Category: Blog

IMPORTANT NAILE INFORMATION:

Posted on by Shelby Rogers

As most of you know by now, the North American International Livestock Exposition is on! It was announced on September 18th that they are planning to move forward and have the show, which makes us all happy after hearing Denver had postponed. With that being said, it is going to look a little different at NAILE this year. Please find the information below for what we know will be happening at NAILE. There is always possibility of change. As we get more information, we will do our best to pass along information to our breeders.   

  • Everyone must enter through Gate 1. It will be the only open gate!
  • Health inspections will be conducted at the time of arrival at the grounds. All animals must have a valid health paper with official USDA 840 EID Tag.
  • All cattle shall be reported Negative on an ELISA or BVD-PI test and can be listed on the health paper.  
  • You will then be directed to the lot right there next to Gate 1 to receive your packet that will include all your passes.
  • Barn Badges will be provided to exhibitors. This will be by the amount you enter so keep that in mind.
    • Exhibitors with 1-5 head will receive 3 passes.
    • Exhibitors with 6-10 head will receive 5 passes.
    • Exhibitors with 11-15 head will receive 7 passes.
    • Exhibitors with 16+ head will receive 8 passes.
  • The Barn Badges will be like lanyards, where you can take them off and give to another person. These will be to get into the barn. If you do not have one on you will not be allowed in the barn, but you can be out at tie-outs or the trailer. The facility is limited on the number of people allowed in the barns at a time and this is how they plan to control that.
  • Participants will not be able to enter the facility without completing the Covid-19 document provided by NAILE.
  • Mask will be required.
  • The Pavilion (where Shorthorns are normally stalled), is partially being used for Covid-19 things. With that being said, there is a possibility we will be stalled somewhere different.
  • Stalling will be the same as last year and we will be following our Stalling Policy. Please see that policy below.
  • Bedding will be pre-bedded. They will disinfect in-between each breed but will not be able to re-bed, so be respectful when loading out and clean up trash. This will allow them to rotate breeds quicker.
  • Shorthorns are lucky enough to be on the same schedule, meaning we will be one of the first breeds in and out of the barns. We will show Junior cattle on Saturday and Sunday, and Open cattle will show on Monday. We will start Monday with ShorthornPlus Bulls followed by ShorthornPlus Females. Then continue with Purebred Bulls followed by Purebred Females.
  • There will be NO Spectators allowed in the show ring. Only people with barn badges will be allowed.
  • There will be restrictions on the number of people allowed in the make-area with each animal. We do not know this number yet.
  • They are considering opening up the Sale Arena for a certain number of spectators during sales only, but this has not yet been confirmed. This does not mean that those people will be allowed in the barn.

Disclaimer, this is what we know as of now but there is possibility this could change. We wanted to get this information out to our Shorthorn Breeders to try and stop rumors and help you make decisions before entries close. Entries close on October 1st with late entries being October 10th.

Stalling Policy; we will be following the NAILE stalling policy.

            NAILE uses our entries from the previous year to plan how much stalling we receive for our breed. They will take a percentage away from our previous year entries and then take a percentage away for no shows of current entries. So, what does this mean for you?

We get less stalls assigned for Shorthorns than what are entered. We advise that you enter more head then what you plan to bring because we will cut down on your stall space from what you enter by the same percentage that we are cut by NAILE. Please add space for tack to your entries. (NAILE does not allow any tack space when assigning breed stalling space)

If you have any stalling request, we will take them, but we cannot promise that you will get them as we will be stalling where you fit best. Stalling request need to be in by November 1st to Emily at emilyv@shorthorn.org, in order for them to be taken into consideration. Also, please contact Emily if you are coming or not coming to the show. Stall space will be made solely off of number of head entered.

2021 IGS Steer Profitability Competition

Posted on by Shelby Rogers

The Steer Profitability Competition (SPC) is designed to provide junior members meaningful exposure to the opportunities and challenges associated with cattle feeding. The SPC will not only allow participants to measure and compare the profitability of their own animal(s), but of greater importance, it will introduce young beef enthusiasts to peers, mentors, industry advocates, and experiences that are exceedingly difficult to acquire for any beef producer. Participants in the SPC program will be powerful voices as they transition from junior membership to adult participation within the beef industry.

