April 28, 2008

In this issue …
Important junior deadlines approach
Regional show entries due Thursday
Finish your Futurity forms by May 15
Financial assistance available from Limi Boosters
NALF Board completes spring meeting
Election process made permanent
Sponsorship programs undergo minor modifications
Directors begin developing new marketing plan
Online inventories 1st step toward pregnancy evaluation
DNA sampling recommended to all breeders
Measurement leads to improvement
Help your bull buyers prepare
Scanning all yearlings is best policy
It’s in the prefix
Summaries now on ‘request’ basis
Association updates, MOE petitions due soon
What’s news?
Limousin sales, events

The month of May brings most of the year’s priority deadlines for North American Limousin Junior Association (NALJA) members.

Thursday, May 1, official-postmark deadlines

• Western, Eastern and Heartland regional junior show entries

May 15 official-postmark deadlines

• National Junior Limousin Show and Congress (NJLSC) entries
• NALJA Board of Directors applications
• Awards of Excellence applications
• Leonard and Vi Wulf Scholarship applications
• Limi Boosters Scholarship applications
• Limi Boosters Educational Grant applications
• Limi Boosters State Grant applications

Find more information in the summer 2008 NALJA News, which is available in the “Juniors” section of the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) Web site.

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The Western Limousin Exposition (WLE) opens June 12 this year, and the Southeast Summer Classic (SSC) opens June 19. For the third year, the WLE will be in Klamath Falls, Ore.; and the Southeastern Limousin Breeders Association (SELBA) again will host the SSC in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Early entries for both Medal of Excellence (MOE) shows must be officially postmarked by Thursday, May 1, and they should be addressed to the NALF office. Dave Berry, (360) 871-3642, is the regional contact for the WLE. Jonathan Perry, (931) 433-1895, is the regional contact for the SSC.

In addition, the Heartland Limousin Association (HLA) will host this year’s Heartland Regional Junior Limousin Show in Sioux Falls, S.D., July 11–12. To participate in the 2008 Heartland show, junior exhibitors must be from a Heartland state and be a 2008 dues-paying member of HLA. Juniors from non-Heartland states who have shown in a past Heartland show or are returning HLA members also are eligible to enter. Those early entries must be officially postmarked by Thursday, May 1, and they should be addressed to the NALF office. For more information, contact Dean Summerbell, (612) 963-3799.

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The All-American Limousin Futurity (AALF) will be Friday, July 18, in Sioux Falls, S.D., in conjunction with the National Junior Limousin Show and Congress (NJLSC). In addition to the traditional Limousin open show, which is one of NALF’s four major MOE shows, this year’s event will include the fifth annual Lim‑Flex® show and the third annual special fullblood show.

The April issue of the Limousin World included the AALF entry form, or breeders may request one by contacting American Cattle Services (ACS) at (580) 597-3006. Entry forms and fees should be mailed to ACS by May 15. Juniors, take note: Entry in the NJLSC does not enter you automatically in any of the AALF shows.

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NALJA members have until May 15 to apply for scholarships and grants from the Limi Boosters. Anyone with questions should contact Susan Carmichael at (859) 328-7355, Donna Etherton at (217) 629-7650 or Norma Davis at (325) 784-5071.

State grant applications also are must be mailed to the Limi Boosters by May 15. Those grants are available to state associations to help defer the cost of state junior events. Contact Carmichael with questions.

All Limi Boosters applications are available in the “Programs” and “Juniors” sections of the NALF Web site.

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The NALF Board of Directors met April 15–16 in Denver, Colo. Specific actions will be reported elsewhere in this and future editions of Partners, in upcoming “NALF News” columns in the Limousin World magazine, and in the “Member News” section of the member site home page.

The directors will conduct follow-up conference calls over the coming weeks and months, and their next face-to-face meeting will be Aug. 12–13. The fiscal year (FY) 2008–2009 budget will be the main topic of discussion in August. As always, Board members encourage their constituents to suggest agenda items or share thoughts and opinions about current issues facing the breed.

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To enhance the nominations and voting processes for new directors, the NALF Board approved three bylaws changes in June 2006. They have been in effect on a trial basis ever since. At its meetings earlier this month, the Board voted to make those bylaws permanent.

The changes modified the structure of the Nominating Committee and created at-large nominations and absentee ballots.

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To improve online marketing opportunities for NALF members and their partners in allied industry, the Board approved minor modifications to the Partners and NALF.org sponsorship programs.

Starting Sept. 1, single-issue Partners sponsorships will sell for $75 each on a first-come, first-served basis. (Three sponsorships are available in each issue.) For more information, contact Brad Parker in the NALF office.

