May 29, 2007

In this issue …
NALF announces next round of webcasts
Sponsorships offer extended marketing reach
New ‘performance only’ fee takes effect July 1
Voluntary checkoff assists commercial marketing
Member service fee supports breed functions
17 days to submit data for next genetic evaluation
LIMS set to begin collecting heifer data
All breeders should consider DNA sampling
Seal the deal with a proper transfer
‘State Associations’ page is updated
MOE petitions, judges nominations due soon
Mail NJLSC entries by June 10
Fullblood workshop slated for Louisiana
BIF meeting is next week
What’s news?
Limousin sales, events

The North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) Board of Directors and staff members are excited to announce the association’s next round of free producer-outreach webcasts. Each will be from 7 to 8 p.m. (Mountain Time).

• June 12 – Visions Quest Round 2 Preharvest (members only; sponsored by Laura’s Lean Beef Co.)
• Aug. 14 – Visions Quest Round 2 Postharvest (members only; sponsored by Five Star Cattle Systems)
• Aug. 28 – Value-Added Production (sponsored by Bovitrak)
• Sept. 18 – Visions Quest Round 3 Recruitment (sponsored by MMI Genomics)
• Sept. 25 – Data Collection & Online Recording (members only)
• Oct. 2 – Breed Improvement (members only; sponsored by Limousin World)
• Oct. 9 – Nutrition
• Nov. 20 – Basic Marketing (members only; sponsored by R&R Marketing Co.)
• Nov. 27 – Advanced Marketing (members only; sponsored by KK Seedstock Consultants)
• Dec. 11 – Crossbreeding Strategies
• Dec. 18 – Bull-Buying Strategies

For more information about the webcasts’ contents, contact Frank Padilla or Bo Sexson in the NALF office.

To participate in a webcast, you must register at http://dvauction.com beforehand, and it is best to do so at least three hours before the event starts. If you register within 30 minutes of a webcast’s start, the authorization system will be much slower.

To gain access to the “members only” webcasts, be sure to enter the e‑mail address where you receive Partners when you register. You only need to register once so if you already have registered with DVAuction using your Partners e‑mail address, you are ready to go.

When it is time for a webcast, return to the DVAuction home page and click the “View” button next to “North American Limousin Foundation” under “Today’s Events.” Or use the link on the NALF home page.

NALF encourages its members to spread the word to their commercial customers and their fellow breeders who might not have e‑mail addresses on file at NALF. Members who have an e‑mail address on file at the NALF office by noon the day before a members-only webcast will be able to register and participate in it.

For help with registration, contact Brad Parker in the NALF office.

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To provide continuous marketing opportunities for its members and their partners in allied industry, NALF is offering three Internet-based sponsorship programs.

First, NALF will secure sponsors for future webcasts on DVAuction.com. For $1,000 per webcast, a sponsor will get recognition on DVAuction’s home page, in its e‑mailed daily announcement, during the webcast itself, in all advanced publicity and in the related materials archived on the NALF Web site. For more information about a webcast sponsorship, contact Frank Padilla in the NALF office.

Second, NALF will begin accepting sponsors for the Partners e‑newsletter. Starting in September, each issue will offer three sponsor spots. Two-month blocks for each spot will sell for $250 apiece on a “first come, first served” basis. For more information, contact Brad Parker in the NALF office.

Finally, NALF will offer sponsorship opportunities on its Web site. Beginning in October, two sponsor spots will be available for four-month blocks, which will sell via a “Country Auction” (similar to eBay) on DVAuction.com. Bidding will run from July 10 to Aug. 9, and bidder syndicates may include up to five entities. For more information, contact Parker.

More details will be in the June–July Limousin World, in future editions of Partners and on the NALF Web site soon.

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The Board approved a measure from the Operations and Performance Programs Committee to increase the fee for “performance only” recordings to $10 per head effective July 1. The first adjustment to the fee since January 2000 is meant to put performance-only recording on more equitable footing with the Limousin Inventory Management System (LIMS), which encourages reporting all data for all animals all of the time.

