Agricultural News
Stocker Nutritionist Dusty Abney Explains the Importance of Good Records in Progressive Cow Herds
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 11:53:02 CDT
Numbers don't lie, and there are a great many numbers to consider when it comes to making changes in your cow herd.
"It's great to keep records and I encourage all the producers I can to keep records. But, if you don't do something with those records, if you don't use those records to make a decision to improve your operation, you ought to quit keeping records," said Dusty Abney, a cow-calf and stocker nutritionist with Cargill Animal Health who talked recently on the importance of keeping good records for making progress with a beef cow herd. "And that's a pretty volatile statement to make but if you're writing stuff down and taking the time to measure those things and you don't use those metrics to make good decisions, better decisions than you were making before, you're wasting your time."
Watch a short video clip featuring Dusty Abney, a cow-calf and stocker nutritionist with Cargill Animal Health, discussing the importance of keeping good records for making progress with a beef cow herd, by clicking or tapping the PLAYBOX in the window below.
If you have a plan to use those records, Abney points out it is pretty easy to begin gathering information.
"So, to get started in recordkeeping if that's a goal that you want to hit this year, can be as easy as the little red book, right? Everybody's got the little red book in their pocket. It's as easy as that. It doesn't have to be a complicated spreadsheet," Abney explained. "You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on software. You can start just by writing some stuff down. Accuracy is big, you want to make sure you're writing down numbers that are correct and then figure out a way to collate those numbers and do a little bit of math and look at your averages and that sort of thing. It can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be."
Maintaining and analyzing records makes a lot of sense, because it can lead to decision-making that adds a lot of dollars and cents.
"Some people don't keep records for the same reason they don't go to the doctor. They don't want to know. If you're one of those people, be honest with yourself about that, and if that's the way you want to conduct your business then please do so," he remarked. "But if you want to be profitable, if you want to get better year after year, if you don't keep records, you won't know."
Record keeping-and record using-is the key to running your cattle operation like the actual business that it is.
"We don't get paid on feelings, we get paid on cold, hard facts," concluded Abney. "And numbers are the basis for those facts."
Source - Certified Angus Beef
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