Ethan Haywood
Hello, and welcome to episode four of season two of The Select Sires Podcast. I'm your host, Ethan Haywood, and today we are here to talk about the red-hot topic of beef on dairy. With me today is Lauren Kimble, manager of ProfitSOURCE
supply chains from Select Sires Inc. Lauren, thank you so much for having the time to be here with us today.
Lauren Kimble
Thank you for having me.
Ethan Haywood
We're really excited. We've both been on the road quite a lot, Lauren, you have been all over the West and Midwest, Kansas, Texas, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and I've been kind of running a similar route, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and we have both just been crisscrossing the back roads of the continental United States. The question that comes up everywhere that you go is what are you getting for beef on dairy calves right now? It doesn't matter if you're on a dairy or if you are on a feed-lot, it seems like that question is always coming up. So, we're so excited to talk about that with you here today. Let's jump into a little bit of your background and your work with ProfitSOURCE to start.
Lauren Kimble
Sure thing. Yeah. I'd say the topic of beef on dairy is red-hot, like our tags right now. Like you said, and I'm amazed we didn't somehow cross each other on any of these travels, but certainly it's a topic that keeps us busy no matter where we are. So ProfitSOURCE again is our beef on dairy program. I'd kind of call it a custom strategic program for your production on how you can maximize your beef on dairy value. No matter where you are, no matter what weight you want to market your calves at or how you want to market them, we're able to make something work for you that fits your operation best.
Ethan Haywood
With how red-hot this topic is, there's so much variability out there in the marketplace. There's so much variability on what type of semen and genetics you're buying and where these calves are going. It seems like every situation that you step into is just a little bit different. So, I'm excited today to go through a lot of the different particulars and really our theme today and everything that we're talking about today is something that one of us or our teammates have been asked about on the road in the past couple months in this crazy beef on dairy calf environment. So, as we go through, probably the number one thing that we discuss with dairy producers are some of the traits that are important to them and selecting genetically for the bulls that are going to suit what they are trying to do the best. What are some of those traits that you hear about on the dairy producer side that we really try and focus in on with this program?
Lauren Kimble
Sure, so for as much as beef on dairy markets or programs can vary depending on where you are geographically, definitely there's some pieces that always stay the same, right? You're a dairy producer. I was a dairy producer at the end of the day, really what matters on the dairy operation is getting your cows in calf, and calving ease, of course, right? Honestly, those are some of the first questions we always get is on semen fertility and on calving ease. Fertility-wise we know that cost per head per day open is insanely expensive.
Ethan Haywood
Yeah. I mean, it's a huge number that our producers are trying to actively manage, and hopefully that this beef semen is a tool that can be a distinct advantage in that standpoint.
Lauren Kimble
It is very important, and that's why fertility is at the forefront of our minds. We do have our internal fertility evaluation as well as external evaluations that are available, and we do work very heavily off of these numbers. So Randy van Eyk, who works with our Select Sires Member Cooperative team in California, says that the biggest thing with fertility particularly on the ProfitSOURCE side has been the consistency of each individual bull. He uses CFI rankings and AgriTech data and says that he actually sees the patterns from those lists in his breeding herds and he breeds in a lot of herds, a lot of cows, a lot of herds.
Ethan Haywood
And a lot of herds out there that are just coming off of that summer swell. I mean, you've really got to be on your A-game to manage fertility out in that area.
Lauren Kimble
Absolutely. So, his producers are trusting him because he has that information at his fingertips to help select bulls, and it's something we keep in mind when we're creating our ProfitSOURCE lineup. He really says it's paying off for his herds as compared to other semen they have used where maybe they didn't have access to that information to be able to select the bulls in the first place.
Ethan Haywood
And a great reason to really work with the resources of the people that have boots on the ground. They have a lot of data at their fingertips, and they can help customize these solutions for you, and that's going to be a very common theme as we go through some of these questions today.