NALF again will offer sponsorship opportunities on its Web site. Beginning Oct. 1, two sponsor spots will be available for three-month blocks, which will sell at auction before the Board meets in August. For more information, contact Parker or Frank Padilla in the NALF office.

Complete details about each program will be in the June–July Limousin World, in future editions of Partners and on the NALF Web site soon.

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During their April meeting, NALF Board and staff members launched the process that will establish a three-year marketing plan. The situation analysis included a general market evaluation; a review of the competition; and an analysis of the breed’s and NALF’s current and future strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

The Commercial Marketing and Advertising Committee will continue the process by defining critical success factors and proposing possible marketing tactics and target audiences. Those conversations and upcoming surveys to Limousin breeders, current commercial bull buyers and other cattle producers will help guide budgeting priorities for the next four fiscal years.

By this time next year, NALF will have redefined its brand image and central marketing messages. All association communications – including (but not limited to) print and radio advertisements, brochures, trade-show graphics, Web sites and newsletters – from fall 2009 through spring 2012 will reflect the outcomes of the planning process now underway.

Keep an eye on Partners and the Limousin World for your opportunities to provide input.

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NALF will produce online yearling-heifer–exposure inventories for the spring-calving herds in the Limousin Inventory Management System (LIMS) beginning May 15. Breeders will have until Aug. 15 to volunteer exposure data for evaluating genetic differences in heifer pregnancy.

LIMS – including its optional system for collecting heifer exposure and pregnancy data – is one of several projects the NALF Board approved in response to the Limousin Visions Symposium. The symposium’s breed-improvement initiatives will help Limousin breeders further enhance genetic merit for grade, growth, fertility and docility.

The symposium identified heifer pregnancy as a high-priority trait for data collection and genetic evaluation, and NALF strongly encourages LIMS participants to report exposure data.

To prevent NALF from marking fall-calving cows in their inventories as “inactive,” LIMS participants also must report at least one of the following for each of those cows by July 15:

• a calf record;
• a reason for no progeny reported; or
• a reason for disposal (for cows removed from the herd).

A tool in the LIMS section of the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site is available to help accomplish that task. Members can access the tool by logging into the member site, clicking the LIMS button near the top of any screen, then selecting “No Progeny Reporting.”

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Breeders who sell animals that eventually might be used for AI or ET should consider collecting DNA samples for them first. Oftentimes, after a breeder sells a bull or cow, the buyer collects semen or eggs; but the proper DNA tests never were done. Then the sire, dam or purchased animal itself is dead or sold by the time the buyer tries to obtain parent verification.

Given the ease of collecting DNA samples on FTA cards and the fact samples can be stored unrefrigerated long-term, it just makes sense for serious seedstock producers to develop DNA-sampling protocols for those animals that are likely to be propagated widely.

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Use NALF’s online recording tools (available through the secured, members-only portion of the Web site) or free, preprinted forms for timely reporting of birth, weaning and yearling data. Take the time to enter this spring’s yearling data immediately, and include all heifers (not just those selected for replacements), yearling bulls and steers.

As highlighted at the Limousin Visions Symposium, commercial cattle producers want information about identification (ID); breed composition; color; polled status; expected progeny differences (EPDs), including accuracies, percentile rankings and breed averages; weights; frame score; scrotal circumference or pelvic area; ultrasound data and ratios; and feeding-test results. Reporting data to NALF helps your association help you address those desires.

The deadline to submit data for the next international Limousin genetic evaluation is June 15.

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Sire selection is the only way for commercial producers to make the genetic changes that will keep their enterprises profitable in the new era of costlier inputs; therefore, the bulls you produce in the near future will have long-term effects on their herds and profits. If you want top prices in the next year or two, you need to make the right kind of bulls. With fullblood, purebred and Lim‑Flex genetic options available, there are more ways to serve customers than ever.

To help your commercial customers hit the mainstream market targets, aim to deliver seedstock that produce the following:

• Choice, Yield Grade (YG) 2 carcasses (no Standards or YG 4s);
• acceptable carcass weights with superior dressing percentages;
• competitive weaning weights;
• rapid, efficient postweaning gains;
• easy-calving, fertile, efficient cows; and
• calm, hassle-free cattle.

So think about the Limousin Visions Symposium breed-improvement directives (growth, grade, docility and fertility) and your customers’ future wants and needs as you make this year’s breeding decisions. The key to positioning yourself for successful bull marketing down the road is maximizing the number of like-aged calves from truly superior, proven AI sires that complement the cows to which you mate them.

