Alberta Beef Magazine - BeefNews.com

TraceBack software spurs more retained ownership by Bonnie Warnyca
May, 2010

"Three years ago our clients kept only 350 beef animals through to harvest. This year more than 12,000 are part of a retained ownership program." Dr. Troy Drake Cow/Calf Health and Management Services

After Dr. Troy Drake graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) in 1989, he worked for a large Calgary area animal practice for four years. He soon realized that in order to sustain a 'beef cattle only' practice, he would have to offer more than just the status quo.

He looked to other industry advancements for direction and says, "I watched with keen interest what Feedlot Health Management Services was doing in the feedlot industry. It drove home the value of having real data to assist with the decision making process. I felt that by developing a software program to help cow/calf producers collect information similar to the dairy industry, I could further shift the paradigm from a reactive to a more proactive cattle management service."

17 years ago, Drake found five large commercial producers that agreed to participate in his data management program. "We tried several different software programs," he admits, "but none produced the expected results. Realizing the need to build a new program, I took continuing education courses on data base programming at the University of Calgary. At the time, I was probably naïve in believing I would become a programmer, but I learned what was involved in building these systems and this has enabled the entire production process. Once I found the right software developer, I was able to overlay my programming education with my cattle veterinary skills to achieve more realistic results."

In 1994, Drake put up his shingle for Drake Veterinary Services Ltd. at Kathyrn, Alberta, and began offering an early version of his cow/calf health software program aimed at minimizing the effect of disease and maximizing production potential. He believed that by measuring an individual cow's performance, over time, it offered a higher level of predictability for future offspring. While visual appraisal is, and will be part of the evaluation process, it cannot reliably predict which animals will marble well or finish in a higher grade. In 2005, Drake's software program TraceBack was finally ready for commercialization, and the name of the practice was changed to Cow/Calf Health and Management Services (CCHMS). Now instead of a traditional veterinary practice, Drake says that roughly 75% of his practice involves data management and consultation while the remaining 25% of his time is used for preg checking and semen evaluations. In place of a well-stocked veterinary clinic, CCHMS is stocked with software programmers and technical support staff.

The software continues to evolve," says this innovator. "We now have more than 100,000 animals on the data base which equates to 40,000 mother cows. The smallest herd on the program is 42 cows and the largest is 3,850 cows. The average herd size is 175 cows. The real value of this data collection and reporting is showing in the increased numbers of retained ownership. Retained ownership has rocketed and the treatment rates and death loss have plummeted."

Drake says there are many ways to show the value of using this type of technology. "I believe that retained ownership will pay the dividends producers have been waiting for," he says convinced. "In the past, producers thought the heaviest steer or heifer in the fall was the one that could bring the most money, yet the heavier calves aren't necessarily the ones that feed or grade the best. Historical cow/calf information allows the producer to identify those animals that will excel in the feedlot and on the hook. These animals can then be targeted for a specific value chain or just fed to finish for the commodity market. Others, that don't measure up on paper, can be sold in the fall run or at other strategic times of the year."

With multiple herd sires in a commercial operation, chances are unlikely that one cow will be bred by the same bull each year. Drake says that with the TraceBack generated information, his clients can target specific cows to breed with select sires in order to optimize their genetic potential. While the purebred industry has been doing this for decades, this option may help to rejuvenate some forward thinking commercial cattle producers.

Drake says that the TraceBack software is easy to use. "Producers can input their own information or we have support staff to do it for them. Once the information is on the server, additional events are logged in at different times of the year during processing or calving. Producers can either use a RFID wand chute-side to bring up the animal's information or use a small laptop computer to record the processing details as well as any other observations. Marketing decisions become a whole lot clearer replacing the 'one more year' syndrome which can be costly."

Reportings can be simple or as comprehensive as a producer chooses. They may include individual cow reports with her production, fertility, how often her calves have been treated, calving summaries, calf carcass information and inventory numbers which all culminate down to a rolling cow average report within the herd.

A Good Cow - Is Just A Good Cow
"I call it the purple cow syndrome," Drake says from a different perspective. "It doesn't matter what color or breed your cattle are; what matters is the underlying quality."

"There are more differences within herds than between breeds."

Once a producer identifies their top producing/most valuable cows, they then have a benchmark to work with and compare against. By identifying both the top end and the bottom end cows, it becomes much easier to select and cull for predictability. "I have clients that for years have only selected replacements because of their color," says this new age veterinarian. "Traditionally, some clients only kept animals that were red or black or some other color. That is changing. They are now becoming color-blind when it comes to choosing replacements. Numbers don't lie. Science-based decisions are based on predicted quality which translates into higher values."

The whole idea behind the development of TraceBack is to build a better cow.

"I'm championing the frontline producer," continues Drake. "If we're talking traceability and value chain integration, you can't leave out the cow/calf producer. Retained ownership is one way we can create integration which takes a lot of the stress related to marketing out of play. If we form the right strategic alliances, we get the most value out of the quality cattle that we produce."

Drake says that there are still times when a client falls into the old trap by thinking that all of their calves are worth more in the fall. "If the calf is valuable to an order buyer and a feedlot, then the producer should also be able to realize this same value potential."

"Weaning the calves, and sending them directly into an on farm feedlot or to a feedlot off farm, adds another safety level to the process of raising beef for the consumer. As more and more producers move towards retained ownership, they eliminate some of the value chain stops now associated with selling animals within the status quo," says Drake, admitting that this option does not bode well with auction market operators.

"We're still a small fish in a big pond," he admits. "I don't think that this piece of the value chain will ever be eliminated. In today's market, anytime you can reduce the number of travel stops and treatments to offer a safer and fully traceable product, you enter into a whole new world of marketing possibilities."

Meanwhile, Drake is marketing the TraceBack solution to other veterinarians both in Canada and the U.S. "To have other veterinarians include this software and service in their practices is the most gratifying turn of events to date," he concludes. "I believe that this technology marks a new beginning for leading edge cow/calf producers. Many of my clients have told me that they intend to include DNA sire verification once the cost becomes less. This is the next piece of technology for the commercial industry to add to their science-based tool box."

Industry Question

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