Lauren Kimble
Sure, and calving ease too. Definitely, I feel like it was a question we used to get more in the early days of beef on dairy gaining its popularity. We have a lot of producers that feel more comfortable with it now. We do keep calving ease in mind in our ProfitSOURCE sire lineup. The breeds will often have not only a birth weight EPD, but a Calving Ease EPD, which actually incorporates some calving ease scores into it. Again, we know that fetal growth is the most rapid in the last trimester, up to nearly a pound a day. So, we realize it's still important, but we've also found ways to optimize making a large enough calf that they'll do well when they go to market that calf without resulting in assisted or difficult calvings and therefore loss of milk in the next lactation.
Ethan Haywood
Exactly and what an important component to focus on here as there's so much margin to be made utilizing sexed semen in combination with this beef semen. But if we are not starting our cows out to the optimal production, especially those younger two-year-olds, then all of a sudden, we're eroding that margin in a very quick manner, and there's so many traits that we're going to talk about that we're looking at on the receiving end of the supply chain that need to be a focus. They don't always run genetically with that Calving Ease trait and with that fertility trait. So, the fact that you guys’ hand-select bulls to bear this name that can do both is so important confidence-wise that when I go through to buy a beef bull I know that I can buy it with some confidence if it's carrying the ProfitSOURCE name.
Lauren Kimble
Right, if it was on the ProfitSOURCE list we selected it for a reason, essentially.
Ethan Haywood
And so, moving on to maybe further down the supply chain, what does it take for a bull to make the ProfitSOURCE lineup or some of the traits that we're looking at after they leave the dairy farm?
Lauren Kimble
We know on the dairy, it’s fertility, first and foremost, Calving Ease, getting a marketable calf. Creating a marketable calf means we need to pay attention to what these different beef markets are wanting. And again, there can be some variation across the country, but for the most part, there are some things that hold true. So, we do use the beef breed association EPDs as a starting place, in addition to our own internally collected data, which I'll touch on probably later. But we really do make sure that the growth traits are there for these bulls. So, their weaning weight, their yearling weight EPDs, right up through their terminal traits, right? So, Carcass Weight, marbling of the carcass, Ribeye Area, Dollar Beef Index, all of these things that are indicators of performance that will be profitable for the grower, for the feeder and at the packer as well.
Ethan Haywood
As a dairy producer, it's a little bit different than the traits we're used to looking at. There's not really pounds of milk production as the number one trait here, and the composite indexes are a little bit different. If I am interested in looking at individual traits, what's a good resource for me to go and look at and learn?
Lauren Kimble
Both with regards to the individual traits or EPDs, as well as the composite indexes, which I know being a dairy producer, they sometimes help you gauge your progress a little bit better. There are certainly the breed association websites, but we also did produce an article that's in Progressive Dairy and we have a version in our own Selections magazine that explains the different common EPDs, and how you might use them including some actual different dairy scenarios and in which case which traits might be more reasonable. So certainly, a lot of resources that your representatives or advisors or our teams can help you access.
Ethan Haywood
And, it's really interesting to read about these traits. The scaling is very different. The calculations are very different, but we're trying to achieve some of the same things as a dairy producer or a beef producer. So, it's very interesting for a genetic gearhead like me to be able to dig into them, but realistically most of the ProfitSOURCE semen that I buy, I tell my Select Sires representative, bring me something that suits my needs because the fact that they are within this lineup means that so many of those boxes have already been pre-checked for you, and you can have that peace of mind.
Lauren Kimble
Absolutely and there are some nuances, right? So, like Calving Ease is expressed opposite of how it is in the dairy world. In the beef world, you want a higher number because it's percentage of unassisted births, whereas in the dairy world, a high number is bad. So again, just being able to focus on that ProfitSOURCE lineup and working with your advisor, we'll be able to get the right bulls for your operation with that peace of mind, as you said.
Ethan Haywood
Yeah, it's very different to open up that book and take a look and I do find it very interesting within the beef industry that a lot of the traits have what quartile or percentage of the breed they exist in, and I think that gives a lot of really good perspective and helps make those decisions a little bit easier if you are trying to choose between two bulls. So as a producer or a buyer, there's a lot of different options out there on the market right now, and that's probably the hardest thing is everyone is moving something a little bit different, and I would say the primary driver early on in this spike in the beef on dairy was what does it cost me per unit, dollars per unit? If I can take a couple of cents off here, a couple of cents off there, that’s what I'm going to go with beef semen is just beef semen. Why, as a dairy producer, do I care about the genetics of these bulls that I'm using versus just the price per straw?
