Expanding working facilities. Switching to a feeding software. Building another sorting pen. Adding calving pens. We all have something we wish we did sooner. Once we finally got around to it, we wonder, “Why the heck did I wait so long?”

My friend wasn’t buying it. He had just asked me about the meaning of PCR, and I had flippantly answered, “Polyvinyl chlorinated RedAngus.” I liked my poetic license. He was less than pleased.

Purchasing a bull is one of the most consequential decisions a cow-calf operation can make. Bulls play an outsized role in the long-term genetic progress of our herds, especially when females are retained.

As the genetics business becomes increasingly competitive, commercial cattlemen and seedstock producers are ramping up their efforts to market the most desired traits as efficiently as possible. Among the ways they have accomplished this is developing composite herd sires.

Saving money on feed costs is never a question to be debated. In 2020, the Council for Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) began offering a genetic indicator designed to aid in creating dairy cows able to utilize the feed they consume more efficiently for the level of milk, fat and protein they produce.