"If you can have a conversation [with your seedstock supplier] and both be on the same page, then you're really gonna understand each other's business, and that's when things really start to click. You'll have the opportunity to fulfill each other's goals. That's when it starts getting to be a lot of fun, because then you can learn things from each other and use each other to bounce ideas off of and help each other to grow."
— Ryan Noble
Selection for performance traits based on adjusted weights or ratios can be misleading. Environmental effects can increase or decrease the actual performance of an animal, and its ratio is highly dependent on the other animals it competed against in a contemporary group. An excellent calf might be below average in a truly elite group and ratio below 100, while the same animal in another group could be the highest-performing individual. EPDs allow breeders to fairly compare animals from different farms and ranches, or from different years, without bias. By using the pedigree connections that exist within a breed’s database, EPD calculations allow fair comparison of all cattle in that breed. The significant amount of artificial insemination (AI) used by seedstock breeders adds accuracy to EPDs, because many contemporary groups from different breeders have one or more common sires.
Expected Progeny Differences revolutionized cattle breeding. They predict how future progeny of each animal are expected to perform relative to the progeny of other animals listed in the database. EPDs are expressed in units of measure for the trait, plus or minus. Because performance traits are always influenced by environmental effects, EPDs cannot predict actual performance.
The American Angus Association has a number of EPDs to predict traits ranging from calving ease to growth to carcass merit.
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It’s critical to understand that EPDs cannot be directly compared across breeds, and you might find EPDs on Angus bulls that aren’t produced by the American Angus Association. Those, too, cannot be directly compared. To allow for comparison of EPDs across breeds, the USDA Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) has developed adjustment factors.
The USDA adjustments work from an Angus base. For example, to compare a Charolais birth weight EPD to that of an Angus, an adjustment factor of +7.1 should be applied to the Charolais EPD. To compare a Hereford yearling weight EPD, an adjustment factor of –26.6 should be applied.
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Dollar Values ($Values) were created to simplify selection and allow for change in several different traits at once relative to a specific breeding objective. $Values are expressed in dollars per head, and are used to compare how future progeny of a sire are expected to perform, on average, compared to progeny of other sires in the database if the sires were randomly mated to cows and if calves were exposed to the same environment.
The Association $Values encompass the revenue generated from genetically derived outputs (revenues) and associated costs (expenses) from required inputs. For example, Weaned Calf Value ($W) takes into consideration the revenue of heavier weaning weights as well as the expense of achieving those heavier weights. The $Values are sensitive to the industry-relevant components used in calculating the indexes.
In general, $Values give cattlemen any easy way to align a value with their breeding objective. For example, if your breeding objective focuses on delivering high value in the feedlot and on the rail, you would be interested in Feedlot Value, Grid Value and Beef Value.
Indexes, over time, are the most effective way to make genetic progress, as they tie genetic merit to economics in a way that helps producers make the most progress in profitability through a systematic approach.
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When discussing selection tools, people typically think of the expected progeny differences (EPD) first. However, another important value often accompanies the EPD: the accuracy.
Accuracy is a statistical value that represents the amount of information behind an EPD. It ranges from 0 to 1, with zero reflecting the least accuracy and 1 signifying the highest accuracy. This metric is typically located directly below the published EPD, providing insights into the confidence and precision of the genetic predictions. That accuracy number is derived from the same model and data used to estimate the EPD, and it can be used as an indicator of risk for possible changes in the animal’s individual EPD as more information gets added to the evaluation. Using the accuracy values, we can calculate a possible change distribution, which is the potential amount of future change in an EPD prediction. The more accurate the EPD, the smaller the range of possible change.
Animals that have been genomically tested will typically have a higher accuracy value than untested animals. The added information used in the EPD calculation adds confidence to the prediction and reduces the risk of change.
From a bull buyer’s perspective, the accuracy value and the possible change table can serve as a risk mitigation tool for selection decisions. You must balance the risk and reward of those decisions. For instance, the easiest way to avoid risk is to use proven animals only, but it comes with a potentially lower reward because of slower genetic gain through slower generational turnover. The opposite strategy is to try to maximize the rate of genetic gain by using only young, unproven animals for faster generation turnover; but this strategy comes with bigger risks.