Lauren Kimble
Right, and I realize right now, with the given market, which we'll talk about, is probably the hardest time to see ahead and realize the value of using a bull that works not only for your dairy, but for your buyer. It is coming. Beef on dairy has become such a huge focal point in the industry. At every beef or packing or retail related conference I've been to, beef on dairy is coming up, even if it's not something they intended to discuss, it comes up. I'd say buyers, growers, feeders, everyone's becoming a lot more in tune to which dairies are supplying the kinds of calves that they like. We're getting more and more of the direct relationships, direct pickups, knowing what genetics are going in and the calf care that was given to them, and it makes a huge difference dollar wise for these operations when they're managing them as like groups as compared to getting a pen load of who knows what from where, who knows if they got their colostrum, who knows what kind of bull went into them. Even though right now it seems like the markets are really telling you that any calf can get a high price right now just because of the shortage of animals available, we're hearing there's going to be more and more stratification and pricing and I can tell you they're getting more and more excited about the traceability of these animals and the inputs that went into them.
Ethan Haywood
So, on the front side, I mean, just these traits that you've talked about, the verified semen fertility, as well as the calving ease, can make or break your beef on dairy program right off the get go. Then we talk about market stratification. We see it coming. We think that we are getting to an area where we're going to start and see more and more of it, and then remembering that by the time I ordered this semen, get it in the tank, get it into cows, get calves on the ground. We're talking about almost a year from now. So, while next month we may not see that full market stratification, we feel pretty strongly that by the time the bulls that you're using now become calves for you, this might be a very different conversation.
Lauren Kimble
Right, it never hurts to start building those relationships and cementing yourself with a buyer that is going to value a high-quality animal.
Ethan Haywood
Absolutely, and the security in that, the quality of calf associated with that, there's so many advantages to being a part of a program that is doing that genetic sorting for you.
Lauren Kimble
Right, and even if you're selling as a day old. A great example coming out of the Pacific Northwest. I spent some time with our team there last week and Pat Wolf, our teammate with Select Sires Member Cooperative in Eastern Washington, said he ran into his producer, Jason Prins, at their fair. It was their fair week the week prior, and he came up to him and said, “These ProfitSOURCE calves today just look that much better at a day-old than a beef on dairy calf from, from years ago. Essentially the stuff we used to be using.” So even selling as a day-old, what a great way to embrace this mentality as he is now working with a buyer, taking them as day-olds, that does value the ProfitSOURCE differently than the other calves, because he has that confidence. He knows how they'll perform and that the feeders that then buy from him, who have also done the legwork, they're interested in them as well.
Ethan Haywood
It really is incredible as you're referencing just the differences that you see in these calves when they hit the ground from these bulls that have really been specially selected for beef on dairy, and there's really something to be said there versus maybe it was whatever extra beef semen was in your rep's tank back in the day.
Lauren Kimble
I was guilty of that.
Ethan Haywood
Yeah, absolutely, me too, and I think that it is very tempting, but once you see these calves on the ground, the proof is in the pen. It's amazing.
Lauren Kimble
Oh, the proof is in the pen. I love that.
Ethan Haywood
Might have to trademark that. So, you referenced some more growth and terminal specific traits earlier on. As a buyer of calves or a finisher of beef on dairy cattle or a dairy who's retaining their own animals and potentially selling them on a grid and getting some quality payments there. What are some of the traits that you really need to focus on and keep in mind that ProfitSOURCE brings to the table?