IGS Steer Profitability ContestDownload

Updates to Growth Trait Predictions

Posted on by Shelby Rogers

By the International Genetic Solutions Science Team

1.  A new definition of contemporary groups based on the age of the dam.

Regardless of how users designate contemporary groups (CG), all calves born from first-calf dams will be placed into a separate CG from calves out of mature cows. Given the vast majority of producers actually man- age this age group separately, it is reasonable to define their calves as their own CG. Handling these as separate CG will reduce the environmental noise caused by differ- ent management strategies and biological constraints for this age group.

2.  Milk modeling updates.

The magnitude, and even direction, of the correlation between weaning weight direct and milk, has been long debated in scientific circles. In fact, there is a wide range of estimates that exist in the scientific literature. Given that, the science team developed a model that assumes milk and weaning weight direct are independent (i.e., genetic correlation of 0). In addition, with some of the other proposed updates, it was discovered that the evalua- tion solved more effectively when genomics were removed for Milk EPDs. In light of this discovery, the IGS Milk EPD will not use genomic information for the time being.

3.  Different variances for different sexes.

Males usually have a higher growth potential than females simply due to gender. As a consequence, the variation associated with their weights also tends to be greater. This difference in the amount of variation between the sexes are set to a male scale in the up-dated growth trait predictions.

4.  New DNA Marker subset.

As the number of genotyped animals has increased, so has our ability to estimate marker effects and identify subsets that are more predictive. Relative to growth traits, a new (and larger) subset of markers has been identified to add more accuracy to EPD.

5.  Accounting for different birth weight collection methods.

When we began looking into growth trait data, we discovered that not all birth weights followed expected amounts of variation. Some of the examples of reduced variation included weights rounded to the nearest 5 pounds, reduced variation when hoof tapes were used, and likely-fabricated data with little to no variation. Some of these data are useful, but they are clearly on a different scale and need to be treated appropriately. Dr. Bruce Golden developed a way to use machine learning to recognize unique features of each class of birth weight observation and predict how it was obtained. By accounting for the various categories, the genetic evaluation is still able to use submitted records that fall out of biological expectations for most scenarios, while more accurately accounting for different practices of collecting the weights.

Results of Updates to Growth Model

With these proposed changes, a considerable amount of work went into testing if the new models improved growth trait predictions. One of the most common procedures for evaluating updates to EPD systems is to exclude a certain portion of the phenotypes available, run the evaluation, and compare the correlation of the EPD from two systems to the phenotypes that were removed from the evaluation (higher correlation is bet- ter). For these updates, this procedure was used where all animals born after 2018 were excluded from the evaluation system and then comparisons between the current growth trait EPDs and the updated EPDs were made to this phenotypic information. The results for each of the analyses are presented in the following table.

Pearson correlation between parental average EPDs and excluded phenotypes from animals in the IGS genetic evaluation that were born in 2018 or later.

Trait Updated Evaluation Previous Evaluation
Birth Weight 0.52 0.50
Weaning Weight 0.38 0.34
Yearling Weight 0.45 0.37

The results in the table above show the evaluation updates had higher correlations to phenotypes than  the previous growth trait models. This equates to more precise EPDs for Birth, Weaning, and Yearling Weight.

An additional trait that is evaluated with the growth analysis is the Milk EPD. A Milk EPD represents the genetic difference in calf weaning weight based on the maternal environment provided by the dam. Due to the nature of this trait being the maternal component of weaning weight, a different validation strategy must be used to evaluate the updated predictions. To evaluate the updated Milk predictions an expected weaning weight for the excluded animals was formed using the following equation:

Predicted Weaning Weight = Calf WW EBV + Dam’s Milk EBV

This predicted weaning weight was then correlated with the excluded weaning weight phenotypes. Again, the updated predictions of Milk had higher correlations compared to the previous Milk EPDs (0.42 vs. 0.39, respectively). These results show that the updated predictions more precisely predict the weaning weight of an animal than the currently published evaluation. Breeders may notice reranking of animals with the release of the growth trait updates. While the change may be unsettling, the end results by every measure have shown an improvement in the precision of the growth trait predictions.

