VOL 2, NO 16

As membership continues to climb at the American Wagyu Association so does reporting of animals, up 22% over last year through the end of March. Even more encouraging is that the reporting of weaning weights is up 44%!

Reporting of information to the AWA database is essential as we continue to grow the AWA performance database. The AWA is also actively pursuing carcass data and last year put a carcass project in place through an agreement with Neogen allowing for reduced fees on DNA for carcass project cattle. And it’s working! Again, through the end of March 2021 DNA samples have increased 31%, largely due to the AWA carcass project. There are a few thousand cattle in the pipeline we will be collecting carcass data from which to build carcass EPD.

Recent Auctions of Wagyu genetics have been extraordinary! Demand for Wagyu in America is at an all-time high and the enthusiasm has perhaps never been better.

Change of Physical Address at the AWA Office
The city of Post Falls, ID has changed our physical mailing address for 911 purposes.
If you send anything to the AWA via UPS or FedEx please update your records accordingly:
American Wagyu Association
958 S Lochsa St. Suite 120
Post Falls, ID 83854

For all regular US Postal Service Mail please continue to use our regular mailing address:
American Wagyu Association
P.O. Box 1115
Post Falls, ID 83877
This is the best address for US postal service mail.

If you any questions regarding the change of address, please contact the AWA office.

The deadline for early registration is May 15. Attendees can save $50 by pre-registering. Registration includes a student and media option, as well as tour only. Online registration is available at BIFSymposium.com.

The BIF Symposium features two and a half days of educational programming and a full day of tours. The first general session — “Beef Industry: Where is it going?” — will feature presentations by Michael Uetz, Midan Marketing; Jim Pillen, Pillen Family Farms; and Dr. Dan Thomson, Iowa State University Department of Animal Science chair. During the second general session the theme will be Precision Livestock Technology. Speakers Thursday will include Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam, UC Davis; Justin Sexten, Precision Livestock Analytics; Pat Wall, ISU extension specialist; Reiss Bruning, Bruning Farms; and Cody Jorgensen, Jorgensen Land and Livestock.

The afternoon technical breakout sessions both days will focus on a range of beef-production and genetic-improvement topics. The conference also features a Young Producer Symposium on Tuesday afternoon, designed for networking and to equip young cattle producers with essential knowledge as they grow their role in the business. Tuesday evening attendees will enjoy an opening reception as well as the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) symposium.

For more conference details, including registration information, a complete schedule and hotel information, visit BIFSymposium.com. Prior to and during this year’s symposium, be sure to follow the event on social media channels using the hashtag #BIF2021.

Each year the BIF symposium draws a large group of leading seedstock and commercial beef producers, academics and allied industry partners. The attendance list is a “who’s who” of the beef value chain, offering great networking opportunities and conversations about the issues of the day. Program topics focus on how the beef industry can enhance value through genetic improvement across a range of attributes that affect the value chain.

Contemporary Groups
One of the most important aspects of an accurate genetic evaluation is proper contemporary grouping. Environment and management have a large effect on calf performance. When different animals are exposed to variable environments or management practices (feed, pasture, shelter, vaccination, etc.), it is impossible to determine if their differences in performance are due to genetics or environment. Selecting the highest performing animals in this situation is likely to result in selecting animals that had an advantageous environment. Because environment is not inherited, genetic progress is drastically decreased. When every calf is treated as uniformly as possible, the differences between them are more likely to be due to their genetics. In other words, the higher performing animals are more likely to be the genetically superior animals; selecting the genetically superior animal’s results in greater genetic progress. The creation of contemporary groups is the mechanism that allows us to account for management and environmental variation between animals. A contemporary group is a set of same-sex calves that were born within a relatively short window of time and have been managed the same since birth. Each calf in the group has received the same opportunity to express its genetic merit for traits of interest.

Learn More About Expected Progeny Differences
Trait descriptions, how to read EPD, information on accuracy, percentile rank tables and guidelines for the publication of EPD are all available, simply follow this link. wagyu.org/members/genetic-evaluation/

IMPORTANT NOTICE: CONFIDENTIALITY AND LEGAL PRIVILEGE
This email is intended only for the use of the addressee(s) and may contain legally privileged and confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are notified that any transmission, distribution or photocopying of this email is strictly prohibited. The legal privilege and confidentiality attached to this email is not waived, lost or destroyed by reason of a mistaken delivery to you. If you have received this email in error please immediately notify us by return email and delete the message and any attachments from your system. Unless specifically indicated, this email does not constitute formal advice or commitment by the sender. Thank you.