Lauren Kimble
While we realized most producers may be selling as day-olds, we do have quite a few producers that are starting to retain them to a higher weight or even through to finish. Whereas again, a lot of these conversations I'm having with these growth and terminal traits we addressed earlier, I'm having them with supply chain partners. So, with the growers, with the feeders, with the packers and beyond. But again, it's mattering a lot more directly to some dairies that are doing this as well and taking part in this kind of marketing with us. So again, it's everything from growth and efficiency, getting that average daily gain without excessive dry matter intake, hitting those target weights as well as the carcass traits, the weight, the marbling, which is associated very heavily with quality grade. Optimizing ribeye area without making it too large or too small and so forth. All very important, and again, some of the needs may differ depending on the different supply chain, and we have been able to address some differences within our lineup to better tailor to each region. But for example, for a dairy that's taking them all the way through, it's exciting because they're getting to directly feel the impact of maximizing on these traits. So, a good example of this is Hoogland Dairy in Iowa. They work with Craig Bosma from Select Sires Member Cooperative as well, and they've been actually taking their ProfitSOURCE TD Beef sub lineup of calves all the way to finish themselves. They used to market as day-olds. They've had that flexibility but have really enjoyed taking them to finish, and he said at one packer, they beat the plant standard by over $84 per head on average with a huge premium for over a third that graded Prime. So, these cattle were part of a cutout study, and they were 100% Choice and Prime, which we also see very often in our commercial records, and he was able to maximize on that because he was paid on the individual carcass merit of the cattle through our GeneNet®
grid. And again, through the ProfitSOURCE TD Beef program, he said if he has extra calves to sell as babies, he said, “I get a premium for those as well.” I highly recommend ProfitSOURCE programs like TD for the value-add while still maximizing on that flexibility. So that's a great example of some of the conversations I not only have with supply chain partners with regards to the genetics, but also directly with producers who are benefiting from this as well.
Ethan Haywood
Now, as we go through and a producer, whether they are retaining them all the way through like that, or they're leaving the farm at day-olds. What would you advise a producer who's looking at not only the price and the traits, but in general, what breed of beef bull should I be using on my dairy animals?
Lauren Kimble
Sure, and while we're very heavily focused on the individual sire and getting consistent groups of sires available so that we can see those consistent results like we have, breed certainly can matter. I'd say for the most part, that's one of those questions that very much is dependent on the market you're in. I'd say our lineup is heavily Angus, it’s got a ton of information backing their evaluation. They've been able to make huge improvements in the breed over time, whereas maybe they were always known being an English breed as a quality, highly marbled type of carcass. The U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, or MARC, data does show that they've made great strides in their carcass weights and their yield grade potential, and we do see that as well with our commercial and our research animals and early maturation pattern, big carcasses, highly marbled. So, producers that are selling mostly as day-olds or maybe retaining to a higher weight and then marketing them open market, for example, like a video auction. They will see great results because the Angus-type animal is so popular. It hits a lot of different possible programs such as Certified Angus Beef®on the back end that there are a lot of buyers who would be very, very pleased to have a ProfitSOURCE Angus on Holstein.
Ethan Haywood
Give us a little teaser of some other sources of data that we're going through. How are we verifying the fact that we're using these ProfitSOURCE-specific bulls on dairy animals here in the U S. that what is making it to the packers is what we're trying to breed for?
Lauren Kimble
So that comes from our commercial traceability. One of the most fun parts of ProfitSOURCE, in my opinion, because it's been my baby, has been the traceability initiatives at a day-to-day level. So, in various systems across the U.S., we have been able to work with growers and feeders and even packers to continually share data from these animals throughout the supply chain. We've grown our carcass database substantially in various systems, and when we get that information back, because of our tagging system, we know those EIDs, we know where the calf was born, we know who the sire is, the birth date, so forth, thanks to our awesome producer relationships as well. That allows us to match up that information, and that is a huge source of data that allows us to not only continue improving our lineup, but also be able to better address specific needs for producers or certain supply chains.
Ethan Haywood
Really, relationship-based management style with the ProfitSOURCE system that you have developed over time, and those tags are such a huge part of being able, as you say, the traceability within the supply chain. And right now, maybe the traceability is quite volatile, especially with how many hands some of these calves pass through. The fact that you can back that up genetically and management wise where those calves have been, where they're going, where they've come from. I think it's a huge testament to this, and it's really cool to see calves whether they're in the feed yard or in the auction yard with those tags.