Farewell from the Interns

Posted on by Abigail Sartin

This Friday is our last day in the ASA office and although we are sad, we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here! Today we had a potluck lunch with everyone in the office and we selected the Alabama Tropical Tri Tip Fajitas to make! Kendall did the cooking since Cassidy and I aren’t as handy in the kitchen. We have each put a little bit about our time here and we included the recipe we prepared also!

Kendall:

Our time here is winding down, as Friday is our last day in the office. In my final remarks, I want to thank all of the American Shorthorn Association staff for having me in the office. These past couples of months have been a blast, and I have learned many new skills that will help me in the future. I came back to the breed that got me started showing, and I have enjoyed every moment. I will soon pack up and head back to Stillwater to finish my last semester at Oklahoma State University as an agricultural communications major. I just wanted to thank ASA, the members, and everyone else for making this a successful NJSS and summer for myself.

Cassidy:

As our time in the office comes to an end, I would just like to express how thankful I am for this breed and the people in it. Shorthorns were my first love and to have the opportunity to serve this breed is one that I will forever cherish. I have learned so much these past few months and I am sad that my time in the office is coming to an end. As I prepare to head back to Starkville, I would like to thank the ASA Staff, members, and AJSA members for allowing this experience to be as amazing as it has been. Thanks everyone and, hopefully, I’ll see everyone soon at the next show!

Abigail:

In just two more days we will be wrapping up our time here in the ASA office and these past few months have been awesome. I am really thankful to everyone here, especially Shelby, for working so hard to make sure that we got to have an internship amidst all of the crazy stuff going on in the world. I know that I’ll look back on this experience and cherish the memories I have made. I have learned so much during my time here and although I started off with Simmentals, the Shorthorn breed will now always have a special place in my heart! Thank you again to all of the staff and ASA/AJSA members who make this breed so great!

Alabama Tropical Tri Tip Fajitas Recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 Tri Tip, 1 ½ – 2 lbs.
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup pineapple juice
  • 2 bell peppers, 1 red and 1 green
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 pineapple split in half, save pulp
  • 1 tbsp. cilantro
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. Adobo
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Marinade steak for 2-8 hours in soy sauce and pineapple juice. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Cook steak on griddle for 6-8 minutes per side. While the steak cooks, add bell peppers to grill and turn occasionally to char.
  • Once steak is done to your likeness, set aside to rest.
  • In a skillet, add olive oil, garlic, and onion. Cook until the onion is opaque. Then add sliced bell pepper, cilantro, cumin, adobo, pepper flakes, paprika, and cook 3-5 minutes until the seasoning is well blended.
  • Slice steak into strips. Add to skillet with the previous mixture. Add ½ cup pineapple juice and pulp from hollowed pineapple. Cook until steak is warm, and juice is thick.
  • Add mixture to the hollowed pineapples and serve on flour tortillas with pineapple sales.

Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. pineapple, diced
  • 10 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
  • 2 tbsp. lime juice
  • Salt and pepper
  • Hot sauce (optional)

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients well, season with salt and pepper to taste

Which ASA Intern Are You?

Posted on by Abigail Sartin

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well! We are coming down to our last couple weeks here and the office and we are pretty bummed. We have really enjoyed our time here this summer as we got to know the staff and ASA members, and since you all have gotten to know us a little, we decided to come up with a fun activity for this week’s blog post! We have created a Buzzfeed.com quiz called “Which intern are you?” We hope you guys have as much fun with this as we did. Feel free to drop your results in the comments!

Link to the quiz: https://www.buzzfeed.com/abigails4764e5fa6/which-asa-intern-are-you-e1bnesqj0a

Intern Recap on NJSS

Posted on by Abigail Sartin

We are back in the office with the Junior National’s blues. We had an incredible week in Abilene and hope that you are all back home getting some much needed rest! For this week’s post, each of us reflected on some of our favorite moments of the week.

