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Brad Turner of BT Cattle in Lipan, Texas, says the comprehensive IGENITY® profile helps him level the playing field when marketing his commercial replacement females.
"Before I started using IGENITY, all I could really tell about my heifers were that they looked nice out in the pasture eating grass. Now, with the IGENITY profile, I am no longer spending a bunch of money and spinning my wheels because I don't really know what I have in my herd's genetics," Turner says.
Turner runs almost 200 head of commercial cows and is primarily in the business of producing replacement females. Along with providing superior genetics, Turner is committed to utilizing programs that can help ensure the health of his cattle. That is why he also uses the MERIAL® SUREHEALTH® Calf Preconditioning Program. He says the combination of a strong health program and inside information from the comprehensive IGENITY profile helped a group of his heifers bring an additional $250 each.
"We had a group of females in a commercial heifer sale, and the buyer told me after the sale that he bought those females because the information from IGENITY helped him really know what he was buying instead of just guessing. Profiling those heifers was the best money I have ever spent," Turner explains.
Now, Turner is profiling his entire heifer crop. The IGENITY profile helps him add marketability to his females in a way he has never been able to before. And it can help him make more confident mating decisions to help make faster genetic progress.
"I am using the profiles for each heifer to make some culling decisions and, more important, to make better mating decisions. If I know the strengths and weaknesses of each heifer, I can mate her to a bull with an IGENITY profile that will help improve those areas to produce a better calf. I also can use the profile to help find the heifers at an early age that don't have the genetic potential to be a profitable female and sort her into the feeding pen," Turner says.
He adds that the IGENITY profile is something all cattle producers should use to gain inside information early in each animal's life.
"The IGENITY profile is an extraordinary tool that can help all producers — but especially commercial producers — take their program to a new level," Turner says. "The heifers I am raising have two purposes: to raise a calf efficiently and to produce a calf that will be worth eating. With IGENITY, I can learn more about each heifer's potential to do both things from the beginning. I don't have to wait until her first calf is harvested to know what she can do. The IGENITY profile is simply a tool that can help me do a better job of running my business."
®MERIAL, SUREHEALTH, IGENITY and the IGENITY logo and are registered trademarks of Merial.
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