Working Ranch Magazine - Index

Working Ranch Magazine - magazine - Index

new on the range
BOVIGEN SAYS IT’S IN THE GENES
Some people can eat, eat, eat and they never seem to gain any
weight. My grandfather was one of them. Bacon and eggs for
breakfast every morning and a bowl of ice cream every night and
he was rail thin his entire 92 years. He would also sneak in a
Hershey’s bar around 3pm on most days. It just doesn’t seem fair.
The minds at Bovigen thought the same thing: if some people
are genetically disposed to eat and eat and not gain weight, why
not cattle too? It makes sense. This past fall, the company
released GeneStar Feed Efficiency, the first and only DNA test that
can identify an animal’s genetic ability to efficiently convert feed.
One of the things that our readers like about Working Ranch
is that we give you “information that you can use, not information
that’s going to worry us” as one reader put it. Happily, this information falls into the former category.
Using Bovigen’s eight star rating system, the difference between animals with 3 or less STARs (less efficient)
and those with 7 or 8 STARs (more efficient) was about 2.75 lbs less feed eaten daily in terms of feed needed to
produce the same weight gain! Assuming ration costs of $165 a ton, this equates to around a $50 difference in
feed costs per animal. If you’re running 300 au’s, that’s a
potential $15,000 in annual gross return.
Would you invest a 10 minute phone call to find out
how you can save $50 in feed cost per animal? We thought
so! Here’s the toll free number to call: 877-233-3362. And
please tell them you read about it in Working Ranch. ■
Coffee Time
Plans for a new National Bio and
Agro-Defense Facility are being proposed
for the U.S. mainland, replacing the
half-century old Plum Island Animal
Disease Center off the coast of Long Island,
New York. Six states, including Texas, are
competing to win the right to host the new
$500 million facility that would contain highly
infectious diseases like foot and mouth.
Concerns have been raised by cattle producer groups
over the safety of a facility of this nature on the mainland
instead of an isolated island, citing the recent outbreak
of foot and mouth disease in the UK that originated
in similar government labs that were situated
close to active livestock operations.
Now producers, veterinarians and nutritionists can
receive timely industry analysis, news and commentary
through BeefCast™, a new podcast that can be
accessed easily on the Internet or via an iPod®. Each
week three 10- to 15-minute programs, which feature
experts' comments on beef production, industry issues
and other wide-ranging topics, are produced and made
available at www.BeefCast.com,. BeefCast podcasts
are sponsored exclusively by Elanco Animal Health,
hosted by Ned Arthur of Truffle Media Networks
and made available free to listeners. >>
20 |WORKING RANCH | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008
EASY TO SEE WITH
EZCEE TAGS BY CAL TAG
Cal Tag Inc. offers EZCee Animal Identification Tags.
Finally, an ear tag that never fades…guaranteed. Owners
Gene and Henry Koopman began making Cal Tag products
after becoming frustrated with the
ear tags they were using. As dairy producers,
they found themselves constantly
having to replace tags. The
numbers on every tag sooner or
later faded.
After much research and
development, the
Koopman brothers
discovered a manufacturing
process
that can guarantee
product quality
and the best visibility
in the
market. With
EZCee tags,
numbers are not
printed or painted on. Instead, a
unique patented layering process bonds three layers permanently
together with the center layer showing through in a
contrasting color. This “sandwich” process ensures numbers
on EZCee tags are strikingly visible.
Impervious to heat, snow, cold, rain and dust, EZCee tags
are guaranteed to last the lifetime of the animal. EZCee tags
also are competitively priced and offered in 32 color combinations,
plus personalization (i.e. premise numbers or a
logo) is now available. To learn more, visit Cal Tag at
www.caltaginc.com or call toll-free 866-923-7878. ■