Page 21 - MWC 9-10-20s

can help a customer navigate
the options and hone in on
just the type of bull he’s look-
ing for.
“If I am not able to sell
these bulls at the door, I will
make a feeder steer out of
them,” David said. “We fall
into a harder situation in the
area that I live. There are
only a handful of large farms
that need a bull, and usually
not much more than one. So, I
have to rely on people willing
to travel to find a bull. When
that’s the case, I have to have
bulls that check all the boxes.
Each bull's performance
numbers have to match his
EPDs.”
Ironically, in the midst of
the COVID crisis, when the
23rd Annual Windy Hill Cha-
rolais Farms Gateway Get-
away spring sale had to be
cancelled, David said they
still moved bulls.
“We had our best spring
BEEF GENETIC
continued from page 7
Steps to sorting information advice to those who are new detailed descriptions about and veterinarian.
There is a lot of informa- to the business.
tion available to producers
ANNUAL PRODUCTION SALE
Saturday, March 27th, 2021
Selling easy calving, high growth, structurally sound
bulls with excellent dispositions, and a select offering of
replacement females.
Registered • Polled • Excellent Dispositions
www.8storyfarms.com
The Midwest Cattleman · September 10, 2020 · P21
ever,” he said. “I thought I ebrated 58 years of marriage
was going to sell out of bulls and 50 years in the Charo-
at one point. People were lais breed in 2016. These are
switching bulls or buying the Bonackers, who have
bulls in February and March never promoted Windy Hill
and were looking for a specif- as much as they have simply
ic type of bull.” promoted Charolais.
Breeder integrity may also “Always, we've held to
have played a major role for the notion that if you want-
such success. After all, this is ed to come to Windy Hill to
the Bonacker family, whose look at cattle, great,” David
patriarch and matriarch cel- said. “But, if you wanted to
when making bull selections. respective breed association’s important to their operation,”
Weaber offers the following website and you’ll find really said Brad White, BCI director
each trait,” Weaber said.
“Go out and look at your There are some common
traits across many breeds.
Here are the key ones Wea-
ber encourages producers pay
attention to depending on the
goals of their breeding pro-
gram.
Calving Ease Direct —
Measures how easily a sire’s
calves are born based on calv-
ing ease score data and birth
weight data from progeny of
first calf heifers. Weaber said
this measurement is helpful
in managing calving dystocia.
Weaning and Yearling
Weight — These are two
EPDs that describe the ad-
justed weight of the pounds of
calf at weaning and yearling
ages, respectively.
Maternal Milk — De-
scribes the differences in the
calf weaning weight that are
due to having a common ma-
ternal grandsire. It monitors
the maternal effect of a sire’s
daughters and is reported
in pounds of calf weaning
weight.
Marbling — This a termi-
nal carcass trait that predicts
the amount of ribeye mar-
bling a beef animal will have
at harvest.
“The bottom line is that AgUpdate.com
producers need to focus on
things that are economically
go look at another Missouri
Charolais breeder, we didn’t
care. We just wanted you to
get into Charolais genetics,
knowing that once you did,
they would prove themselves
and you would want to keep
using them.”
The Bonackers were hon-
ored in 2014 as the Missouri
State Fair Beef Family, having
shown cattle at the fair for 40
years at that time. That same
year, Stanley and Mary had
the National Charolais show
dedicated to them, recognized
specifically for the way they
always promoted Charolais
first, then the farm.
Lots of change has taken
place at Windy Hill Charolais
Farms in 50 years. One thing
has remained the same - the
Charolais breed is woven
tightly to the Bonacker name.
Using indexes
To help producers connect
to the economically important
data, Weaber advises his cli-
ents to look at indexes when
making sire selections.
basically
“Indexes
are
EPDs for profit at a particu-
lar endpoint,” Weaber said.
He cited the examples of the
$Maternal Weaned Calf Value
versus the $Beef Value index
both reported by the Ameri-
can Angus Association.
“The $M index reports a
profit value difference be-
tween calves of a particular
bull to the weaning endpoint,
while conversely the $B is a
terminal index that puts no
economic weight on maternal
traits. So, if you are select-
ing bulls to produce terminal
calves, retaining none of the
heifers, and you own them
throughout the value-based
marketing chain, then prior-
itizing $B is a great way to
simplify your selection em-
phasis.”
He added: “Indexes are an
important tool because they
have economic weightings to
them and it will balance the
tradeoffs between the traits.”