on-site visit is required for each enrollment. Travel costs are not included in the estimate (Click graphs to open in browser).
Plus no other program helps market your cattle quite like AngusSource. Producers who let us know when and where they plan to sell their AngusSource-enrolled calves have the option to document additional management practices and have their calves listed on our AngusSource website.
Currently AngusSource sends out an email to more than 800 potential buyers telling them the week your calves will be marketed. The week you list your calves, AngusSource generates another email on Tuesday with every new listing so potential buyers can mark their calendar when your calves will be selling. We don’t sell our buyers list, nor does AngusSource use the list for any other correspondence. Buyers are comfortable signing up and staying in the know. Again, this is another great value that is just part of the package to help you get more money for your enrolled calves.
More money is really what it is all about. During the last eight years, it has been documented that calves enrolled in an age-and-source program bring approximately $2.05 per hundredweight (cwt.) more than calves not enrolled.
If you use a 650-pound (lb.) calf, that equates to almost $1,000 per load gain over nonenrolled calves. NHTC is another popular program that resulted in additional revenue last year. That program saw increased returns of approximately $2.30 per cwt.
If you use a 650-lb. calf, the extra income would be around $1,100 if you sold a load lot. Utilizing value-added programs should be considered as a marketing tool to increase your profits.
Education is another way to increase your marketing skills, and this year the Angus Convention is heading west to Reno, Nev. In honor of the Convention’s debut in the West, Allflex USA is sponsoring a promotion. For every 50 head enrolled in AngusSource or Angus LinkSM Jan. 1 through July 31, they are entered in a drawing. Each month, a winner will be recognized and become eligible for the grand-prize trip: two roundtrip airline tickets to Reno and a hotel stay for two for the three nights at the 2019 Angus Convention.
Monthly winners will receive an item from the Angus Brand Store. The American Angus Association will provide free registration to the grand-prize winners so they can enjoy and learn at the top-of-the-line educational events at the 2019 Angus Convention.
This new year, start thinking about your marketing plan, and include the commercial programs such as AngusSource and Angus Link on your bucket list for 2019!
Editor’s note: Ginette Gottswiller is the director of commercial programs at the American Angus Association.
