From Data Submission to Depreciation: September ’22 Board Highlights

When the Board of Directors comes into the American Angus Association office, it’s a week full of productive meetings and extra energy all around. This episode gives a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the high-level conversations the 17 breeders from across the United States had in St. Joseph, Mo. 

 From the growing value differentiation in feeder calves to data submission and the role of Angus Genetics Inc., they covered a lot of ground. 

 Guests Jim Brinkley, Brinkley Angus Ranch; Jerry Connealy, Connealy Angus Ranch; and Alan Miller, Prairie View Farms; join hosts Mark McCully and Miranda Reiman to provide the recap. 

HOSTS: Mark McCully and Miranda Reiman 

GUESTS: Jim Brinkley, Brinkley Angus Ranch; Jerry Connealy, Connealy Angus Ranch; and Alan Miller, Prairie View Farms

GUEST BIOS:

Jim Brinkley was born and raised in northern Missouri on his family’s farming operation. Today, the family’s diversified farming operation near Milan is made up of more than 1,300 acres and 400 registered Angus cows. Brinkley has hosted Brinkley Angus-influence feeder-calf sales and often places customer cattle into feeding programs where their calves are rewarded for the added value bred into the bulls that sired the calves. Brinkley is serving as Chairman of the Commercial Programs committee.

 Jerry Connealy is a fifth-generation cattleman who has operated the family ranch near Whitman, Neb., since 1981 with his wife, Sharon. The Connealys have three sons, Jed, Gabriel and Ben; as well as a daughter, Hannah, and can often be found with grandkids close by. Jerry focuses his cow herd base on productivity traits and manages two bull sales per year, selling 300 bulls at each. Connealy is the current Association president. 

Alan Miller, Gridley, Ill., is a third-generation Angus breeder. His grandfather, Adam Schlipf, began an Angus cattle herd in the late 1940s and was active in the purebred Angus business through the 1960s. Forty years ago, Miller’s parents, Orlan and Carol Miller, began revitalizing the Angus herd and named the operation Prairie View Farms (PVF). PVF is a family operation that Alan and his wife, Theresa, operate in close cooperation with brother-in-law and sister Brandon and Cathy Jones. Miller is serving as Angus Genetics Inc., (AGI) chairman.


Related reading: 

Letter from the President: https://www.angus.org/pub/LetterFromPresidentSept2022.pdf
 
Phenotypic Data in a Genomic World: https://www.angusjournal.net/post/phenotypic-data-in-a-genomic-world

Reputation Verified: https://www.angusjournal.net/post/reputation-verified

Don't miss news in the Angus breed. Visit www.AngusJournal.net and subscribe to the AJ Daily e-newsletter and our monthly magazine, the Angus Journal.

Transcript

Miranda Reiman:

Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host Miranda Reiman. And today Mark McCully is in the hot seat with me.

Mark McCully:

I am. How are you Miranda?

Miranda Reiman:

Great. We had an excellent week. We had board week, really good week. Yeah. Board members all came to St. Joseph, Missouri. And I think one thing as I, cause I think a board week, it kind of renews the why in the job for me, you know, these are representatives of the membership across the United States. I've often told people that when I was, when I went into agriculture journalism, I was planning to, when I started to have a family, I was gonna go ahead and stay home and probably freelance. And the reason that why I continue to work, full-time continue to do this job is those board members, the, the Angus membership across the United States, the people that we work for. Um, and I think that a week like this just really gets you excited to go do that again. Yeah,

Mark McCully:

It does. I mean, I, I know to, um, to our members, they think about board meetings and the, the important work that's being done and the direction and the decisions that are being made. And those are all obviously vital. But to your point, uh, we had some time to just spend, uh, to walk around with our board, to, to go through the different member services, uh, departments and, and meet with the team, each individual and kind of what they do. And I know, uh, there's a little extra spring in the step I think of, of every, every team member here, when they get to interact directly with our board, it's always a privilege to have 'em in.

Miranda Reiman:

So we have a couple of our board members with us so that we can talk kind of about the week that we've just had. So starting Jerry Connealy, Connealy Angus Ranch.

Jerry Connealy:

Hi Miranda. Good to be here.

Miranda Reiman:

Hey Jerry. Thanks for coming back on. Apparently we didn't scare you away too much with the first one.

Mark McCully:

You're our first repeat guest.

Miranda Reiman:

<laugh> I think on

Jerry Connealy:

Yeah, that's pretty scary. You're pretty desperate, I think.

Miranda Reiman:

Alan Miller Prairie View Angus Farms, thanks for coming on, Alan.

Alan Miller:

Glad to be here, Miranda.