Cassidy:

Junior Nationals is over and I am sad! It was such a great week being with those who make this breed great. I was excited to get to meet all of our exhibitors and see them compete throughout the week. Although I spent a lot of my time in the office, I enjoyed getting to venture out to see some of the contests and walk through the barns. After growing up in this breed, it was exciting to know contest results before anyone else and I was so happy to everyone succeed in their contests. Flatland Cavalry was a big highlight of my week, but I have to say seeing the excitement on our exhibitors faces as they came to a “normal” junior nationals was the best thing I witnessed all week. Congratulations to everyone who attended!

Kendall:

NJSS was truly one of the best weeks I have had in a long time. I loved the atmosphere and finally getting to meet the juniors after contacting and looking at their names for a month before nationals. I want to thank the Shorthorn breed and families for always making me feel welcome. I had the pleasure to capture many of the contest from behind a camera and loved being a fly on the wall. I had a good time just being able to help out wherever I was needed. I hope the juniors had as much fun as I did at the 2020 NJSS in Texas. Congratulations to all of the junior members and wish you best of luck in the future show seasons!

Abigail:

We are finally back in the office after Junior Nationals! It was a super fun-filled week and I hope all of you guys enjoyed it as much as we did. I loved getting to meet everyone and I especially loved getting to photograph the extremely talented youth of the Shorthorn breed. From speeches to fitting to showing, the talent you all possess is unreal. Both parents and exhibitors should be very proud of all your hard work! If you saw me throughout the week, you probably noticed that my face was pretty much glued to my camera, so it only seemed fitting that for this week’s blog post I included a few of my favorite shots. Thanks for a great week everyone!

SHORTHORN REPRESENTATION ON BIF BOARD

Posted on by Shelby Rogers

MANHATTAN, Kan. (June 8, 2020) —The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) announced new directors and officers June 8 during the group’s annual meeting and symposium, hosted virtually this year.

Joe Mushrush, Strong City, Kansas, was introduced as the 2020-2021 BIF president during the Monday session. Matt Perrier, Eureka, Kansas, is the new vice president. New directors elected to serve on the BIF board were producers John Irvine, Manhattan, Kansas; Troy Marshall, Burlington, Colorado; and Joy Reznicek, West Point, Mississippi. New association representatives elected were Shane Bedwell, American Hereford Association; Kelli Retallick, American Angus Association; and Matt Woolfolk, American Shorthorn Association.

Bob Weaber, Kansas State University professor, was announced as the new BIF executive director. Weaber will be taking the reins from Jane Parish, Mississippi State University, who served as executive director from 2015-2020.

“Jane has been a great leader for the organization, and we are grateful for the years she dedicated to BIF,” says Tommy Clark, 2019-2020 BIF president. “Under her leadership, BIF has raised the bar in member services, as well as its communication and marketing efforts to members, the board and the organization’s partners.”

Also retiring from the staff after 18 years of service to BIF is Lois Schreiner. From 2002-2020, Schreiner served as executive assistant to several directors and has been integral in BIF’s success.

“Lois is phenomenal,” says Weaber. “She has been the heart and soul of BIF, and the behind-the-scenes contribution she has made to BIF for the past 18 years is immeasurable.”

More than 1,300 beef producers, academia and industry representatives registered to participate in the organization’s 52nd Annual Research Symposium — Online. BIF’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation.

For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of meeting, visit the Awards and Newsroom pages of BIFconference.com. For more information about BIF, visit BeefImprovement.org.

The 2021 BIF Convention and Research Symposium will be June 22-25 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Road to Junior Nationals

Posted on by Abigail Sartin

Hey everybody! We are getting everything packed and ready for Junior Nationals! We are heading out to Abilene on Thursday with Shelby and we are pumped! Our travel itinerary for the day is to get to the office around 6am to pack up the car and then head out around 7:30, next (and possibly most important), we will stop in Oklahoma City at the Whataburger for lunch (as directed by Shelby). We hope to be in Abilene around 4:30 that evening to start getting everything set up.

           In this blog post, we are sharing one of our favorite things with you guys: our music! In the office, we are always jamming so we decided to create a “Road to JR Nationals” playlist. We have each included 5 of our favorite songs that we contributed to the playlist. Happy listening & see you in Abilene!

