Here I Am -- who will take his place?

 Mark Curry (989) 984-7027 Route services and sales Sue Palen (989) 277-0480 Semen order desk/ Products manager Greg Palen (989) 277-6031 Certified Seed specialist/ AI Refresher training

Michigan Livestock Service, Inc "For the Best in Bulls" and Digestible Forage Seed 110 N Main St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI 48866 phone (989) 834-2661 website: www.michiganlivestock.com email: greg@michiganlivestock.com

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Here I Am -- who will take his place?

It might not be too far off to suggest Here I Am was Wade Rodger's "once in a lifetime" bull. Born in March of 2012, he still commands respect (and a premium semen price) fourteen years later. He arrived on the leading edge of the reaction against excessive stature and frame. As a youngster he had a leaner, almost feminine-fronted look to him -- which we came to expect from crossing the tall growthy Chianina sires with the wide Maine Anjou-Shorthorn cross cows.

(His pedigree: sired by ***Walks Alone---***momma was the high-profile Goretska 805, a daughter of Ali from a dam that crossed Heat Wave onto Habanero. Talk about intelligent crosses of the two breeds that have defined the "Club Calf" business for most of our lifetimes.) He weighed a respectable (not too big, not that small either) 85 pounds when born. Then he began to grow.

How about that full brother?

Yes, six years after "Here I Am" was born, they tried the mating again, and named the resulting bull Here I Am 2. Phil Lautner ended up with him. He avoided one of the two recessives that afflict his famous older brother (He is DS Free). But they are not identical full brothers.

Could it be one of his sons?

The way this business of breeding works, it is rare to find any son of such a bull that will take his place. Usually some other bull will get that job done (in many cases because they offer mating compatibility with the old boy's female offspring). BUT I will admit I have always liked Lautner's Kolt 45 bull, who was raised by Payton Farrer. This fellow was only 77 pounds at birth which is starting to sound safer to use on a heifer than typical clubby bulls. Although solid shiny black he has a momma with a "Red" (Shorthorn based) pedigree being a daughter of FSF Starburst from a Johnny Walker Red dam. In total, he offers 25% Shorthorn, 6% Chianina, followed by the usual mix in the background (Angus for the black coloring, of course) (Maine rear ends).

You compare his photo in Phil Lautner's books to Here I Am's photo in Wade Rodger's books at a similar age, and the resemblance is remarkable.

What are you seeing that is drawing your interest?

I-80 Clones have drawn some interest recently. You will remember that I-80 was an "Ali" son, making him a half sibling to the dam of "Here I Am". That same clean front end was always an I-80 trademark; we now see that in a lot of the "Here I Am" and "Kolt 45" offspring.

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Michigan Livestock Service, Inc "For the Best in Bulls" and Digestible Forage Seed phone (989) 834-2661 email greg@michiganlivestock.com website: www.michiganlivestock.com

What is supporting the current premium prices for deacon calves?

Mark Curry (989) 984-7027 Route services and sales Sue Palen (989) 277-0480 Semen order desk/ Products manager Greg Palen (989) 277-6031 Certified Seed specialist/ AI Refresher training

Michigan Livestock Service, Inc "For the Best in Bulls" and Digestible Forage Seed 110 N Main St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI 48866 phone (989) 834-2661 website: www.michiganlivestock.com email: greg@michiganlivestock.com

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What is supporting the current premium prices for deacon calves?

A knowledgeable marketer suggested recently that the volume calf buyers already have contracted feeder calves to feedlots, contracted their feed supplies, so know their costs before they buy the calves. They buy until those contracts are filled.

It is easy to forget -- that a couple decades ago we had a national Beef cow-calf herd around 45 million momma cows. Add to that, 11 million dairy cows producing deacon bull calves. We had 280 million people to eat their fed-out calves. Today we have under 30 million momma cows.... a million fewer dairy cows.... And closer to 320 million people, eating just as much beef now "per capita" as we did then. Beef protein is unique, and plant-based substitutions are not satisfying the consumer market (other than die-hard vegans, not too many of them).