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Today’s seedstock producers need to know how their genetics contribute to success in the packinghouse. Collecting ultrasound data for yearling bulls and replacement heifers can give you a good idea. More important, submitting that information and actual harvest data for NALF’s herdbook can improve the quality and accuracy of carcass EPDs for the entire breed.

Do not forget to order barnsheets from the NALF office at least two weeks before your scanning session. The ultrasound laboratories require barnsheets to process scan data, and failure to obtain them before your scanning session will result in processing delays.

When calling NALF to request barnsheets, be ready to provide the following:

• complete tattoos or registration numbers for the animals;
• a fax number to send the barnsheets; and
• the laboratory the ultrasound technician will use to process the data.

Here are some other reminders for those who are ultrasound-scanning this spring.

• The acceptable age range for scanning is 300 to 450 days. That range differs from the one used for other yearling traits, which is 330 to 450 days.
• NALF cannot provide adjustments, ratios and EPDs for animals that are not in its herdbook. Animals must be registered or recorded for performance only to provide the sire, dam, date of birth, percent Limousin and other information required for processing ultrasound data.
• NALF cannot provide adjustments and ratios for animals with missing weaning dates and weights because ultrasound measurements are adjusted for their postweaning gains per day of age.
• For NALF to use an animal’s performance data to calculate its EPDs, the animal must be in a contemporary group with at least one other animal. NALF forms ultrasound contemporary groups using an animal’s yearling contemporary group (or weaning contemporary group if yearling information is missing), scan-lot date and scan-management code.
• If you would like NALF to record an animal’s scan weight as its yearling-weight observation, contact the home office. You must take the scan weight, however, when the animal is 330 to 450 days of age and at least 140 days after you measure its weaning weight. You must take all other yearling measurements, such as scrotal circumference and hip height, on the same day as the scan weight.

If you have questions about ultrasound scanning, refer to the Guide to Ultrasound in the “Genetic Evaluation” section of the NALF Web site, or request one from the NALF office.

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As you buy and sell animals this spring, do not forget that the first two letters of the prefixes on NALF registration numbers help customers understand registered breed compositions.

The letters F and M appended to those prefixes indicate “female” and “male,” respectively.

For an animal’s genotypes for coat color or polled status, check the animal lookup on the NALF Web site or call the home office.

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With nearly 40 percent of NALF paperwork now submitted electronically and with the increased costs associated with forms, printing and postage, NALF has discontinued automatic printing and distribution of weaning update, yearling update and yearling summary reports with returned paperwork. Request those documents – free of charge – from the NALF office, or find the information on your secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site.

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State and regional Limousin associations need to keep NALF’s records current by notifying the office when they select new leaders. That is the only way to ensure all information – including that regarding cooperative marketing efforts, junior activities and news releases – gets to the correct contact people. Those updates also are the basis for the NALF Web site’s “State Associations” section. Association leaders need to complete and return their information-update forms to Brad Parker in the NALF office.

State and regional associations also can petition NALF for permission to host an MOE show. Association leaders have received petition forms, rules and approved-judges lists. If there is a local or state show you would like counted for MOE points, submit the petition form by June 15. Direct related questions to Kate Maher in the NALF office.

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NALF has issued the following news releases since the last issue of Partners:

• April 22 – All-American Limousin Futurity Will Include Fullblood, Lim‑Flex Shows
• April 23 – ‘Trail to Excellence’ Leads to National Junior Limousin Show
• April 25 – Transferred Registrations Add Value to Seedstock Purchases

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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May 2 • Express Ranches Extra Value Grass Time Sale, Yukon, OK
May 3 • Kervin–Hall–Coyote Hills Annual Limousin Female Sale, Chattanooga, OK
May 4 • Northwest Female Sale, Madras, OR
May 6 • Plum Creek Limousin Main Event Sale, Philip, SD
May 10 • 16th Annual Ohio Valley Limousin Ass’n Sale, Mineral Wells, WV
May 17 • Circle L and Friends Sale, Burbank, OH
May 20–28 • 18th International Limousin Conference, Italy
May 31 • Crites Limousin Complete Dispersal, Fayette, MO
May 31 • Southern Exchange Sale, Lancaster, KY
June 7 • Rocky Top Limousin Complete Dispersal, Newark, OH
June 13 • Western Limousin Exposition Junior Limousin Show, Klamath Falls, OR
June 14 • Western Limousin Exposition Open Limousin Show, Klamath Falls, OR
June 14–15 • Ohio Valley Limousin Ass’n Beef Weekend, Mineral Wells, WV