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A new way to study cow profitability?
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<blockquote data-quote="HerefordSire" data-source="post: 618620" data-attributes="member: 4437"><p><em>This caught my attention. It is a sign of things to come. It makes allot of sense to do this with cows and not just bulls. Notice the author below is referring to graphics not shown here but on the web page referred to at the end of the post.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Feed Efficiency</p><p></p><p>We have taken a major step in measuring feed efficiency with our newly installed feed efficiency measurement system. Up until recently, the cost of gathering this data has been so expensive that only taxpayer funded research institutions were able to do it. This is slowly changing. Profit Maker Bulls has just completed its installation of a Grow Safe Feed Intake Measurement System. We are one of only 6 privately owned and funded operations in the US that has this system.</p><p></p><p>In cowboy terms, this system uses an electronic identity tag to record who is eating and samples the weight in the feed unit each second to determine how much feed that animal has eaten. In this photo 3 of the 4 individual feed stations are occupied.</p><p></p><p>We can view in real time the information that is being recorded. Here, each vertical bar represents an individual feed unit. The red bars identify the individual feed stations that were occupied at the time that this snapshot was taken.</p><p></p><p>We can also monitor the individual feed consumption patterns. Note the relatively level graph representation of daily feed intake for this animal. This is what is normally expected for healthy animals.</p><p></p><p>The feed consumption on this animal has suddenly dropped. A pattern like this is an early warning that this animal may be getting sick and needs to be checked and possibly treated.</p><p></p><p>At the end of the test, the quantity of feed that each animal should have eaten for his weight and gain is calculated and compared to the quantity actually eaten. If the animal ate less than expected, he is efficient. If he ate more than expected, he is inefficient.</p><p></p><p>The animal scientists call these differences between expected and actual feed consumption "Residual Feed Intake".</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Residual Feed Intake, whether positive or negative, is moderately heritable. This means that genetic selection can be used to propagate cattle that can reduce our feed costs by as much as 10 to 15 percent. <strong>Feed efficiency is not related to frame size</strong>. Both efficient and inefficient cattle can be large or small framed or anything in between. At this time, there are no known negative antagonisms.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.profitmakerbulls.com/feed_efficiency.htm" target="_blank">http://www.profitmakerbulls.com/feed_efficiency.htm</a></p><p></p><p><em>Brandon...look at the bold print above.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HerefordSire, post: 618620, member: 4437"] [i]This caught my attention. It is a sign of things to come. It makes allot of sense to do this with cows and not just bulls. Notice the author below is referring to graphics not shown here but on the web page referred to at the end of the post.[/i] Feed Efficiency We have taken a major step in measuring feed efficiency with our newly installed feed efficiency measurement system. Up until recently, the cost of gathering this data has been so expensive that only taxpayer funded research institutions were able to do it. This is slowly changing. Profit Maker Bulls has just completed its installation of a Grow Safe Feed Intake Measurement System. We are one of only 6 privately owned and funded operations in the US that has this system. In cowboy terms, this system uses an electronic identity tag to record who is eating and samples the weight in the feed unit each second to determine how much feed that animal has eaten. In this photo 3 of the 4 individual feed stations are occupied. We can view in real time the information that is being recorded. Here, each vertical bar represents an individual feed unit. The red bars identify the individual feed stations that were occupied at the time that this snapshot was taken. We can also monitor the individual feed consumption patterns. Note the relatively level graph representation of daily feed intake for this animal. This is what is normally expected for healthy animals. The feed consumption on this animal has suddenly dropped. A pattern like this is an early warning that this animal may be getting sick and needs to be checked and possibly treated. At the end of the test, the quantity of feed that each animal should have eaten for his weight and gain is calculated and compared to the quantity actually eaten. If the animal ate less than expected, he is efficient. If he ate more than expected, he is inefficient. The animal scientists call these differences between expected and actual feed consumption “Residual Feed Intake”. [ATTACH type="full" alt="rfi.JPG"]0[/ATTACH] Residual Feed Intake, whether positive or negative, is moderately heritable. This means that genetic selection can be used to propagate cattle that can reduce our feed costs by as much as 10 to 15 percent. [b]Feed efficiency is not related to frame size[/b]. Both efficient and inefficient cattle can be large or small framed or anything in between. At this time, there are no known negative antagonisms. [url=http://www.profitmakerbulls.com/feed_efficiency.htm]http://www.profitmakerbulls.com/feed_efficiency.htm[/url] [i]Brandon...look at the bold print above.[/i] [/QUOTE]
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