The Link
Putting a face to a name.
What is your favorite part of Angus Convention?
Mine is meeting the cattlemen and women we have the opportunity to work with when they enroll in the Association’s value-added program, AngusLinkSM. Last year Jordan and Jennie Willis from Wyoming made the trek to Reno, Nev., to take in the educational programs during the Convention and meet Sarah Woods, commercial programs administrator.
Jordan and Jennie have been utilizing the Association’s commercial programs for the past five years. They sell their calves on the video auction and retain their own replacement heifers.
“Enrolling in AngusLink doesn’t require any additional recordkeeping,” says Jordan. “Plus, if I’m running behind, Sarah will call and remind it’s time to get started. She lays out what you need and will provide forms for the next year. The Association is definitely customer-service minded, and it costs less.”
This past year the Willises not only enrolled in the age-and-source program, they added the Non-Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC) claim and the Genetic Merit Scores®. They also use the marketing document that is provided with every enrollment. This past year Jennie commented they had a new buyer for their calves.
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Sarah Woods (left) and Jordan Willis finally meet face to face at the Angus Convention after working together for years. |
The Willises have always taken advantage of the marketing document because they feel it’s the backbone of the AngusLink Processed Verified Program (PVP). Producers have the option to update their marketing document with their management and selling information. The updated document is emailed to more than 800 potential buyers. Plus producers can post videos of their AngusLink calves in our Facebook group, AngusLink Marketing.
Jordan and Jennie believe in technology. They understand it’s important to set their calves apart from the rest, especially on sale day. They buy quality Angus bulls and used the Genetic Merit Scorecard to show potential buyers the value under the calves’ black hide. The three scores are made of up of the Beef Score, Feedlot Score and Grid Score. These scores show potential for feedyard performance and carcass value. They use the extensive American Angus Association database to calculate an index score from 1-200, with 100 being the industry average year over year.
“This is another great tool that the Association provides,” says Jordan.
“Working with the Willises is something I look forward to each year,” comments Woods. “They keep fantastic records, and both Jennie and Jordan make the enrollment process easy because they don’t wait until the last minute.”
Last year at the summer video sales, calves enrolled in value-added programs like AngusLink, on average, saw monetary rewards on sale day. Calves enrolled in NHTC averaged $5.76 more per hundredweight (cwt.) compared to non-enrolled calves, while NHTC/NeverEver3 (NE3) calves saw an increase of $7.87 per cwt. Producers who added Global Animal Partnership (GAP) verification to their NHTC/NE3 enrollment earned $13.49 per cwt. more on average last summer.
In early video sales this year, calves enrolled in the value-added programs are definitely doing much better than non-enrolled calves.
If you are looking to add more value to your calves this year, now is the time to call the Commercial Programs department to learn more about how AngusLink can benefit your feeder calves on sale day. You can call administrators directly: Sarah Woods at 816-383-5161; Emily Vinton at 816-383-5183; and Molly Wood at 816-383-5121.
Editor’s note: Ginette Gottswiller is the director of verification services at the American Angus Association.