Lauren Kimble
We tell the supply chain partners that that tag is an indicator of the calf being a source of the right genetics, but also the right care provided early in life and that we can help track them through. I'd say eyes really start to light up when we can help them make measurable changes and help them validate that they are getting consistent uniform groups of animals that they can manage to the best of their ability. I mean, honestly, it was not long ago that we would show up at some feedlots and they would say, “Oh, we cut out the EID buttons when the calves get here, and we put in our own. There's no information with them. So why do they matter?” Right? But now we're to the point where our red buttons, our unique red buttons, when they're in the ears along with a dangle, these feeders that are working with us, they are excited because they know what that means. You know, you even get the feedlot yard managers in addition to maybe the office staff or other groups that are aware of this program, you get the yard manager saying, “Oh, I got in this load the other day from so and so I'm excited to learn what they are because we really like the last load and, you know, you helped us understand which sires were represented.” So, it really is a big change just in the past few years that we've been doing this. The extent to which the awareness is impacting their excitement about procurement of these animals and also how they procure them.
Ethan Haywood
This data that you're providing, we can just continue to learn so much from it. You can affect management so much, affect efficiency of the entire supply chain so much. I think it's a huge part and it's really, really fun, especially to see those pictures that you take where you've got a big group of calves with red ProfitSOURCE tags in their ears, and they're just razor lined across the top there at the feed bunk and they're all up there pushing for it and so consistent as a group. I'm not sure there's anything much more satisfying than seeing that out in a yard.
Lauren Kimble
Those are my kind of topline photos these days and I love them because you're right. They are carbon copies of one another, one after the other. And again, at a certain point in their life, they're being managed more as groups. So, it is very important that they are alike to one another, and you don't have a ton of stragglers or mismatched animals that are, you know, being managed as one essentially.
Ethan Haywood
Let's talk a little bit about forward facing. Where do you think that we are headed? It feels like we're still pedaling up the mountain, and we're not sure where the peak is. It's in the clouds here somewhere, but we're still going up.
Lauren Kimble
Yeah, that is the million-dollar question. The market is certainly exciting right now to say the least. We know that the native beef population is at its lowest in decades. That's from the drought if you remember from a few years ago, it's been very hard for beef producers to be able to continue maintaining their herds. We haven't seen them really starting to retain their heifers back quite yet to rebuild from all the inventory that they liquidated, again due to the drought, due to the interest rates, input costs, so forth, and so that is why we are seeing these insane prices on calves. We are seeing some adjustments. We're seeing them come down a little bit here and there. But certainly, as I said, it's an exciting time to be marketing a beef on dairy calf. I really think it's going to be important to be forward thinking and also to maintain a level of flexibility with your market. So, what I mean by forward thinking is that when we do see the beef herd stabilize or start to come down a bit we know the feeders and packers still appreciate that kind of animal, and with regards to beef on dairy, we want to make sure we're making the best kind possible. A lot of the signals we're hearing are that when they can become a little bit more choosy on their pricing, there is going to be a bit of a stratification and we're going to see a greater spread between the pricing on the “who knows what it is” kind of beef on dairy versus the verified and validated. This is where it's from. This is the genetics behind it, and we gave it the proper care kind of animal, which is what ProfitSOURCE encompasses. So forward thinking for sure. Also, market flexibility. Again, I'm a big believer that we need to have options that work for producers all over, depending on where they are, depending on what weight they want to market these at to allow them to truly be price makers or optimize their marketing of these calves. One group that has leveraged this beautifully is the Goff family in New Mexico of Goff and Rocky Top Dairies. And they've been able to work the market wonderfully in the sense that with their Jersey herd, they can breed them to our TD Beef sub lineup of Charolais and market those as day-olds. So very low risk associated with that. But they do have enough feed yard space on their own dairy that with their Holstein herd, they are breeding them to our ProfitSOURCE TD Beef Angus, if they need to market some as day-olds, they can and leverage that at a premium for those TD Beef animals. But they do keep most back and take them up to feeder weights. And we have a couple different feeders that they work with where they can optimize their marketing of those calves once they've taken them up to 500, 600, 700 pounds and leverage that to the best of their ability. And again, those are all groups that actively want ProfitSOURCE-type animals and are interested to learn what they can from their performance. So, this allows them to have the most flexibility while also still seeing the value that they deserve for creating a high-quality in-demand animal.