Among the uber-nutritional-conscious, grassfed beef is creating an entire new premium sales opportunity for those with grazing land available. It is easy to overlook how all these specialty categories (beef and milk both have grassfed growth trajectories) actually aid in reducing basic commodity grade food production volumes on which the market prices build---that production is all marketed directly. While Dairy has an alleged oversupply problem with butterfat driving down pay prices, no similar issue exists in the Beef industry, now or in the foreseeable future.

How might the national cow-calf herd regrow? Probably from Beef-on-Dairy deacon heifers... which might get raised by commodity grain growers who choose to recycle grain acreage back into pasturage acres. Joel Salatin (editor of "Stockman Grass Farmer") suggested this in recent editorials he writes for that widely-read publication. This scenario is likely to grow cows at cost cheaper than you can go out and buy a full Beef breed cow or heifer to expand your herd today. A percentage of such farmers, after losing $100 per acre on soybeans last year, will pursue grass fed rather than design a grain-based feeding operation, and reduce overall farming expenses.

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Michigan Livestock Service, Inc "For the Best in Bulls" and Digestible Forage Seed phone (989) 834-2661 email greg@michiganlivestock.com website: www.michiganlivestock.com

Protein Now Drives the Milk Check Bus — Feeding and Forage Strategies for Spring

Mich Livestock Service, Inc — "For the Best in Bulls" and "High Energy Forages" 110 N Main St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI 48866 📞 (989) 834-2661 | ✉️ greg@michiganlivestock.com | 🌐 www.michiganlivestock.com

Mark Curry (989) 984-7027 — Route Services and Sales Sue Palen (989) 277-0480 — Office Manager, Products Manager Greg Palen (989) 277-6031 — "aAa" Approved Analyzer, Certified Seed Specialist

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Genetic selection for protein needs to catch up to butterfat.

This seems a better, more positive approach than to just say “we’re making too much butterfat” because, as we have seen before, Protein price goes up when butterfat price goes down.   Basic to all this is milk processing parameters, and the need for all the new expansion cheese plants to find milk with the ideal ratio between butterfat and protein (roughly 4 BF to 3 PR).

Protein is, like butterfat, 50% heritable.    How do you influence the other 50%?    You may wish to increase the effective (digestible) fiber in your rations.    Also limit the amount of high energy oilseeds (which above some level coat the rumen papilli and reduce rumen protein synthesis).   Feed your cows like ruminants and the ratio of butterfat to protein will readjust desirably.

If you need to reseed any forage fields this spring, consider the mix of Synergy X Alfalfa blends and inter-seed high digestibility energy dense grasses like those offered by Byron Seeds, in the
premium Kingfisher lines.    Add a couple pounds of premium red clover with your alfalfa, and your cows will love what results!    Lower feed costs, still produce milk in volume.

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Mich Livestock Service, Inc — "For the Best in Bulls" and energy-dense forages for your cows 📞 (989) 834-2661 | 📠 (989) 834-2914 | ✉️ greg@michiganlivestock.com

How aAa Qualities Improve Udder Milkability

Mich Livestock Service, Inc — "For the Best in Bulls" and "High Energy Forages" 110 N Main St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI 48866 📞 (989) 834-2661 | ✉️ greg@michiganlivestock.com | 🌐 www.michiganlivestock.com

Mark Curry (989) 984-7027 — Route Services and Sales Sue Palen (989) 277-0480 — Office Manager, Products Manager Greg Palen (989) 277-6031 — "aAa" Approved Analyzer, Certified Seed Specialist

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In the mating of cows to "balance" physical structure, there is a great opportunity to develop more uniform udder construction — shape, teat placement, and pelvic housing. Milking systems work best when you can achieve the following five qualities:

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Level — Floor to the Udder

aAa #6 Style: Keeps all nerve fiber, ligament and cartilage structures more substantial. Besides the center ligament linear shows, there are also lateral ligaments — all anchored to pelvic bones. Move the thurl to the center of the pelvic bones and the rump will be level, supporting levelness in the entire udder (avoiding high pins that are caused by a forward-tipping pelvis).

