23rd annual Calhoun HERD Sale approaching
For this article, I get to put on my Animal Science hat and share information on bovine. One of the cool parts of my job is to be a Calhoun HERD team member. Each December, registered and commercial consigned heifers that meet program criteria are dropped off at the UGA farm in Floyd County for an approximate six-month evaluation process.
The Wednesday after Memorial Day is the annual sale where the consigners can sale their confirmed bred heifers in a live auction setting. The annual sale is held at the NW Georgia Livestock Pavilion here in Calhoun off the Hwy 53 Spur. County agents across the
North Georgia area help on work days at the research farm and will assist with the sale activities. The sale this year will be on Wednesday, May 31st with sale time starting at 12:30 pm. A group of Gordon County 4-H’ers will have lunch ready about 11:30 am as a fundraiser so even if you are not looking to purchase heifers, come out and support the 4-H’ers by buying a lunch. Today, I will share information on the Calhoun HERD program.
First, what does HERD stand for in reference to this educational program. If my memory is correct, when the program started, it needed a catchy name to draw attention. When you think of cattle, you think of them moving in a herd. HERD for this program stands for Heifer Evaluation and Reproductive Development. The date will change slightly each year, but the first Thursday in December is when consigner nominated heifers are dropped off at the UGA research farm in Floyd County.
There are several areas of criteria those heifers must meet to be program eligible such as being born in the time frame of Dec. 1, to the last day of February. Meaning when the heifers are delivered they are either turning yearlings or soon will be. Heifers must be home grown, been placed on a recommended health program prior to delivery and should meet weight requirements based on age at delivery. There are other requirements, but those will be covered in the rules and regulations form that is updated annually at the Georgia HERD Program State meeting each summer. In addition, there is a Tifton HERD program for heifers born from Sept 1 to Nov. 30.
Once heifers are delivered, there are seven additional work days. Let me back track a minute. Yes, the program ends each year with a sale, but consigners are not required to sell their heifers. As mentioned, this is a reproductive development program for replacement heifers.
As far as workdays, there will be one event where we work with the UGA Vet School and heifers are given reproductive tract scores and pelvic measurements are taken. This data can be tied to the breeding soundness of the heifers and the ability of the heifer to have less trouble at calving. The heifers are synchronized and given a chance to conceive first by artificial insemination by nationally known calving ease Angus bulls.
This year, GAR Sure Fire and Baldridge Marksman were the two A.I. bulls. Then heifers are turned out with calving ease Angus bulls to clean up heifers that did not conceive A.I. Heifers are fed daily a ration to aid proper weight gain for a replacement heifer. In addition, we routinely record disposition scores, record hip heights and administer additional vaccinations for animal health. The program is educational because cattle producers can see how their heifers compare to other heifers in the same scenario plus the producer will have the data on their cattle for record keeping.
The sale at the end is an added bonus to a farmer by being able to market their cattle. I will add there are per head program fees for having heifers in the program. What about the sale? Only confirmed bred heifers are sale eligible. The last work day prior to the sale activities is the ultrasound day. This is where the UGA Vet School helps again by assisting with the ultrasound process to confirm pregnancy. Again, only confirmed bred heifer to the A.I. bull or natural service bull can be sold on May 31st. How can you find out more on the sale? The heifers will be ready for viewing at the sale site the afternoon of May 30th up to sale time on May 31.
Technology helps too by way of sale videos. If you go to ugabeef.com/herd online, this will take you to the site. If you click on the Georgia Heifer Evaluation and Reproductive Development link, you should be able to see sale videos on each heifer and also click on the sale catalog. In addition, you can actually bid on cattle from home by way of liveauctions.tv. That information is found at the website also. If bidding online is a new concept to you, I would advise getting with Jason Duggin, UGA Beef Specialist, prior to the sale by calling 706-624-1403. Even better, come to the sale to be there in person. You can contact Jason also if you have questions on specific lots in the sale.