Breeders can credit their performance-only fees for unregistered animals recorded with NALF toward later registration.

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Starting with fiscal year (FY) 2006–2007, NALF members have had the option of contributing toward a national Limousin commercial marketing “checkoff” at time of registration. The Commercial Marketing and Advertising Committee will use the monies collected so far to increase circulation of the Bottom Line newsletter among prospective Limousin customers and to survey the commercial sector.

More than 130 NALF members have enrolled in the commercial marketing checkoff. Enrollment is easy – just contact the NALF office. You may change your checkoff-enrollment status at any time.

At its meetings last month, the NALF Board approved a proposal from the Membership and Seedstock Marketing Committee to increase the checkoff to $4 per head at time of registration. The 2007–2008 member service fee notices will provide members with an opportunity to join or re-enroll in the new checkoff.

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Thanks to the loyal support of those who pay their member service fees, NALF has maintained breed advertising and staff representation at events while developing extensive Web-based tools and new member-outreach programs.

Those who participate in the annual plan may register animals at half the inactive-member rates; enjoy free access to the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site; and activate complimentary subscriptions to the quarterly Bottom Line newsletter for themselves and their bull customers. While those who do not pay this year’s assessment by July 31 will have those benefits suspended, they may reactivate their memberships any time before July 31, 2008.

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The deadline to submit data for the next International Limousin Genetic Evaluation is June 15. To facilitate reporting, preprinted forms are available free of charge by calling the NALF office. Members also can use the online recording tools available in the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site.

Submitting data before the June 15 deadline is especially important for producers wanting expected progeny differences (EPDs) for Lim‑Flex® cattle from Angus or Red Angus sires that have not been included in a previous Limousin genetic evaluation.

New EPDs will be available around Aug. 1. NALF will post the fall sire summary in the “Programs” section of its Web site in mid-August.

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Limousin Inventory Management System (LIMS) participants should begin reporting heifer-exposure information for 2006 spring-born females. The optional reporting will give NALF the data it needs for genetic evaluation of heifer pregnancy. It also will help ensure active LIMS inventories accurately reflect incoming replacement heifers and eliminate the need to report disposal codes for culled heifers later.

The heifer-retention–reporting tool is available by logging on to the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site, then clicking the LIMS button in the upper right corner of the screen. Once on the LIMS home page, scroll down the list of options and click “Heifer Retention Reporting” to display your current heifer inventory. On the heifer inventory form, indicate the following:

1. whether the heifers were or will be exposed to breeding;
2. either the breeding season’s start and end dates or the first and last dates of artificial insemination (AI); and
3. any coded disposal information for heifers not retained for breeding.

For heifers exposed to breeding, you also must designate breeding-management groups. A breeding-management group consists of all heifers that were managed the same from yearling through the breeding season. You should assign heifers to different groups if there were nongenetic reasons that some had an unequal opportunity to become pregnant during the breeding season.

Heifer-exposure data for 2006 spring-born females is due Aug. 15.

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Breeders who sell animals that eventually might be used for AI or embryo transfer (ET) should consider collecting DNA samples for them and their parents. Oftentimes, after a breeder sells a bull or cow, the buyer collects semen or eggs; but the proper DNA tests never were done. Then the sire, dam or purchased animal itself is dead or sold by the time the buyer tries to obtain parent verification.

Given the ease of collecting DNA samples on FTA cards and the fact samples can be stored unrefrigerated long-term, it just makes sense for serious seedstock producers to develop DNA-sampling protocols for those animals that are likely to be propagated widely.

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Transfers are the lifeblood of NALF’s commercial programs. They provide the association with contact information for Limousin users so it can keep breed information before them throughout the year in the Bottom Line newsletter, Limousin World commercial cattleman’s issue and other vehicles. The success of the LimMark tagging program also depends upon properly transferred bulls.

Submit your transfers in a timely fashion so NALF can add value to your seedstock sales, and include the buyer’s full name and address on the transfer application. LIMS participants, remember the first transfers of progeny from your enrolled cows are free.