Ethan Haywood
The agricultural industry operates in waves, and we ride them up, we ride them down, we're along for the ride. And when we're on the uphill or at the peak is the time to make investments, whether that's genetic or calf care and quality, make investments to better set up ourselves for when the cycle gets on the downturn, and we know that eventually things will continue to stratify in this market. And if we can use this as an opportunity to spend a couple extra cents on a straw of beef semen, and potentially have a calf, that's going to be worth a lot more in tomorrow's market. I think that's a great example of being forward thinking.
Lauren Kimble
And I absolutely see the relationships that we can offer through ProfitSOURCE as another investment starting to build upon those partnerships and make sure you're well set up for the future. It really all works hand in hand.
Ethan Haywood
What else is available as far as options to purchase through ProfitSOURCE?
Lauren Kimble
Production systems do call for different breeds as we touched on earlier, but we also do have what we call the ProfitSOURCE Packs. So, these are conventional, heterospermic, so multi-bull mix packs that are ProfitSOURCE qualified. The bulls come from our lineup, and these can be used as kind of a protection or risk spreading tool when it comes to fertility. While, again, we do put a lot of effort into our fertility evaluations on the individual sires. We realize that using a multi-bull pack can help kind of dampen the potential variation of a bad day. It essentially can help dampen the ups and downs that you might experience with infertility and keep everything a little bit more level to what you would expect, and we do have them broken out by EPD groupings. We realize that transparency is important, especially as we're working with our supply chain partners. So, we have packs for muscling. We have packs for growth. We have marbling-type packs, different breed packs again that can help producers not only protect their investment when it comes to fertility, but also address supply chain needs.
Ethan Haywood
And those supply chain needs can just be a part of a larger conversation when you're trying to pick out which ProfitSOURCE semen you want to utilize. And that really is a conversation. What is my customer, no matter where they are in the supply chain, looking for? And it's really cool to have that many different options for your customers to pick from.
Lauren Kimble
Absolutely, and we still recommend just as we do with the individual bulls to use multiple. Again, it's the same way an index fund would help diversify and spread risk in your portfolio. That's a metaphor comparison that our semen processing team likes to use, and I like to use it as well. I think it's a great way to elaborate or hit on the fact that we can spread our risk by using multiple, whether it's packs or individual bulls or a combination of both.
Ethan Haywood
As a company, Select Sires is very much focused on elite genetics and we're not content just selling something in order to generate a pregnancy, but we want it to be a very desirable product that we are creating, that our customer, the producer who is utilizing that semen, is creating. What other kinds of packs are available in different breeds to try and maybe stratify what we're selecting for here?
Lauren Kimble
I'd say that pretty well covers our conventional ProfitSOURCE packs, all those different categories from calving ease to growth, to muscling to marbling. Again, different breed packs are available within those. Another place where we have different packs available is on the male-sorted semen side. So, we do have male packs. And these are Charolais, SimAngus™ or Angus groupings of sires that are again from the ProfitSOURCE list. And I'd say we've heard a lot of talk again as the market has been adjusting that we might start to see more price differentiation between male and female calves. Obviously, we already see that at the feeder weight side with the heifers being good 10 to 15 back from the males. But we are starting to see in some areas where the day-old prices are actually differing between the bull calves and the heifer calves. In sale barn markets, you might see it because that's their way of stratifying pricing also whether they're number twos, whether they're really small, but sex is really important, but there are again some day-old pick up areas where they're starting to price them differently, and that is where the male pack we're really seeing that taking off is the ability to create that higher value male calf where the market dictates.
Ethan Haywood
Lauren, as we've talked through the genetic portion of this and all of the different ways that we can try and select and create the ideal calf for a beef on dairy cross, you also brought up some of the environmental and management sides. We know that phenotype is really dictated by a combination of genetics, which we are focused on as a company, and the handling of those cattle, which our producers are very much tuned into. Tell us a little bit about the management guidelines that are a part of the ProfitSOURCE program.