Miranda Reiman:

Alan has served as the chair of the Angus Genetics, Inc. Um, board, and really done a lot of work and yeah, done a lot of work in that space. And Jim Brinkley.

Jim Brinkley:

Thanks for having me.

Miranda Reiman:

Yes. Thanks for coming on. I know that you've, I mean, all the board members work in all the areas, but really, as we talked about the commercial programs being a, a major focus, I know we were up at Connealys last week and he said that was something he's been pretty proud of this board and his tenure for being able to, to move that needle forward quite a bit. So as we talk about commercial programs, we thought it'd be great to have some area insights on, Jim. So

Jim Brinkley:

Appreciate that. Yeah. You know, we've, we're very fortunate to be able to offer this program to, to our members. It's, uh, we, we haven't, we haven't been able to, uh, to express its its value fully, but coming down the road, I, I think membership will, will, will really be excited with, with what the board's done.

Jerry Connealy:

Yeah. I don't think, you know, uh, commercial programs has hit its stride yet. I mean, I think there's, there's a bright future out in front. Um, you know, but you know, in, in my world, um, who doesn't want to differentiate the good Angus cattle, you know, the, the good ones from the average ones and the average ones from the poor ones. So, uh, um, I think, uh, we got a lot of work to do, but, uh, it's heading the right direction.

Jim Brinkley:

I think more importantly is recognizing the fake Angus cattle, uh, the, the black hided simi cross limi cross, uh, differentiate, differentiate them from, from, uh, from the good Angus calves. Yeah.

Mark McCully:

You know, when we talk, uh, to, to feed lots and, and we talked about this as a board, you know, I mean, still in our industry, we tend to manage and feed these cattle kind of all about the same way. And I think as they continue to understand that these cattle are, are, are very different in terms of their genetic potential to grow, to grade. Um, we, we probably need to be looking at managing 'em a little bit differently to really optimize their potential. So I, I think we get pretty excited when we start showing these genetic merit scores and our ability to describe the genetic merit through Angus link to groups of feeder cattle, you start as, as cattle feeders are starting to get their head around that concept. Um, we, we feel the momentum behind that program just continue to grow. And we're, we're excited about the future for sure.

Jerry Connealy:

Yeah. What excites me probably is the validation of those scores. I mean, we instituted the program and kicked it off and, uh, you know, manufactured the scores. I don't mean manufactured. I mean, they, they have some value, but, uh, and then as we've gone on down the road, we've been able to validate those and, uh, you know, Troy Marshall's done quite a little of work there and it's, it's pretty exciting to see that those scores, uh, do line up with, with the kill data that comes back in. And, and, uh, so I mean, I think there's a bright future.

Jim Brinkley:

The it's kind of funny, you bring that up. The, the, uh, we sent a load of cattle last week and got the results back, uh, today. And, uh, the Primes premiums was over $48, a hundred, a hundred, uh, CAB premiums over seven, which, uh, really incredible when, you know, when there was cattle grade, 50% or higher. I mean, they don't, they don't have to grade that much, but when they do, I mean, it's, it's like 350 to $400, a carcass premium,

Mark McCully:

Almost real money

Jim Brinkley:

<laugh> and it really is real money. Yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

I think that showed up in the CAB board meeting as well. When I think Bruce Cobb had that slide up there talking about, I mean, really the amount that we have had of supply increase and that premium has stayed. What was it? Was it double or, I mean, it was more than double what it was two years ago. Yeah.

Mark McCully:

And even if you go back further, I mean, I, I always talk about that. We we've doubled the supply of cattle and we've doubled the premium on 'em. And I think that just, uh, speaks high to the demand that's out there for our end product, Jim, on Angus link while we're, while we're on that topic. You've, uh, as the chair of the commercial programs committee, you've, you've taken a very vested interest in, in Angus link. I know as Jerry, as, as you have as well with a lot of your customers, Jim, you've worked a little bit unique in, in, uh, working with some smaller producers and working with the local auction markets and, and, uh, uh, being able to show and demonstrate how that program could work, uh, even outside the big video sales.

Jim Brinkley:

Right. And, you know, it's, it's, it's really important, uh, for, for us Angus breeders to, to buy into this and, and, and get with your local auction markets and, and educate them, cuz that's all it takes is some education. And, uh, our we've been fortunate. Our local market has, has bought into it and, and he he's actually an Angus producer and he, uh, he's, he, we just held a meeting last week, uh, with about 85 producers. Uh, and, uh, it was a huge success, uh, education is, is, is key. And, you know, there's, there's, there's always people there that, you know, you, you would never dream that would enroll or, or, or be, or, or be caring about how, you know, how the scores are or how his cattle would do the least likely one that I, I mean, I was taken back by was, was a, I mean he is an elderly producer and got a couple hundred cows and he, uh, two days after the meeting, he emails Ginette and says, I want to enroll 160 some calves. And it, I mean,

Mark McCully:

He surprised you.

