August 13, 2007
In this issue …
New EPDs released
Fees activate benefits
Next webcast is tomorrow night
Nominating Committee seeks recommendations
Heifer data due Wednesday
Board meeting to focus on budget
Visions Quest contenders sought
Online auction extended
Major shows approach
Note tips from Data Processing, Performance Programs
NJLSC highlights video available
It’s not too early to start planning for Sioux Falls
NALF is collecting newspapers’ e‑mail addresses
What’s news?
Limousin sales, events
New EPDs released
The new expected progeny differences (EPDs) from the fall 2007 international Limousin genetic evaluation now are available through various features of the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) Web site. In addition, members can request a whole-herd EPD report from the NALF office free of charge.
The fall evaluation also includes the Proven Sire Trait Leaders and Focus Dams lists. The entire publication is available for download in portable document format (PDF) from the Web site’s “Programs” section. Or contact the NALF office to request a printed or CD-ROM version of the sire summary, either of which is available for $10.
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Fees activate benefits
Those who participate in the annual member-service plan may register animals at half the inactive-member rates; enjoy free access to the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site; and activate complimentary subscriptions to the quarterly Bottom Line newsletter for themselves and their bull customers. While those who have not paid this year’s assessment yet have had those benefits suspended, they may reactivate them by submitting their fees anytime during the plan year.
To generate additional resources for commercial marketing, the NALF Board of Directors approved a voluntary checkoff. NALF automatically will bill the $4 per head fee to participating member accounts when animals are registered. Enrollment is easy – just mark the space on your member-service–fee notice. You may change your checkoff-enrollment status at any time by contacting the NALF office.
Around 900 members have paid their 2007–2008 service fees, and more than 40 have enrolled in the commercial marketing checkoff program.
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Next webcast is tomorrow night
NALF will conduct another information-packed member-outreach webcast at 7 p.m. MDT tomorrow, Aug. 14. The topic will be “Visions Quest Round 2 Postharvest,” and it will be an interactive discussion about the results and lessons from NALF’s cattle-feeding and carcass-discovery project. Five Star Cattle Systems is sponsoring the event.
To participate, you must register with DVAuction.com beforehand, and it is best to do so at least three hours before the event starts. Especially if you register within 30 minutes of the webcast’s start, the authorization system will be much slower.
When you register with DVAuction, be sure to enter the e‑mail address where you received this issue of Partners; otherwise, you will not be allowed into the “members-only” webcast. You only need to register once; and if you already have registered with DVAuction using this address, you are ready to go.
When it is time for the webcast, return to the DVAuction home page and click the “View” button next to “North American Limousin Foundation” under “Today’s Events.” Or use the “Producer-Outreach Webcasts” link on the NALF home page.
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Nominating Committee seeks recommendations
To enhance the nominations and voting processes for new directors, the NALF Board approved three bylaws changes in June 2006 and put them into effect for a one-year trial. At its April meetings, the Board voted to extend that trial through the next election cycle. Ongoing input from NALF members will help evaluate their effectiveness.
NALF President Wendell Geeslin, Platteville, Colo., has appointed the 2007–2008 Nominating Committee:
- Chairman Dave Berry, Port Orchard, Wash., past president;
- Gordon Schuppe, Iliff, Colo., past president;
- Mike Smith, Plainville, Kan., Board member;
- Bob Millerberg, Draper, Utah, Board member;
- Lane McComas, Raphine, Va., at-large member;
- Jim Counsil, Madisonville, Texas, at-large member; and
- Charles Linhart, Leon, Iowa, at-large member.
The committee would like to hear from NALF members about prospective nominees in the next week, and the October issue of Limousin World will include its slate of nominees. The NALF office then must receive signed letters of support for at-large nominees from at least 15 different founding, lifetime or active annual members by Oct. 15. Identification of all nominees by then enables NALF to publicize their candidacies and include their names on the official ballot.
