Georgia HERD Program Sale on June 1
Cattle production in Georgia is one of our top livestock industries. In Gordon County, raising beef cattle is a big part of our agricultural makeup. You do not have to drive far in any direction in our county and see a beef cow grazing pasture. For the most part, our local cattle operations are cow/calf farms. This is where you have a cow herd and sell weaned calves. We also have producers that center on raising registered cattle while others will raise stock- er cattle. One big key in increasing your success in the cattle business is have a quality cow herd. Today, I will share information about the Georgia HERD program which is a UGA collaborated effort to develop replacement heifers. This educational program concludes with an annual heifer sale.
For starters, I will begin with the end product of the program, the heifer sale. On Wednesday, June 1, 2016 at the Northwest Georgia Livestock Pavilion off the 53 Spur, approximately 100 confirmed bred replacement heifers will be offered for public auction. A high percentage of the heifers will be confirmed bred AI to either TC Thunder 805 or Connealy Shrek 4242. These are two calving ease Angus sires. In addition, heifers that did not conceive artificially will be bred natural service to calving ease Angus bulls. To read more on the program, you can go to www.ugabeef.com and then click on programs to read about the Calhoun HERD program. I will add that HERD stands for heifer evaluation and reproductive development. You can get the latest program and sale information online. The sale will start at 12:30 pm on June 1 with heifers being on the sale site starting on May 31. I will add that there will be an educational program and dinner held at the Gordon County Agricultural Service Center the evening prior to the sale on May 31. The meeting details will be posted when the sale catalog is put online in a few weeks.
The heifer evaluation process is a near six- month program. Heifers were delivered to the UGA Research and Education Center farm in Floyd County in early December 2015. Heifers at delivery were approximately 1012 months in age. Most folks know we also have a bull evaluation program. That program for the bulls is a gain test since we mainly sell cattle based on weight. The heifer program is slightly different in how we feed the cattle. Heifers are managed to gain 1.5-1.75 pounds per day.
There are scheduled workdays where the heifers are weighed for average daily gain. They are also given disposition scores plus measured for hip height and managed for health. In addition, there is a reproductive soundness evaluation each year in late January. On this day, the heifers have reproductive tract evaluation and also pelvic measurements taken. Heifers that do not meet criteria levels are removed from the program or are not sale eligible. In addition, the cattle on test will then be synchronized for a timed artificial insemination to the previously mentioned bulls. Prior to the sale, all heifers are ultra- sounded to confirm pregnancy. This group of heifers should begin calving in December 2016 with those first calving heifers being the AI bred females.
The importance of the program is for multiple reasons. First, yes it is a way for consigners to market quality bred heifers. This is a consigner or farmer driven program. We have many local producers that will consign heifers to the program, but we also receive cattle from across the state. Second, this is also educationally driven. Much of the information and data farmers can get back on their cattle would be hard to obtain on their personal farm. A producer can get data on how their heifers stack up in an evaluation process. Third, this is a great opportunity for hands on work experience for county agents.
For the Calhoun HERD program, approximately 15 Northwest and Northeast Georgia agents come on workdays to help process heifers. This is good experience for young agents. The Calhoun HERD program is a collaborative effort of the UGA College of Ag and Environmental Sciences, UGA College of Vet Med and also the Georgia Cattlemen Association. I hope to see you at the sale on June 1. For more information, contact UGA Extension- Gordon County or email gbowman@uga.edu.