Jim Brinkley:

Yeah, totally. Once you educate 'em yeah. I mean, they wanna be a part of, of a program like this. Yeah. And, uh, we've had great success with, with we had a sale in January. Uh, those cattle, uh, on average was some $13 a hundred over the average market. So I mean the higher end feeder cattle, uh, there there's definitely value there.

Jerry Connealy:

And as the market, Jim, I think you've probably testified to this already, but as the market cycles up and down, and obviously we're in an upmarket right now and, and the inclination for a lot of commercial producers is that they don't need any other program because the price is gonna be good enough. But what, what we are seeing is that, that even in this upmarket, there's still a premium for a cattle that carry those GMS scores and, and feeders still want to know where the good ones are. And, uh, so, uh, you know, maybe there's more to be gained in a bad down market, but in this upmarket, it's still very well worth the price of enrollment.

Jim Brinkley:

Sure. You know, some, some $3 and 50 cents for a basic enrollment, uh, with, with no down downside potential only upside potential. It, uh, it's. I mean, I, I, a lot of value for 3.50 a head.

Mark McCully:

I always say, if you get one more bid, you know, one more bid on a set of calves, you just paid for your enrollment. So

Jim Brinkley:

That's exactly right.

Mark McCully:

I was gonna switch gears Miranda. I don't know, we don't have a script here, so we're just kinda going, flying off the hip here. But, you know, I think one of the things that at, when we come together for a week, it's always, um, as I talk to, uh, to breeders and I think they understand, we, we do, there's a lot of business that goes on. We actually have, uh, the entities, uh, each entity board meets, um, individually. And, and then obviously the full association board meets. And so it's a, it's a busy several days, started in Monday with Angus Media and then, uh, uh, and then fully called the association board to meet, uh, to order on, on Tuesday. And then we went through, uh, AGI and Certified Angus Beef and the Angus Foundation. And then of course the business. So there's a, lot's been going on, I guess, guys, as you look back on the week, are there, you know, one or two things that you were looking forward to, or discussions maybe you were most excited by or any, any big takeaways?

Jerry Connealy:

Yeah. As I, uh, you know, called a meeting to order and we take off, uh, you know, AGI is always, uh, near and dear to my heart, uh, along with commercial programs, but, um, you know, there was lively discussion on inventory based reporting and, and trying to get, uh, make sure we, we not only hold enrollments, but in increase enrollments in that program so that we can go ahead with the longevity EPD and on down, uh, you know, and incorporate that into $M, in the spring. And, uh, and that's the, I mean, that's that excites me, uh, Alan, um, I mean, you, you were the one that sat in that AGI chair and, and pushed those discussions along, uh, thought you did a great job. Uh, what, what was your take?

Alan Miller:

Well, I think there's always seems like a never ending list of things for AGI to be working on and, and Kelly and Duc and Andre, and the whole team there, uh, do such a phenomenal job with it. And it always amazes me how much stuff they have pulled together for us, you know, at board meeting time, but to your point in regards to, uh, you know, the inventory based reporting and, and the data, you know, that they gather through that you obviously, uh, you know, longevity, uh, and the research EPD that is on plans to be out here by convention. Time has been long awaited, and I'm sure the membership will be very intrigued to see what comes there, but the data that drives that, you know, comes from that inventory based reporting program. And this is the, you know, these are this, this research EPD that'll be out as a result of years of planning by the staff and the board, uh, to gather the data originally through MaternalPlus, and now through inventory based reporting to, uh, you know, to have the numbers, uh, to where this, this EPD, even in its research stage can be, uh, as good as it can possibly be.

Alan Miller:

And, uh, and realizing it'll keep improving as our members work with us to get us more data and more information. And, you know, eventually then with the hope next summer, if it'll get fit into maternal or, uh, dollar M and, uh, make dollar M even better than it is today. So it's a process and it's, uh, certainly enjoyable to see it, uh, starting to kind of come to fruition near this fall,

Miranda Reiman:

You know, as I go through these meetings, I make a ton of notes and I put stars on 'em if I think, Hey, this should go in the Angus Journal, or this is an idea. One thing that I took a lot of notes on was really the, you guys had a great discussion on accuracy. Um, and, and what feeds into that, the importance of that, I mean, was any of that new to you guys or was it a good reminder? Was it, I mean, let's talk about that discussion a little bit. Well,

Alan Miller:

I think there's a lot of, I mean, it, you know, none of it is simple and I think, you know, our membership and more importantly, their commercial customers. They want it to be simple and we want it to be simple, but the reality is it's, it's not, you know, and, uh, you know, even those that do pay attention to accuracy, you know, you understand that what single step, you know, does, and with genomics included now, and, you know, and it's changed, it's evolved from what we've learned, you know, years ago. And, uh, and, you know, we're reminded that oftentimes accuracy isn't the currency, the EPD itself is, you know, and so it's easy for our, our members or their customers to just look at the number and not pay attention to the accuracy that truly defines how good that number is. And, uh, you know, and so we did have some discussion, uh, to, uh, really great, uh, discussion led by Kelly to, uh, to kind of try to make sure that as a board, we had a better understanding, um, you know, of just exactly how, you know, accuracy, um, with single step and with the inclusion of, uh, genotypes and maybe in the absence of phenotypes and how that's all impacted.

Alan Miller:

And, uh, you know, we had great discussion about how we'll try to do a better job bringing this information to the membership. Uh, so hopefully everybody can get engaged and have a better understanding about how they have to, uh, to keep an eye on that number, as well as the EPD itself, uh, when they're using these tools,

Jerry Connealy:

I think Kelli said it pretty profoundly, and she said, uh, you know, accuracy, isn't very sexy <laugh>. And so, you know, we don't talk about that very often, but wow, it's, uh, it is important, especially as, as you know, the discussions come up that, that maybe genomics play a bigger part in, in that EPD than what phenotypes do. And, you know, I mean, I think her, her, the point she made was that, that as we get further away from phenotypes, the accuracy goes down and, and so that, you know, phenotypic submission is very important obviously. And our phenotype, you know, the number of submissions are, are holding pretty steady. Despite what you know is probably the common thought out there. Uh, but, but on, on an animal's pedigree that doesn't have, um, you know, a lot of phenotypes in there that accuracy's gonna be pretty low on that given EPD and, and, uh, we probably need to, to, you know, educate not only the membership, but ourselves a little more on that and, uh, try to make accuracy a little more sexy. If, if we want to, uh, really lead our commercial producers down the road, we need 'em to go.

Miranda Reiman:

I also wrote that quote down too.

Mark McCully:

Make accurately sexy again, <laugh>

Mark McCully:

Make accuracy sexy, we need to get hats or something made up.

Mark McCully:

But I think that was a, you know, and you mentioned the phenotypic data and we spend, uh, my goodness. We've not just this board meeting. I think every time this board comes together, we spend an awful lot of time talking about phenotypic data and the, the importance of it, uh, to, uh, to drive our genetic evaluation. Uh, not just today on the traits we're already describing, but, but we have a lot of discussion around the traits we don't describe today, but no, we're probably gonna need to describe down the road. Things like health traits, uh, uh, heart condition or heart to health. Those are things that we keep, continue to talk about. So any big takeaways there? I, I know the one thing I like to share is, uh, and I, every time I get in front of breeders and members is our, uh, the, the, the data around the data and, and, uh, the fact that data submissions around yearling weights and weaning weights and birth weights, we're, we're just as strong as, as we've been and, and breeders have stayed that, uh, stayed the course. And I know I hear sometimes, and maybe we don't see data in the, in the sale catalog, some of that raw, phenotypic data in the sale catalogs. And I, I hear it from time to time that nobody's collecting data anymore, but, uh, the, the data doesn't support that, I guess.

Jerry Connealy:

Yeah. And that's surprising, uh, I mean, from the outside, it would seem maybe that we are down and, but, but I believe your statistics, Mark

Mark McCully:

Question you a little bit,

Jerry Connealy:

You gotta,

Mark McCully:

You've got that Connealy smirk on your face.

Jerry Connealy:

<laugh> no, I mean, it is. I, but that being said, uh, I think, uh, you know, we spend a lot of time in that boardroom discussing how to make sure that it does keep coming in. Yeah. And, uh, that's always a, you know, a scary thought that people are gonna quit submitting data. And, and, uh, when that happens, obviously we all know that that, that genomics go south also. So, uh, um, you know, but that's, that's an be an ongoing conversation, uh, long after I'm off the board.

Alan Miller:

And I think when it comes to the data submission discussion, you know, we've approached it from a couple of different angles. I mean, I think we understand that, uh, our members out there continue to have issues with labor and there's more and more on their plate all the time. And we ask for more and more all the time. And, and those are probably not challenges that are going away. And so what can we do as an association to make the data submission as easy, as possible, as streamlined as possible fitted into their regular protocols and all those sorts of things and, and, and how we can make their life as simple as possible to submit the data that they're capable of, of collecting. And then, you know, to the point Mark made before, I think as we look down the road and we spent a lot of time on this as we were, you know, reenvisioning AGI who the, through the, the recent, uh, mission, vision and strategic intent plan, we went through that, you know, think about down the road, there's gonna be data that we need to collect and have the association that quite frankly, members just aren't gonna be set up or prepared to collect.