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Elastic — Texture to the Udder

aAa #2 Tall: Related to natural BST, this keeps adolescent growth rates efficient, avoiding body fat storage in the wrong places (around kidneys, around the uterus, and inside mammary tissue) so that the udder avoids becoming heavy ("meaty") and is able to milk down to a "rag." "Tall" lifting of the skeleton arches the flank and thigh muscles so the udder is higher off the ground.

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Full — Rear Udder Capacity

aAa #1 Dairy: The frame develops a "wedge" shape, with broader hips. As the udder forms, it takes on a "fuller" shape in the rear quarters. As milk production ideally comes 60% from the rear quarters and 40% from the fore quarters, full rear udder capacity means more milk ability.

aAa #3 Open: It is not enough to have broad hips — it is also desirable to have wide thurls and pins that do not curve inward. This creates more "room" for a maturing udder to stay up out of harm's way and to avoid fore teats being forced to the outer edge of the quarters.

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Square — Teat Placement

aAa #5 Smooth: Sets teats centrally under each quarter, to be an effective funnel for milk flow. Helps to shorten excessively long teats and blunt ends of teats for sphincter protection.

aAa #1 Dairy: Dairy stimulates hormone production so that four teats get formed of equal size. Once milking, Dairy stimulates the production of oxytocin for milk letdown.

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Strong — Udder Tissue

aAa #4 Strong: Heftier mammary tissue helps keep teats "plumb." Strong circulation helps to remove toxins and inflammation from the udder. 286 pounds of blood circulate through the udder for every pound of milk she makes, so the size and power in the heart is important.

Too Much Butterfat? Not Enough Protein — and What to Do About It Genetically

Michigan Livestock Service, Inc — "For the Best in Bulls" and "High Energy Forages" 110 N Main St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI 48866 📞 (989) 834-2661 | ✉️ greg@michiganlivestock.com | 🌐 www.michiganlivestock.com

Mark Curry (989) 984-7027 — Route Services and Sales Sue Palen (989) 277-0480 — Office Manager, Products Manager Greg Palen (989) 277-6031 — "aAa" Approved Analyzer, Certified Seed Specialist

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We hear a lot of concern over milk price trends. A year ago, the Federal Order system quietly gave processors an extra 95 cents for "make allowances" (costs of processing milk). Understanding why was harder, but as butterfat price went down, official pronouncements finally told all and sundry: "you are producing TOO MUCH Butterfat!" Rising protein prices are not making up the difference yet.

However, at the root of the higher make allowances was that for cheese makers — who now use more milk than any other sector, including bottling — there is a lot of extra expense when they have to skim cream out of raw milk to reach the ideal fat-to-protein ratio for cheese curd formation. Also at fault is the emergence of the "E" gene for Kappa Casein (frequently found in higher Genomic rank sires), which lowers cheese yields dramatically. Some pooled loads of milk have been rejected by cheese makers for not setting an economic quantity of cheese!

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Breeding Selection for Protein

The late Pete Blodgett (GM for Landmark Genetics, which became Alta Genetics) developed some unique bulls who were plus for Protein % with high milk yields but — to satisfy California FMO fat quotas — were really low for Butterfat %. But in the near-universal adoption of "multiple Component pricing" here and in Europe, such bulls fell out of favor. Today it has become difficult to sell bulls "minus" for butterfat %, so the genetic base for Fat has climbed alongside feeding strategies that encourage Fat (e.g., roasted high oil soybeans).

But at this point in time, we need to look toward bulls who are meaningfully "plus" for Protein % and avoid bulls who carry the "E" gene for Kappa Casein — favor AA, AB or BB Kappa Casein.

