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Update Your Offspring Records
6/10/2008
Michael Fisher
Area Extension Agent
(Livestock)
Colorado State University Extension
Golden Plains
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If you are like me, you dread the thought of keeping up with
recordkeeping. It often seems like a frustrating consumption of time that could
be used elsewhere. However, recordkeeping is a vital part of any business.
Especially in this day and age, as the livestock industry faces greater
oversight and a stronger sense of what I will call margin compression. (Input
costs rise at a greater proportion than your product's market value, causing
your margin to be "compressed".)
Most of our '08 spring calves and lambs
in northeastern Colorado have hit the ground. So now is a good time to take a
few minutes and sit down with your herd/flock management software, three-ring
binder, Big Chief notepad, scratch nail and barn door, or whatever method it is
that you use to maintain an idea of where your bottom line is.
At the
very minimum record the date that your first and last animals were born. In
September, COOL is scheduled to take effect. One of the aspects of this new law
is that a packer needs to have either in possession or be able to access
various records including birth date. As Jack Whittier recently posted in an
article that he wrote, the current language states: "Any person engaged in
the business of supplying a covered commodity to a retailer, directly or
indirectly, must maintain records to establish and identify the immediate
previous source (if applicable) and immediate subsequent recipient of the
product. The record must identify the product unique to that transaction by
means of a lot number or other unique identifier, for a period of one (1) year
from the date of the transaction". A cow-calf herd or a lambing flock would
be an indirectly engaged business.
Another record concern is your bottom
line. Do you know how much an individual cow or ewe is either making or loosing
for you? An even better question might be do you know how much your bull or ram
is making or costing you? If you are one of those producers who weighed your
calf or lamb crop as they arrived this is a good time to make sure that you add
that data to your records. This provides you with a benchmark that you can
follow and make comparisons to as you measure the weaning weights this fall.
This should allow you to evaluate if a particular maternal line, or for that
matter a paternal line, on your ranch is not performing. It is always important
to be able to know which animals in your herd/flock are not performing but as
feed costs continue to increase it becomes even more imperative to understand
this relationship.
So take a few minutes and spend some quality time
with your herd/flock's recordkeeping system. At a minimum it will help to keep
you organized. On the other hand, it may potentially be your first step to
pinpointing some of your excess costs and help you make the necessary
adjustments for 2009. If you wish to discuss this subject further, Michael
Fisher can be reached through the Yuma County Extension office at 970-332-4151
or by e-mail at mj.fisher@colostate.edu. |
Page Created and Maintained by: Perry D. Brewer, Area
Extension Agent (Technology Education/Youth)
6/16/2008 |
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