Alan Miller:

So how do we go about, you know, helping get that data into our evaluation? You know, whether it's things, as he mentioned, like heart health or, or, uh, disease, or you name it, but stuff that's just not, you know, traditional weigh 'em, and look at 'em sort of measurements that we take on the farm. And so, uh, so there's lots of, of great discussions and, uh, you know, hopefully coming up with strategies and plans to attack that here down the road and, uh, and, and keep, uh, you know, the Angus evaluation the most valuable in the country. So, and the world

Jim Brinkley:

To, to mention along that line, the, the foot EPD I mean, data submission, the, the more data comes in, the more accurate that gets and, you know, on, on the inception, it, uh, people said, well, you know, mine's a, mine's a 0.50, and ranks in the 50 percentile, and it's perfect footed. Well, we didn't have any, we didn't have the data that we do today, nor that we'll have a year down the road or two years down the road. So, uh, phenotypically, phenotypic data is, is very, very, very important. And it's, it certainly drives our accuracies. And, uh, it sure makes it easy whenever or easier whenever you sell a bull. And he's a, he's a 10, CED or 13, CED. And you sell him as a heifer bull and it's, you, you can sleep at night knowing that he he's gonna be calving ease. Yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

I, I think it was Kelli said it that even if you're genomically testing, if you don't have those closely, closely related phenotypes, it's really hard to get off breed average.

Jim Brinkley:

Is that, that that is correct.

Miranda Reiman:

She said it. Yeah. So I think it's important sometimes when I, I always think about it. Everybody wants to submit data because it helps for the whole altruistic. Good. You know, as I'm a, an optimist, I like to think that, but really when you're submitting the data, it's selfishly helping you describe your cattle. Best of all. It's like a market advantage too. Right.

Mark McCully:

Well, I think to find those, those outlier animals, you you've gotta submit the, the, the data. And again, without the data, the, the, the EDS tend to go towards breed average. You can't identify those. So with the more the data, and I think we've seen that in, in the folks that were early adopters of MaternalPlus or inventory reporting, when some of these, uh, when, when some of these EPDs came out from those herds that had been submitting data, they, they saw more expression, uh, and more range, I should say, across their EPDs because of that, where others that had not been participating their numbers, all looked kind of close to breed average is because it didn't, uh, the, the, the evaluation didn't have much to go on and, and tends to group everything up towards breed average.

Alan Miller:

Well, I think the most important part of that, and, and Jim actually made a comment in the meeting that I thought was, was perfect. I mean, the, the important part is when they have the phenotypes and the genomics and everything working in concert, and you get the high accuracy number, it's more predictable, it's flat better, you know, and Jim used the illustration of how many calving ease bulls in the, in the past, you know, he would sell that turned out that, oh, the numbers weren't right. And he'd get the phone calls from the aggravated customers that was having heavy calves. And it doesn't see that anymore. With the more high accuracy proven phenotypes submitted genotypic proven data. When he sells calving ease bull, he doesn't get those calls from aggravated customers. And so that's, to me, the proof there that it's working for the commercial cattlemen for the customers of our members that we're creating these tools to use. So

Jerry Connealy:

I agree, Alan. I mean, I think that's very good point. I, I think another point that Kelli made that, that, you know, probably the membership should be aware of is that when, when data is submitted, obviously it contributes to the database as a whole, but those members, the ranches, the farms that are, that are submitting that data are also helping themselves out because as they submit that data and you've get, you get phenotypes up in the pedigree, your accuracies go up, your EPDs spread. You're able to find the outliers, uh, instead of having everything go back toward average. And so, um, you know, it's, you can be a little selfish, uh, thinking you're, uh, doing the association, uh, a great service by submitting data and you are, but you're also helping yourself.

Alan Miller:

And I think the reality, and I think the misconception out there is people get frustrated when they see submit data and they don't see the numbers move all over the place. Well, it should be the exact opposite. They should look at that and say, Hey, the system's working. And all of our years of data submission is, is, is working. And that's what single step is done for 'em, they've tied all these pedigrees together, and they've tied the generations together in years and years of phenotypic selection by our elite members out there has shown that these numbers are predictable, that the system's working. And yeah, you'll see little changes here and there as it should be, but we're not seeing those great jumps. And that's not that your phenotypes you're submitting, aren't doing anything that's that everything's getting predicted well, as it is. That was right. Yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

So the number of times that we have said, I think Kelli said, we're obviously talking about Kelli Retallick Riley, the president of the, um, Angus Genetics Inc, but this is an indication to me that we're gonna have to have her on here to actually say in her own words, a few of these things, and maybe cover this topic.