Cassidy’s essentials:

  1. Tall City Blues – Flatland Cavalry
  2. Good Lord Lorrie – Turnpike Troubadours
  3. Elisabeth – Zach Bryan
  4. Rodeo Clown – Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen
  5. Burn it at Both Ends – Randall King

Kendall’s essentials:

  1. Me and My Kind – Cody Johnson
  2. My Texas – Josh Abbott Band and Pat Green
  3. Follow You to Virgie – Tyler Childers
  4. Million Miles – Kody West
  5. 14 Miles From Home – Six Market Blvd.

Abigail’s essentials:

  1. Traveler’s Song – Flatland Cavalry
  2. Panhandle Slim – The Panhandlers
  3. Easton & Main – Turnpike Troubadours
  4. Rhinestoned – Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen
  5. Die Rockin – Whiskey Myers

Shelby’s essentials:

  1. Mississippi Girl – Faith Hill
  2. ALL Shania Twain
  3. Run – George Strait
  4. Cows Around – Corb Lund
  5. Lord Bury Me in Texas – Shane Smith & the Saints

Junior Nationals Prep with the Interns

Posted on by Abigail Sartin

Hey y’all! We have 11 days until Junior Nationals and we hope you are excited as we are! For today’s blog post, we wanted to update everyone on what we have been working on, what we are excited for and give some advice to all of our juniors in preparation for NJSS! We are so pumped for a great week in Abilene and we can’t wait to see everyone!

Cassidy:

What are you working on in preparation for Junior Nationals?

  • As we prepare to head down to Abilene, I am busy getting things together for ALL the contests. I’m doing a lot of printing to get scoresheets and result sheets ready. My favorite thing to do is sort through the prizes as they come in and, believe me, these prizes are NICE!

What are you looking forward to the most at Junior Nationals?

  • I am really looking forward to seeing all of the exhibitors as they compete throughout the week. I loved competing in different contests when I was a junior and am excited to be on this side of the event. I am also super excited to see Flatland Cavalry as they are definitely one of my favorite bands.

What are the essential items on your packing list?

  • Adidas tennis shoes, my flat iron, a quality playlist and of course, a good attitude.

What advice do you have for junior members?

  • Get out there and get to know other exhibitors and don’t be too competitive!

Kendall:

What are you working on in preparation for Junior Nationals?

  • I have been rounding up all the entries over the past couple weeks and double checking everything is correct. Lately I have been spending a large amount of my time to send confirmation emails to every member to make sure their entries are correct. In the weeks leading up to nationals I will be making labels for all the animal’s and kid’s numbers. This will take up most of my time leading up to when we leave for Texas.

What are you looking forward to the most at Junior Nationals?

  • I am looking forward to a fun filled week in Texas. I am also excited to finally be a part of the behind the scenes of a national show. Also, to help possibly make this the greatest week of your summer. It will also be great to finally put faces to names after working with entries for the past month.

What are the essential items on your packing list?

  • My croc sneakers, my Navajo pearls, and Chapstick.

What advice do you have for junior members?

  • Have fun, get out there and meet people from different states!

Abigail:

What are you working on in preparation for Junior Nationals?

  • I finished up putting the exhibitor folder together, so now my primary job is putting together social media posts about contest rules and reminders as well as creating daily schedules to keep everyone up to date while we are actually in Abilene. I have also been updating press releases so that they can be sent out with scholarship, contest and show winners after Junior Nationals. It’s been really busy, but it’s a lot of fun!

What are you looking forward to most at Junior Nationals?

  • I am really looking forward to being behind the camera. Before heading to Kansas City for my internship I did a couple of senior picture shoots for friends, but it has been a little while since I have gotten to photograph livestock and I can’t wait! I am also really excited about seeing Flatland Cavalry and looking forward to a honey butter chicken biscuit from Whataburger.

What are the essential items on your packing list?

  • My camera, earbuds for the drive, and my pillow.

What advice do you have for junior members?

  • Don’t be too serious. I know it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to win, but don’t forget to have fun too!