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The “State Associations” page on the NALF Web site now reflects the latest officer listings on file with the NALF office. If your state or regional association listing is missing, outdated, incomplete or incorrect, contact Lorrie Taylor or Brad Parker in the NALF office.

As state and regional associations elect new officers throughout the year, they should share complete contact information for each officer with the NALF office so the Web site and internal mailing lists can be kept current.

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State and regional associations can petition NALF for permission to host a Medal of Excellence (MOE) show. Association leaders have received petition forms, rules and approved-judges lists. If there is a local or state show you would like counted for MOE points, submit the petition form – which is available in the “Programs” section of the NALF Web site – by June 15.

The NALF Show Committee will accept nominations for the approved-judges list until June 30. Active annual and lifetime members can send them via mail, fax or e‑mail. Provide your member number or herd prefix and the nominee’s address and phone number. The Show Committee will vote on the nominees at its July meeting, which will be in conjunction with the National Junior Limousin Show and Congress (NJLSC).

Direct all MOE questions to Lorrie Taylor in the NALF office.

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New this year, June 10 is the postmark deadline for late entries to the 2007 “Bayou Bash” NJLSC in West Monroe, La. Find more information in the summer 2007 NALJA News, which is available in the “Juniors” section of the NALF Web site. Page 7 of that publication lists all of the show rules, and it is important to review those before submitting entries.

Juniors, take note: Entry in the NJLSC does not enter you automatically in any of the All-American Limousin Futurity (AALF) shows. The April issue of the Limousin World included the AALF entry form, or you may request one by contacting American Cattle Services (ACS) at (580) 597-3006.

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NALF is planning a special workshop for fullblood breeders in conjunction with the AALF in West Monroe, La. It tentatively is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, July 26. For more information, contact Frank Padilla in the NALF office and read future issues of Partners.

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The Rocky Mountains will provide the backdrop for the annual meeting and 40th-anniversary celebration of the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF). The meeting will be June 6–9 in Fort Collins, Colo. It will focus on the future of genetic evaluation and improvement with a variety of presenters from around the country, including NALF Executive Vice President Kent Andersen.

The meeting will take place at the Hilton Fort Collins. To register or get program details, visit the BIF Web site. For more information, contact Willie Altenburg, (970) 568-7792; Mark Enns, (970) 491-2722; or Lauren Hyde in the NALF office.

One of the June 9 producer tours will include a stop at the Colorado State University (CSU) Ag Research, Development and Education Center (ARDEC) to view the cattle enrolled in the Limousin Visions Quest cattle-feeding and carcass-discovery project.

BIF was founded to standardize programs and methodology and to create greater awareness, acceptance and usage of beef cattle performance concepts.

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NALF has issued the following news release since the last issue of Partners:

• May 25 – Limousin Producers to Take Visions Quest Into Round 3

Limousin news releases are archived in the Web site’s “What’s New” section. NALF encourages its members to share them with their local news outlets.

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June 2 – Minerich Land and Cattle Co. All-Pairs Sale, Richmond, KY
June 2–3 – Texas Field Day, Fort Worth, TX
June 8–9 – Heartland Regional Junior Show, Spencer, IA
June 9 – Ohio Valley Junior Limousin Show, Mineral Wells, WV
June 9 – Limousin Breeders Ass’n of the Carolinas Field Day, Clinton, SC
June 10 – Ohio Valley Open Limousin MOE Show, Mineral Wells, WV
June 15–16 – Oklahoma Field Day, Sand Springs, OK
June 15 – Western Limousin Expo Junior Limousin Show, Klamath Falls, OR
June 16 – Western Limousin Expo Open Limousin Show, Klamath Falls, OR
June 16 – Eastern Regional Junior Limousin Show, Murfreesboro, TN
June 17 – Southeast Summer Classic Open Limousin Show, Murfreesboro, TN
June 23–24 – Missouri Field Day, Montgomery City, MO
July 13–14 – Georgia Field Day, Athens, GA