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While the Genetic Merit Scorecard is designed as a marketing tool to differentiate calf value on sale day, it’s a very powerful benchmarking tool, too. Not everyone has access to the feeding and carcass performance of their calves, but the GMS provides feedback on how your herd stacks up.
Scores for each trait receive a value between 0-200, with the industry average set at 100. Every year the industry average is recalculated, so genetic improvement within the overall industry is considered. This makes it a continually up-to-date benchmarking tool.
For example, if your score for any part of the GMS remains the same from year to year, you know you are keeping up with the industry. If your score goes from 125 to 135, not only did you make significant improvement, but you also improved at a rate faster than the rest of the industry. Conversely, if you go from a 135 to a 125, you are still well above the industry average, but you lost ground relative to the industry as a whole.
The benchmarking aspect of the GMS is valuable for buyers as well. They know the scores will consistently rank cattle as they rank in the population. A score of 100 will be the industry average in and will be industry average in .
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Most of life’s major acquisitions require a legal contract, from purchasing a house to leasing a car.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Lonsin.
Add to that list bringing home a purebred dog.
Reputable breeders almost universally require anyone who provides a home to one of their dogs to sign a contract. But if you’ve never purchased a dog from a reputable breeder, the requirement to sign a legal document may come as a surprise – and, given its multiple pages and official-sounding clauses, perhaps an off-putting one at that.
Of course, violating a properly executed legal documents can theoretically land you in court. So, if it’s legal advice you seek, you’ll find none of that here.
But there is another important way to look a breeder contract – and it’s not as a “gotcha” waiting to happen. For many breeders, contracts are a parting-shot opportunity to share their philosophy, advice, and expectations about the dog they are entrusting to you. Signing a contract reminds you of the enormous responsibility you are undertaking, and codifies all the things your breeder told you during your many visits and calls, but that you were probably too overwhelmed or distracted to process and commit to memory.
While contracts are as individual as the breeders who sign them, they contain some basics you might expect, such as the puppy’s AKC registration number, the name and registration numbers of the sire and dam, and, of course, the purchase price. But if you’ve never seen a breeder contract before, there are other common elements that may be new to you. They include:
Most breeder contracts will make a distinction between a puppy that is “pet quality” versus “show quality” (or, more appropriately, “show potential,” since no breeder can predict with complete surety how a puppy will turn out).
In terms of the contract, the distinction between pet and show hinges on the responsibilities attached to each.
Pet-quality puppies are those that the breeder thinks will likely not grow up to be candidates for showing or breeding. They will often be sold on a limited registration, which means they can participate in all AKC events except Conformation (the 50-cent word for “dog shows”), and their offspring cannot be registered.
With show prospects, contracts can vary significantly, depending on the breeder’s desired level of involvement. Some breeders might stipulate that they want to see the puppy at a certain age, at which time they will show it themselves if it has developed as they expected; other breeders require owners to hire a professional handler to show their dog.
If the dog goes on to be bred, the contract will also likely list all the health screenings that need to be performed, who makes decisions on what breedings will happen, who is responsible for whelping and placing puppies, and any of a number of other details, including financial arrangements. If anything is unclear or makes you uncomfortable, ask before you sign the contract.
Most breeder contracts require pet-quality dogs to be spayed or neutered. But as veterinary attitudes and research evolve, the age at which surgical sterilization is performed can vary markedly. Some breeders require that owners wait until the dog has stopped maturing and the growth plates close – a year for most breeds, 18 months for larger dogs – which some studies have shown lowers the risk of bone cancer. Of course, this presupposes that you will keep your dog securely contained and not permit it to wander to avoid unintended breedings.
If a breeder feels strongly about delaying spay or neuter, check with your vet in advance and make sure he or she is on board with that timetable. Ditto for other vet-related items that breeders tend to feel strongly about, such as feeding requirements and vaccination schedules. After decades of experience with dozens of litters, many have evolved successful protocols that work for their family of dogs, and they include them in their contracts with the expectation you will follow them. Having both your vet and the breeder on the same page avoids conflict later.
