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The Source
I want my coffee.
Mmmm, I love the smell of coffee brewing. It makes me happy, and sometimes it can pull me out of a funk depending upon the problem. Routine always seems to help me a little when the road of life throws me curves and potholes. Sometimes, though, I just need to break out of my comfort zone and head down a different road.
The past couple of years AngusSource® has seen a few changes as well. Sometimes I just want to sit and drink a cup of coffee, but the internet, smartphone, customers and a few other external forces won’t let me. The world has changed, too. Heck, even coffee has changed.
The latest change has definitely been for the better. The newest Process Verified Program (PVP) point that has been added to AngusSource for our loyal Angus commercial customers is the Angus-sired Genetic component. Last year we changed the base enrollment in AngusSource to group age and source. During June 2018 AngusSource added the following claims to the verification lineup: Non-Hormone Treated Cattle, NeverEver 3, Calf Management, and Cattle Care and Handling.
I’m sure many of our customers recall we operated a program called Gateway for non-Angus sired calves. Last year we did away with Gateway, too. Many of our customers didn’t like having different-colored tags in the calves’ ears, especially if you sell your calves at the sale barn. I get it. Anything different causes the barn to sort a calf off.
We went to one program, AngusSource. The other major change was doing away with the visual tag and going strictly to a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag. Feedyard buyers told us they would no longer pay extra for calves just wearing a dangle tag for age and source verification. Several producers are not happy. Some decided not to enroll their calves. I don’t feel right selling you a product I know potential buyers don’t want. If you really want a dangle tag to go with your RFID tag, just ask. We can fix you up with a matched pair set.
Now that the weather is starting to turn a little more spring-like, it will definitely be time to start thinking about your marketing plans. You are more than likely already keeping every record you would need to enroll in group age and source verification and NHTC. If your outfit documents which calves are administered antibiotics, you could potentially enroll in NeverEver 3.
Every day a producer calls asking what would the premium be if they enrolled in those programs. So let’s just go on and dump the old, scorched coffee out of the pot. If you don’t have cattle that will gain and grade or stay healthy, there may not be a buyer out there who cares if you put whipped cream on every cup of calf. They just may not be interested.
Now I can tell you some average incentives that have been calculated over many years of data collection. An eight-year average (2010-2018) saw calves enrolled in age and source verification receiving around $2.05 per hundredweight (cwt.). On a load lot of 650-lb. calves, that equates to around $1,000. Last year, in 2018, calves enrolled in NHTC netted around $2.30 per cwt. Using the same load lot of 650-lb. calves would give you about $1,100. Needless to say the low cost of enrollment in AngusSource verification programs definitely gives you the most dollars in your pocket.
In years past producers who enrolled in AngusSource with the genetic component received more money than calves that were only group age and source verified. It is obvious buyers want to know the quality of the Angus bulls that are being used to sire the calf crop. If you are using high-quality Angus bulls, take the time to explore our newest commercial program, Angus LinkSM.
Everyone in the Commercial Programs Department wants you to enjoy your enrollment experience and reap the rewards of the time and money you spend with us. So grab a cup of coffee that hasn’t scorched and give us a call at 816-383-5100 to learn more about the changes and latest happenings in the Commercial Programs Department at the American Angus Association.
Editor’s note: Ginette Gottswiller is the director of commercial programs at the American Angus Association.
