Fanning said 75% of the cattle at Pratt Feeders are customer-owned.

He shared one customer’s success this summer, saying his cattle had left one of their feedyards in July at an average of 1,505 pounds for an average daily gain of 3.9. That calculated to 90¢ for their cost per pound of gain, and the group graded 100% Choice or better.

“His cost-to-gain advantage was about $200 a head, so his cattle [were] $600 a head better than the average animal that was killed in July throughout the United States,” Fanning said. “It is so exciting to watch a customer with that cow-calf operation advance their program.”

Troy Marshall, director of commercial industry relations with the American Angus Association, said he has seen the number of tools available to producers grow and the industry make significant genetic progress.

“We’re really good at responding to the economic signals,” Marshall said. “We’ve spread the difference between the good and bad cattle farther than we ever have in the past, and so the need to have information and be able to objectively describe those cattle is becoming really, really important.”

With the current state of the cattle cycle, Marshall said, history shows us the near future is full of opportunities.

“When you look at 2014, in that last expansion phase, we made a quantum leap in terms of quality grade and just the cattle we had,” he said. “Where we’re at right now in this cattle cycle, I think we’re going to see some dramatic shifts in terms of overall quality in the genetics in the industry here over the next three to five years.”

Fanning said he looks to technology for better ways of managing cattle on more of an individual basis.

“We always have stuff to work on, and we’re trying to help provide data back to those producers that are dug in and ready to really make those changes,” he said. “We’re working with technology partners to help develop a more sophisticated database that can help us help them get their carcass data back to them — not just in a pen basis, but on an individual basis, tying that back to the dam and the sire.”

For commercial cattlemen, data-driven tools like AngusLink’s Genetic Merit Scorecard^SM and GeneMax^® Advantage^TM can objectively describe the genetic potential of feeder cattle and replacement females, as well as serve as benchmarking tools for genetic progress.

Editor’s note: Sarah Kocher is senior communications specialist for the American Angus Association.

Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 16, No. 10-B