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Heifer data due Wednesday
Limousin Inventory Management System (LIMS) participants have until Wednesday, Aug. 15, to report heifer-exposure information for 2006 spring-born females. The optional reporting will give NALF the data it needs for genetic evaluation of heifer pregnancy. It also will help ensure active LIMS inventories accurately reflect incoming replacement heifers and eliminate the need to report disposal codes for culled heifers later.
The heifer-retention reporting tool is available by logging on to the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site, then clicking the LIMS button near the top of the screen. Once on the LIMS home page, scroll down the list of options and click “Heifer Retention Reporting” to display your current heifer inventory.
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Board meeting to focus on budget
The NALF Board will meet next Tuesday through Thursday, Aug. 21–23, in Denver, Colo. The primary focus will be the fiscal year (FY) 2007–2008 budget. Contact a Board member or Kent Andersen in the NALF office to provide input about any breed issues.
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Visions Quest contenders sought
Cattle producers still have until Sept. 1 to crawl into the ring for the Limousin breed’s next bout to collect data for genetic evaluation and research while showing its genetics’ potential for generating revenue.
Visions Quest (VQ) Round 3 continues to follow up the Limousin Visions Symposium, where NALF members set breed-improvement and marketing directives in December 2004. Limousin breeders and their commercial customers can join the project by sending cattle and learning more about cattle feeding and carcass merit as they track actual animal performance. VQ Round 3 will build upon the first two cattle-feeding and carcass-discovery projects in providing another real-world lesson about producing industry-friendly seedstock and feeder cattle.
Pen space is limited so NALF suggests enrollment forms arrive before the Sept. 1 deadline. Enrollees then must deliver all cattle to the Colorado State University (CSU) research feedyard near Fort Collins Nov. 1–15. NALF will help coordinate transportation as much as possible, and early enrollment also will facilitate that effort.
Updated program guidelines and the enrollment form are available in the “Programs” section of the NALF Web site or by contacting Bo Sexson in the NALF office.
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Online auction extended
To provide continuous marketing opportunities for its members and their partners in allied industry, NALF is offering sponsorship opportunities on its Web site, which gets more than 13,000 page views per month. Beginning in October, two sponsor spots will be available for four-month blocks, which will sell via an online “Country Auction” (similar to eBay). Bidding has been extended through Sept. 11.
NALF also is accepting sponsors for the Partners e‑newsletter. Starting in September, each issue will offer three sponsor spots. Two-month blocks for each spot will sell for $250 apiece on a “first come, first served” basis.
Complete details concerning all of NALF’s online sponsorship opportunities are available by clicking the “Marketing Reach” link on the association’s home page. Direct questions to Brad Parker in the NALF office.
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Major shows approach
The Limousin shows at the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo., will be Oct. 18. Jerry Adamson of Cody, Neb., will sort the junior entries; and Randy Daniel of Colbert, Ga., will judge the open show. Entries are due Sept. 1.
The junior show at the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) in Louisville, Ky., will be Nov. 11. The open show will be Nov. 14, and Terry Burks of Bowling Green, Ky., will be the judge. NAILE entries are due Oct. 1.
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Note tips from Data Processing, Performance Programs
NALF members, do not send payments for any DNA-testing services to MMI Genomics. That causes a lot of trouble for your NALF staff members because the billing for those services is done through the association office.
In April, the NALF Board voted to increase the fee for “performance only” recordings to $10 per head, effective July 1. The first adjustment to the fee since January 2000 is meant to put performance-only recording on more equitable footing with the Limousin Inventory Management System (LIMS), which encourages reporting all data for all animals all of the time. Breeders still can credit their performance-only fees for unregistered animals recorded with NALF toward later registration.
When NALF members use online registration via the secured, members-only portion of the Web site, it is to their advantage to submit registrations after all animals have been entered rather than one animal at a time. That will help keep contemporary groups intact.
For those participating in a state beef-cattle-improvement tobacco program, make sure you have current expected progeny difference (EPD) profiles for the animals you are interested in purchasing. NALF recalculates EPDs twice a year – in November and June. The new numbers are released in early January and early August, respectively. You can find an animal’s current EPDs on the NALF Web site by clicking the “Animal EPD Search” button at the top of every page, or you can contact the NALF office to request current performance records.