Mark McCully:

You might wanna kick me off as a co-host and just get Kelli on, I think it would be more interesting

Miranda Reiman:

<laugh> um, but good discussion on that, for sure. Um, what other things are there that we needed to talk about?

Mark McCully:

Yeah, I don't know. You know, and I, I think, you know, when we get together and, and as a room full Ang of breeders, you know, these are the, the topics I know that, uh, that you guys gravitate towards pretty quickly. And I think, you know, not that, not that you're not, um, interested in every topic we discuss, but obviously sometimes it's more around some updates of things going on. Maybe, you know, talk about Certified Angus Beef. You heard about a, a, a PR campaign, uh, kind of a

Miranda Reiman:

You can't talk about it.

Mark McCully:

Okay. Nevermind. But you heard about an exciting, thank you for catching me. I would've probably gotten, uh, in trouble from my, uh,

Miranda Reiman:

Tracy might have your

Mark McCully:

Email. Yeah. Okay. So we have an exciting PR campaign. That's a teaser you'll have to follow us to, uh, thanks for catching that Miranda <laugh> but see, it's exciting. I want to talk about it.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah. Right.

Mark McCully:

So see, there's even stuff that you can't even talk about that we're doing,

Jerry Connealy:

But, uh, yeah. Let me take over on this part

Mark McCully:

Going back to kicking McCully off the podcast. <laugh>,

Jerry Connealy:

Let's go back to AGI here. And, uh,

Jerry Connealy:

Honestly, uh, you know, I mean over the past, uh, several months, there's been a lot of work done in the background. Uh Alan's uh, orchestrated a lot of that where, uh, we've kind of maybe tried to bring AGI back to, I think it was formed in 2008 and as an entity that was supposed to kind of stand alone and, and we've kind of let it get sucked into the, the association. And we got confused with breed improvement and, uh, and we'd like to split that back off again and, and, uh, let it kind of get its wings and, and take off. So we, you know, we've been working on a, a mission vision and, and what's the other one, the intent, uh, strategic intent. Uh, and, uh, and so we, we, we talked about that a bunch, and I guess that probably once again, that probably excites me more than anything else. I, I mean, I'm, I'm just so excited as to where maybe AGI can go on down the road. And, uh, as I step away from the board here shortly, that's probably one of the things that'll sadden me the most is that I can't have a front row seat there. Uh, and, uh, and, and maybe add something to that, but, uh, Alan, uh, I mean, geez, you've done a lot of work on that. What, what do you think?

Alan Miller:

Well, I think the, you know, a lot of this originated just outta discussions, amongst different board members and, and obviously things like that that become almost confusing for board members. We know aren't gonna be well understood by the membership, you know, and, and, you know, breed improvement and AGI, and a lot of have respects have gotten muddied, you know, over the years and people aren't clear who does what and, you know, and, and just making sure there's more clarity, the breed improvements, the function, that's the arm of the American Angus association. That's really there to, uh, to guide, you know, what is going on with the evaluation. And what's, uh, you know, what information's needing collected and how, and all those sorts of things, and to communicate a lot of that in a lot of respects, you know, and, and a lot of times we've allowed AGI.

Alan Miller:

It seems like to get bogged down with a lot of those sorts of things. And as we, you know, consistently hear from members about all of the different things that are coming at us, as fast as technology is changing, and, you know, and not only in the world of genomics or you name it, you know, we, you boards before us had the vision to create an entity like AGI, that could be out at the forefront of all this, but, you know, maybe at times you could make the argument that it hasn't been utilized that way. And it's kind of get sucked back into association responsibilities. And so really trying to, to clarify, you know, the mission and, and the strategic intent of AGI, where we want that to be. Um, and, and as you said, to allow it to spread its wings and, uh, you know, and really take off out there to make sure that as an association, we have an entity underneath us that is absolutely at the forefront of, uh, everything that, uh, you know, that has to do, um, globally, honestly, with, uh, you know, evaluation of, of beef cattle. And, uh, you know, that's where we're hoping to position that we've got new positions coming and AGI, we've got plan to strengthen, um, you know, that, uh, that group and, uh, and really, really push it out there. And, uh, so we can't be more excited about the team we have in place and the leadership Kelly's providing and where we hope to be able to go with that program here in the next few years. So,

