Home to a few onion sheds, a grocery store and a handful of hometown restaurants, every Wednesday the town becomes Grand Central Station for nearly every cattle operation within 150 miles.

Over time, selection pressure for improved growth efficiency and earlier reproductive maturity in cattle has focused heavily on muscle development, fat deposition and reproductive performance, while the skeletal system is often overlooked. However, these same selection pressures also influence skeletal growth and maturity, making proper bone development critical to overall cattle performance.

Weather patterns have been difficult to nail down with any degree of accuracy this year. In Saskatchewan, late snowfall has delayed thawing and therefore grass growth and typical seeding plans.

When we look back at the evolution of genetic improvement in the beef industry, almost all of our major improvements have come relatively recently. Each of the steps in this evolution improved the accuracy with which we make selection decisions.

The genetic direction of your herd is one of the most powerful management decisions you make. As genetics improve, the performance of your herd improves as well.

Seedstock producers are often faced with the challenge of preparing their young bulls for a sale and having those animals ready to go to work for their customers. There is a lot of truth to the old adage “fat sells.” Bulls that are underconditioned are viewed as higher-risk and of lower value than those that carry more muscle and cover.

Many beef producers keep a decent set of calving records, but what good are they if you don’t use them to analyze your management and herd performance? Before we can dive into a few suggestions to measure your management success, we need to look back at the previous year’s breeding season.

Reproductive technologies such as estrus synchronization, artificial insemination and embryo transfer have significantly improved genetic progress in beef cattle. Yet, one major biological limitation continues to constrain reproductive efficiency across operations: early embryonic mortality.