Agricultural News
Proper Pre-Conditioning Means Performance and Profits
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:16:52 CDT
"A lot of people say they've had all their shots. Well, we don't know what that means," says Kenny Knight of Knight Feeders in Lyons, Kan.
What sounds like a good selling point on the ranch, may not carry much weight down the road. Knight says to reap the reward of a pre-conditioning program, cattlemen must focus on providing the data that backs up that good idea.
"The folks that are providing their vaccination records, we know what vaccine they've had. We know when they had it. And those same people are trained to do it and do it right, give the shots in the right location, handle the cattle as gently as possible all the way through. If we can look at those vaccination records and know they've had these shots, we've come a long ways."
Iowa data shows healthy cattle returned more than $365 per head above those treated twice for disease. A long-standing relationship between feeder and rancher builds confidence in the cattle.
"Well, there's that advantage," Knight says. "There's added value to a calf that has pre-conditioning shots coming from someone we know that we've been dealing with for years. If they give them a vaccination we know that they know how to do it right and that makes a big difference."
That difference means a smooth transition from ranch to feedlot and an easier life for cattle and cattlemen, but it makes the biggest difference in final beef quality. Cattle that spend time in the sick pen just don't produce as much premium beef as their healthier pen mates.
"For that rancher to do the things that we require on a pre-conditioning program is just making them look better, making us look better, and we're going to come up with a better product at the store or the restaurant or wherever that market is," Knight says.
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