Jerry Connealy:

You know, uh, AAA has, has the owns the, the, uh, database and, uh, you know, it was kind of a new concept was kind of thrown out there that maybe that database is actually depreciating and that, and that there's plenty other databases out in the private sector that are growing. And, uh, as they grow, uh, you know, it puts pressure on us and on our database. And, and, and that maybe, you know, I mean, you could equate it to, to burying your database like you would a pot of gold or something. And, and coming back two years later and, and realizing it, you know, it hadn't grown and somebody else had blown past you with, with a bigger database. And I don't think we're at risk of having somebody have a bigger one, but, but I do think that, that we need to, to leverage that database work with it, uh, and, uh, don't let it depreciate, uh, and, and use that database actually to try to make our database grow exponentially, uh, by, by, you know, maybe some strategic relationships. And I think by what Alan's talking about with the, with the new way that maybe we're gonna push AGI down the road, that maybe we can allow that to happen. And, and I think that's, I mean, that's, that's, what's gonna keep this association relevant as far as I'm concerned. And, and that's, that's really exciting.

Mark McCully:

Well, and Alan, you touched on it earlier. We talked about these growing databases outside of the American Angus association, they're on traits and things that our breeders simply you, again, we're out in the commercial space that, uh, we simply can't collect and things around. I mean, some pretty exciting things around whether it's, again, we've mentioned heart health, we've mentioned, you know, BRD resistance, some of those kind of things that, uh, you know, just simply some data that we don't have, and are there some partnerships that, that we're able to forge, but I think all coming back, I, I come back to the mission that was, uh, that was established and, and it's it's to lead genetic change in the beef industry, but it's in cooperation with Angus families. And I, I think that's the piece that really brings, uh, this all all back, I think, and, and, and to, to, uh, as we know, as we look at, at our, our breeders out there and an everchanging, uh, uh, landscape around genetics, uh, maintaining access to, to those best genetics, maintaining independence as, as breeders, uh, to me and I, I, I feel pretty, pretty strongly about this.

Mark McCully:

That's the role of the American Angus association and as an association to collectively, uh, to protect that for our members. And I think we've got a fantastic tool in AGI, uh, to allow that to happen.

Alan Miller:

Yeah. Cuz I think it's, you know, we talk a number of times and it does get kinda weighty if you let it, you know, the there's the beauty of this size and the impact that Angus has. You know, we talk about the, you know, 70 some percent market share whatever number you want to throw out there. But the point is we have a huge impact on the beef industry. And so as we look forward in, into, you know, these traits, I mean, it's, it's our breeders. We have the best breeders, many of the largest breeders, many of the most progressive breeders, you know, and as these traits are identified and these things are put in there, it's our breeders that are gonna multiply 'em and put those out there in the industry. And what's what's best for Angus needs to be best for the beef industry too. And, uh, you know, it goes hand in hand and we have a lot of things that we need to, to keep in mind, you know, because it's not getting any easier for our commercial customers out there and for our members out there. And so, you know, we need to be at the forefront of, uh, all these new, uh, genetic improvements that are coming and we need to have them positioned to where our members can incorporate them, uh, to their commercial customers to ultimately impact the whole industry better.

Jim Brinkley:

You know, I'm gonna back up just a little bit. I, I want to give, uh, I, I want to give recognition to previous boards for, for adopting in AGI. I mean, I, I think they had great foresight and, and more importantly, all of our data stays in house and, and it's, it's not jeopardized. We, I mean, if, if, if we was, if we was working with outside sources, uh we'd to, to try to do what we're doing in house, our, our data would be, uh, it would be in someone else's hands. And I, kudos to the previous boards, the for, for positioning us where we are today. Yeah.

Mark McCully:

Yeah. We sit in an enviable position and, and it's exciting to think about what, uh, what comes next

Miranda Reiman:

And, and Mark said the family part, but I wanna note that in the, in the boardroom we stopped for a moment and, and lots of people talked about how important that was. I mean, it, it seems like a, yeah, a minor thing in the wording of that, but I just want, want everybody to know that that was really something that was brought up and that is so vital and so important to anything we do

Mark McCully:

Very intentional. I think at times we can get, you know, we get into these, these man these way out technologies, and we're out, we're talking about, you know, resistance to bovine respiratory disease. And what could that potentially mean someday down the road and it's, yeah. You get way out in the stratosphere of some of this stuff. But I think putting intentionally putting families in the mission state was a, a very strategic call out to say, you know, we're, why are we doing this? We're doing this to keep our Angus families in business, give them access to, to the best genetics. And, and, you know, we all know there's, uh, there's some concerns out there around vertical integration. That's not new, but it continues to grow. And, and with some things going in our industry, it, it, uh, continues to elevate some con some concerns around that. And, and, uh, again, I go back to, I think, associations the, the best risk for, uh, keeping our, our industry from becoming vertically integrated.