Lauren Kimble
Right from the start of ProfitSOURCE, we did have these calf health and management guidelines in place. But I will say, over time, going to different beef on dairy or beef-focused conferences and symposiums, the amount of attention on the health of these calves incoming to the supply chain has really, really taken off. Obviously, genetics has always been a focal point of discussion, but because of growers and feeders trying to overcome some challenges that we've seen with the beef on dairy population, such as overcoming liver abscess and so forth, they have become hyper-focused on these calves having had the right start of life, because you and I both know that these animals need to be able to live up to their genetic potential or else we put in that genetic input for nothing, right? So, they have to have the good day-one start with the colostrum protocols and everything to actually live up to it and continue to impress our partners. So, it is crucial. Producers already know how to take care of replacement heifers, right? It's no different than that, giving them the right start. So really with our ProfitSOURCE program, we're asking that, the calves are having their navel dipped within 30 minutes with an iodine solution. Following an established colostrum protocol. So, making sure to get at least four quarts of good quality colostrum or two quarts of the replacer within the first four hours of birth. Basically treating the calves as if they're one of your own and not necessarily something that's going to hop on the truck in a few hours to a day, which it's certainly a truth, but we still have to have that mentality that they need to have had the right care from the beginning.
Ethan Haywood
Absolutely, and the dairy industry has really been the pioneer of this calf care topic and some of the technology and practices associated with calf care as eventually the native beef herd rebounds and there's more competition for who’s going to be the one to sell calves within this market. It's really an important function that we can bring to the table when producing beef on dairy calves is what is the quality of calf care and start to life. We know as dairy producers, how big of a difference it makes in that first lactation, how good her raising was, and you know, as your experience with the beef industry how it translates equally or even greater on that yield grade and that feed efficiency and the health and survivability of beef animals.
Lauren Kimble
Right, and really ProfitSOURCE from the genetics to the calf care to the tagging has really become an indicator of this quality and as we continue to educate and work with growers and feeders, they're recognizing this program, and it is a great way to signal that you are producing the kind of product that they want.
Ethan Haywood
Lauren, as this market continues to grow, mature, change, and as our program continues to have more data be fed back into it through studies, how can I, as a producer get involved in ProfitSOURCE or learn more?
Lauren Kimble
I would say a good place to start would be with your local Select Sires cooperative representative or advisor. As I mentioned, we do have ProfitSOURCE aligned buyers, growers, feeders, so forth in various geographies across the country. So, whether you want to market as a day-old, as a feeder, take them all the way to finish or retain some sort of ownership throughout the process we can help link you up with the option that can maximize your profit potential on your dairy. So certainly, start with your local team. They can help get us in touch with you and provide various other resources, educational opportunities, or just help you link up maybe with your existing buyer in your region and help translate the story of ProfitSOURCE a little bit better.
Ethan Haywood
For sure a ride that is going to continue to be having its ups and downs and be a large portion of both the dairy and the beef industries. Lauren, thank you so much for your time today. This is a market that continues to be red-hot and climbing and incredibly wild. We're going to see how it matures, stratifies and grows. What else can we do to stay in on the pulse of this market?
Lauren Kimble
Our LINK newsletter is something you can sign up for. That'll give you exclusive access to cutting edge news, things that are happening in your supply chain regions and just the beef market in general to help you stay on top of things. Like you said, red-hot really is the word, and it is time to strike while we can and start rolling and getting those calves tagged and making sure you are well set up for no matter what the market brings.
Ethan Haywood
We're excited to see where it goes, and we're excited to have you along to help guide us through this crazy market and supply chain that are ever growing. Thank you for joining us for another episode of The Select Sires Podcast. We'll continue to cover these topics and many more in the rest of season two coming out every two weeks. Please feel free to follow us on social media, Spotify, Apple or wherever you receive your podcasts so you can be notified when the next episode comes out and thank you very much for joining us for this episode. As always, please feel free to reach out if you have topics that you think would be interesting or producers that you think we should visit with. Thank you for joining us and we'll talk to you next time.