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The Midwest Cattleman · September 30, 2021 · P16                       Vaccination
      SCAPEGOATING
      continued from page 3              “ultimate black swan event,”  data that identified econo-               “Before the administration
                                         Potts said, “its occurrence does  my-wide price inflation, con- attempts to recreate the ani-                                  Protocols
      attempts to convey the chal- not automatically mean the  firming that consumer price  mal agriculture industry, it is
      lenges faced by meat and  system is broken or  needs to  inflation is far broader than  prudent to look back and ac-
      poultry packers and proces- be torn down and rebuilt. Nor  meat and poultry products.  knowledge the benefits that
      sors in meeting extraordinary  does the fact that the indus- Potts also referenced the fact  flow from the food supply
      consumer demand to Biden  try has changed, and changed  both the House and Senate  chains as they exist, which
      Administration  officials,"  the  significantly over the past few  Agriculture Committees held  ERS described as  ‘efficient,’”
      letter was sent to Vilsack chal- decades, mean it has changed  hearings last summer look- Potts wrote. “In 2020, accord-
      lenging his comments at a  for the worse.    The pandem- ing at cattle and beef markets,  ing to ERS, Americans spent
      White House briefing on Sept.  ic  seems to be the  vehicle  with agricultural economists  an average of 8.6 percent of
      8.                                 spawning new bad ideas, and  testifying at both hearings.            their disposable personal in-
         Specifically, Potts said she  resurrecting other bad ideas,          “At neither hearing did any  comes on food. Indeed, Ameri-
      was “surprised to hear you al- seemingly  without  recogniz- economist suggest that con- cans spend less of their dispos-
      lege the structure of the meat  ing economic realities and  sumer price inflation for meat  able personal income on food
      and poultry industry is caus- unintended             consequences.   and poultry products was  than any other country in the
      ing price inflation for meat  Indeed, none of the proposals  linked to the structure of the  world.  This remarkable drop
      and poultry products, and  advanced at the press briefing  meat and poultry industry,”  is attributable largely to sys-
      disappointed that you failed  will alleviate the consumer  Potts wrote.                                 tematic efficiencies that allow
      to acknowledge the array of  price increases the adminis-               Potts cited other USDA re- food processors to offer food to
      market forces affecting retail  tration seeks to address.”            ports on industry structure  consumers at lower prices.”
      prices.”                              The letter referenced USDA  and historical margins for in-        agweb.com
         Calling the pandemic the  Economic Research Service  dustry segments.


      EVALUATING                         to look at the repeatability and  calculated  their  open  cow  to  years) contributed to less than
      continued from page 13             the impact of key physical fac- bull ratio at 23.6. Calculated,  5% of the prolificacy prediction
      in the pasture or sire prolifi- tors such as bull age and scro- as cows were  exposed  to  AI  and didn’t influence repeat-
      cacy. For most this data would  tal circumference on prolifica- previously and  AI conception  ability.  As one might expect,
      be a by-product of the goal of  cy.                                   rates were used to determine  prolificacy increased as bull
      knowing the calf’s genetic po-        As you begin pregnancy  remaining open cows exposed.  age advanced.  The authors
      tential.                           checking cows this autumn,           Dr. Bennett and team eval- suggested once a bull passes a
         Previous data have shown  knowing historic sire prolif- uated a wide range of practi- breeding soundness exam the
      that while multi-bull pastures  icacy would provide insights  cal multi-bull pasture models,  usefulness of individual bull
      offer management advantag- as to why cows may be open or  bull turnout ranging  from  3  measurements to indicate pro-
      es, the distribution of sires the  calving seasons string out due  to 11 bulls per pasture, with a  lificacy is marginal at best.
      following year are not uniform.  to unplanned excessive cow to  cow age range from 3 to 8 year-            Repeatability  of  prolificacy
      The team expanded their scope  bull ratios. The research team  olds.  There were 141 unique  was high, suggesting from one
                                                                            breeding opportunities with  year to the next prolific sires
         www.powerflexfence.com.powerflexfence.com                          38 of the bulls used in just one  should remain prolific.  What
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                                                                            season, 41 bulls averaged 2.5  the team was unable to eval-
                                                                            breeding seasons and 4 bulls  uate was the impact of imple-
                                                                            were used all four years of the  menting selection pressure for
                                                                            experiment.                       prolificacy. Dr. Bennett’s team
                                                                              The distribution of calves  did        suggest    implementing
                                                                            per breeding opportunity is       management changes to re-
                                                                            where  the  data  gets  interest- duce the number of bulls used
                                                                            ing. For 21 of the breeding op- in cases where prolificacy was
                                                                            portunities (1 bull for a season)  high will remain limited by
                                                                            7 calves or less were sired, 3 of  the risk of bull injury or death.
                                                                            those resulted in no calves. On      Perhaps we cannot reduce
                                                                            the other end of the curve, 7  the number of bulls turned
                                                                            breeding opportunities result- out, but consider the risk we
                                                                            ed in 43 calves or more, with  take turning unknown or mar-
                                                                            one of these siring 57 calves.    ginally  prolific  sires  out  in
                                                                              If we extrapolate the data  multi-bull pastures as few op-
                                                                            for illustration, imagine the  erations have variable cow to
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                                                                            A  herd  sire  with  exceptional  cy will continue to develop. For
                                                                            genetic and physical traits sir- those using genetic testing to
                                                                            ing zero calves is of little value  manage the current calf crop

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