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NJLSC highlights video available
One of the more memorable parts of the awards banquet at the National Junior Limousin Show and Congress (NJLSC) was the official highlights video. Charlie Wiemers of Steady Shots Production recorded the week’s activities. If you would like a copy on digital video disc (DVD) for $30, e‑mail a note to fujicowboy@aol.com. After your order, please allow six weeks for delivery.
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It’s not too early to start planning for Sioux Falls
Mark your calendars for July 12–19, 2008, when the NJLSC will move to Sioux Falls, S.D. See you on the “Trail to Excellence.”
The official 2008 NJLSC flier, including phone numbers for the host hotels, is posted in the “Juniors” section of the NALF Web site. The Sheraton Sioux Falls already is accepting reservations.
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NALF is collecting newspapers’ e‑mail addresses
The NALF office is in the process of sending targeted news releases to nearly 200 local, state and regional publications to publicize the accomplishments of Limousin juniors at the NJLSC. It is part of the effort to get Limousin news to local media outlets.
In the near future, NALF will send localized news releases about LIMS enrollments, the sires and dams in the fall international Limousin genetic evaluation, and the results of the recently concluded Visions Quest Round 2 cattle-feeding and carcass-discovery project. To make sure your local newspapers get such information, send their e‑mail addresses to Brad Parker in the NALF office.
When you send those e‑mail addresses, be sure to include your membership number or herd prefix. Also provide the publication’s name, city and state.
It is best to call the publication first and ask which address should receive news releases. Sending them to the wrong people – webmasters, advertising sales representatives, circulation managers and such – is the shortest route to the trash. And, to be clear, NALF needs an e‑mail address (something that looks like “name@publication.com”) not just a Web-site address.
Thanks for your help in developing NALF’s database of local media contacts.
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What’s news?
NALF has issued the following news releases since the last issue of
Partners:
Limousin news releases are archived in the Web site’s “What’s New” section. NALF encourages its members to share them with their local news outlets.
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Limousin sales, events
Courtesy of Limousin World
Aug. 14 • NALF Webcast: Visions Quest Round 2 Postharvest (members only; sponsored by Five Star Cattle Systems)
Aug. 28 • NALF Webcast: Value-Added Production (sponsored by Bovitrak)
Sept. 3 • Pinegar Limousin Big, Big, Big Cow Sale, Springfield, MO
Sept. 5 • ROM’N Limousin Annual Club Calf Sale, Arlington, SD
Sept. 8 • Seedstock Showcase Sale, Burbank, OH
Sept. 9 • East Central Oklahoma Annual Sale, Shawnee, OK
Sept. 15 • O’Brien Farms Quarter Horse Dispersal, Pineville, MO
Sept. 15 • Deatsman Farm–Sennett Cattle Co. Third Private Treaty Sale, Leesburg, IN
Sept. 15 • Arkansas Limousin Organization Limousin Fall Select Sale, Ozark, AR
Sept. 16 • Jones–Benson Farms Annual Sale, La Monte, MO
Sept. 18 • NALF Webcast: Visions Quest Round 3 Preview (sponsored by Critical Insights)
Sept. 19 • Potterosa Limousin Mature Cow Herd Dispersion, Redwood Falls, MN
Sept. 22 • Wies Limousin Ranch Maternal Magic Production Sale, Columbia, MO
Sept. 22 • Limousin Breeders of the Carolinas Fall Sale, Anderson, SC
Sept. 23 • Heart of Oklahoma Seedstock and Production Sale, Shawnee, OK
Sept. 25 • Coleman’s HC Ranch Spring Cow Herd Dispersion, Missoula, MT
Sept. 25 • NALF Webcast: DNA, Data Collection and Online Recording (members only; sponsored by MMI Genomics)
Sept. 29 • Vorthmann Limousin Focus On Family Values V Sale, Treynor, IA
Sept. 29 • Deer Valley Farm Fall Production Sale, Fayetteville, TN
Sept. 29 • Tulsa State Fair Open Limousin Show, Tulsa, OK
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