Good breeders don’t sell puppies with the expectation of getting them back: A forever home is supposed to be just that. But life happens to the best of us, and a whole host of issues – illness, allergies, divorce, relocation, and financial problems, to name but a few – can make it impossible for an owner to continue keeping a dog, despite the best of intentions.
No matter what the reason for the rehoming, the breeder wants to be notified. Even if your now-adult dog is going to live with another loving family or close friend, the breeder will still want to know about any change of ownership.
While this might seem controlling, look at it from the breeder’s perspective: In order to be responsible for every puppy they bring into the world, breeders need to make sure they are in loving, responsible hands. They will also want the new owners to know they are available to provide the same guidance and advice that they gave you. And they want to know if any problems or issues develop throughout the dog’s life, as that is important information that will help guide their breeding program.
Puppies are not widgets – if they were, not only would they not be anywhere near as cuddly, but they would be interchangeable, and a “defective” one would simply mean inconvenience, not heartbreak. While reputable breeders do their utmost to ensure that their puppies are the healthiest and soundest possible, sometimes things do not go as planned, just as with we humans.
Some breeder contracts guarantee all against genetic defects (usually up until a certain age), while others guarantee against specific ailments, such as heart problems, sometimes under certain conditions. Some breeders, for example, will guarantee against hip dysplasia, but only if the owner takes common-sense precautions, such as not running a puppy continuously on a hard surface until a year of age, and sometimes for large breeds, even longer. These specifics are dependent on the individual breeder, as well as the generally accepted health-screening practices in the breed community as a whole. After all, health concerns in a Chihuahua will be different from those in a Great Dane.
Though reputable breeders only breed dogs that are registered with the American Kennel Club, thus verifying their lineage, each new puppy that is born must be individually registered as well. Sometimes a breeder will require you to fill out the AKC registration papers. Other times, the breeder will take care of it themselves, especially if they are an AKC Breeder of Merit, a designation that shows a breeder has committed to registering all of their puppies with the American Kennel Club.
No matter who fills out the paperwork, your puppy will need a registered name. Different from its “call name,” which is what you call the puppy at home, a dog’s registered name is a longer, more elaborate name that typically incorporates the breeder’s kennel name at its beginning. In some cases, the kennel names of a co-breeder or the stud-dog owner are included as well.
Breeder contracts often stipulate the use of these kennel names as part of the puppy’s registered name. Beyond that, breeder contracts can vary widely: Some breeders will require the approval of the name before it is submitted; others might mandate that the name start with a particular letter or follow a certain theme they have established with the litter. The only time this name will be used is when your dog is entered at AKC events, including agility, obedience, and Conformation. What you call your dog at home is your own business!
While most contracts are straightforward and even boring, occasionally you might find some head-scratchers. Consider, for example, the breeder who required that puppy owners send her a photo of the dog every December. Her explanation, however, made sense: A photo lets her see if the dog is in good condition, and during the holiday season most people are inclined to take and send photos anyway.
Would that demand for a yearly photo op hold up in a court of law? Without seeing the document, or knowing the circumstances, who knows? While most breeders are more concerned about the spirit rather than the letter of the law, others do choose to exercise their legal rights. Reading through and discussing the contract with the breeder before you pick up your puppy should answer your questions and alleviate any concerns. If there’s something in the contract that makes you truly uncomfortable, and the breeder is unyielding about changing it, you might reconsider your options.
No matter how much you research, or how many books you read, in the end buying a puppy is an act of faith. You are trusting that the breeder has done her level best to produce a healthy, well-adjusted puppy, and the breeder is trusting that you will take care of your new family member to the best of your ability, hopefully, long enough to see its muzzle gray. Ideally, the breeder will be available every step of the way for questions, concerns and, at the very end, a shoulder to cry on. If a contract seems so restrictive or punitive that it suggests your relationship with the breeder will be more combative than caring, then that should give you pause.
Though a puppy’s infectious cuteness is hard to ignore, the best advice is not to sign any document that you have no intention of honoring – not just because you might get sued, but because it’s the right thing to do.
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