Here are some useful examples from Triple Hill Sires:

Sire	Protein %	Kappa Casein
525HO146 Feature -P	+.10%	BB
525LD 101 Horizon P Red	+.11%	AB
525HO135 Radix -P *RC	+.08%	AB
525HO140 Genesis -P *RC	+.09%	AA
525HO117 Rex PP Red	+.05%	AB
525HO138 Challenger Red	+.09%	AA
525HO131 Lion King B/R	+.07%	AB
525HO142 Lu-Tenant Red	+.05%	AA
525HO132 Felon	+.05%	AA
525HO133 Bushwacker	+.05%	AA

Combining all our bull sources, we can help dramatically improve Protein% and Cheese Yields.

Teat Length and Teat Placement: Genetic Trends and Selection Strategies

Mich Livestock Service, Inc — "For the Best in Bulls" and "High Energy Forages" 110 N Main St (PO Box 661) Ovid, MI 48866 📞 (989) 834-2661 | ✉️ greg@michiganlivestock.com | 🌐 www.michiganlivestock.com

Mark Curry (989) 984-7027 — Route Services and Sales Sue Palen (989) 277-0480 — Office Manager, Products Manager Greg Palen (989) 277-6031 — "aAa" Approved Analyzer, Certified Seed Specialist

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Forty years ago when I was breeding Jerseys, the breed had a terrific issue with reverse tilted udders and asymmetrical teat placement (too wide in front, too close in rear). The source of these problems were primarily the index world's fixation on sons and grandsons of Observer Chocolate Soldier. This basically proved that linebreeding to an "index", concentrating on a ranked sire line without regard to genetic structural differences, leads us to problems.

Today we have a similar issue in Holsteins. Udders are moving forward under the pelvis, the rear teats are only half the size/length of the fore teats, and fore teats are moving wider. The linear solution is to create "robot ready" indexes (drawing sales away from the dominance of the Genomic Observer sire line — an ironic coincidence of names!), but addressing the cause of these problems requires more thought than a sales gimmick slogan.

For most people, the biggest issue is teats too short. Linear graphs show a majority of ranked sires are "left of the average line" for teat length. Here are some favorites of ours, sourced by AI Total who bucked this trend and will keep your udders more "milkable":

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Vogue A2P2 -PP (aAa 3 1 5 2 4 6) — +0.50 teat length @ 94% Rel. | Also A2A2 Beta Casein Now an Elite sire of polled sons, recently scored 97 points at seven years of age!

Aurora Blackjack -P (aAa 4 5 3 2 1 6) — +0.73 teat length | Both A2A2 Beta C and BB Kappa C Like "A2P2" he is significantly "plus" for both Butterfat% and Protein% and lower Somatic Cell

Lorita Sphinx -PP (aAa 2 4 3 1 6 5) — +0.97 teat length | Both A2A2 Beta C and BB Kappa C Another high butterfat% and protein% combination, with calving ease and +0.4 DPR to boot

Siemers Tao Prada (aAa 5 6 1 4 3 2) — +1.38 teat length | Both A2A2 Beta C and BB Kappa C Plus butterfat%, plus protein%, high +1.4 DPR, calving ease; source of wide, sturdy front ends

Designing a Breeding Program that gives you a “future” herd

  

Can anyone predict where the dairy industry is heading?    It is easier to predict changes you need to make to increase your competitive edge.    One of these is to bring your Protein production up to match recent gains in Butterfat.    Another is to create MORE ROBUST, MORE CAPACIOUS, MORE MOBILE trouble-free cows to match your milking, housing and feeding environments.

Genetics is not well utilized if all you consider is “ranking” today.    You have to build a cow that is adaptable to future changes, that will have the vigor to live a full life  (not die just as she should get rolling after a second or third calf).    The combination of higher mature production and lower replacement costs gives you the economic edge that the average cow does not give the average dairy today.

If accomplishing this from breeding seems perplexing to you, give us a chance to add some direction to your matings and provide some useful outcross sires.

Mich Livestock Service   “For the best in bulls”  and high energy seeds to feed them

               Ph (989) 834- 2661           email:  greg@michiganlivestock.com