Jerry Connealy:

And I think that sometimes, uh, you know, it appears maybe to the membership that we aren't pointing and aiming directly at them, but, but to Alan's point earlier. I mean, if, if the Angus breed comprises 70% plus of the beef cattle in the United States, um, we're a huge player industry wide. And, and as the industry goes, we are pulling those Angus breeders along and, and the industry has to be healthy for the, for the Angus breed to be healthy and vice versa. And so AGI, I mean, as, as it does spread its wings and, and, and we let it take off, uh, I see it, you know, pulling the industry along, but Angus breeders will be right there with them.

Miranda Reiman:

All right. So when we presented about the podcast, one thing of feedback I got was that we needed to make this shorter. We're already about 40 minutes into this <laugh> and I think we could probably continue to go, go on for another couple hours, but really, I think we've, we've covered some of the big discussions that there were, you'll be able to watch. Um, I think as soon as we get done with this, we're gonna set Jerry up with a typewriter and he can write his letter for <laugh>. Yeah.

Jerry Connealy:

We'll be going late into the night. <laugh>,

Miranda Reiman:

Uh, we'll, we'll have a, the letter that's always available on angus.org, that kind of recaps things. And I guess, as always, you have the opportunity, if you see anything on any of those letters that you wanna, I'm looking call Mark, maybe don't call Mark, call your board members, right. Uh there's that, that spot available, you can email 'em all at once. You can talk to whoever, you know, if you've got questions, please let us know. Or if you have questions or ideas that you think, Hey, we'd like to hear you talk a whole podcast on that, go to theAngus conversation.com and drop it in our, we've got an ideas box there. So there's, I mean, I don't know, dozens and dozens of ways to, to get ahold of any of us that, that you've got questions of, and we'll make sure that you get answers.

Mark McCully:

Yeah. We always encourage that. I know in these, in these letters, I've, I've had a couple people call me. It's like, what, what exactly did you mean by that? And I said, well, like we tried to probably summarize an afternoon's discussion in one or two sentences sometimes, and that's hard. So if there's ever questions on these letters where we're always work for, for full transparency of the discussion that's going on. And, and then also recognize that, uh, go back to we, we, we started Monday afternoon and we're, we're, uh, here we are Thursday at, uh, lunch, just, just wrapping up. It's been a long week with a lot of, of nonstop discussions. So it's hard to sometimes capture all that, but, uh, it's sure I'll, uh, uh, holler

Miranda Reiman:

And I don't wanna miss in the fact that, I mean, there was a great report from certified Angus beef and the exciting things going on there.

Mark McCully:

Angus Foundation, I'll tell you there was a new, I don't say new Jaclyn, uh, uh, I almost called her Upperman I've. She just got married this past weekend. She's now Jaclyn Boester and, and, uh, Jaclyn doing a fantastic job was just a, a lot of excitement around the Foundation. Um, the Angus Media team, uh, you guys are just doing fantastic stuff. We, we talked a lot about this podcast and, and, uh, the excitement, I know our, our, uh, our, our, um, our board was excited to hear all that as well.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah. So lots of things going on. Is there anything big that we missed that you guys think?

Jerry Connealy:

Um, boy Miranda. I don't know. I mean, I we've, we've been on three days of meetings here. Uh, I mean, I might add that that the week before we, we had zoom calls on all the committee meetings, uh, and covered all those. And then we, we approved the reports here and there's oodles of information in those committee reports that, that, uh, we're approved. Uh, and so we, boy, we covered, we, we, we made a lot of hay this week and, and, uh, uh, we've just barely touched on it. And I, I know it's been an AGI centered deal there and, uh, which, uh, with me, and I guess the three guests you have here, uh, you got what you asked for

Miranda Reiman:

We biased it a little bit. Yeah. <laugh> very good. Well, I think it's been a fabulous week. It's been a great conversation. Um, I appreciate all the work that all of you guys do on behalf of the membership and helping

Mark McCully:

It's enormous. Yeah. It's enormous. And not to scare future board candidates away, I suppose. But, uh, the commitment that you guys put into this is, uh, is very, very significant and, uh, our breed and our association are, are better because of it. So thank you guys. Thank you.

Miranda Reiman:

For show notes and more visit the Angus conversation.com. And if you like this episode, go ahead and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Rate us, drop us a comment, or leave us a review and subscribe to the Angus journal, to keep up on all things Angus.