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 www.NALF.org North American (303) 220-1693 |
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Round 3 Guidelines Eligible Cattle Visions Quest (VQ) Round 3 is open to registered, recorded and commercial Limousin and Lim‑Flex® steers and heifers born between Feb. 1 and April 30, 2007. Participants must enroll a minimum of two head, but 10 or more are preferred. A group of 10 from one known sire is encouraged for data-collection purposes. Enrollment A nonrefundable $20 per head enrollment fee will be assessed, and the fees are due to the NALF office no later than Sept. 1, 2007. Your enrollment fee will be credited toward your yardage and feed bills. Preconditioning Participants must precondition all VQ cattle before delivery. The preconditioning requirements follow.
Health Certificates, Brand Inspections A health certificate must accompany cattle entering Colorado. A valid brand inspection must accompany cattle from states with brand-inspection laws (Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming). Entry permits may be required for some cattle. For more information regarding health requirements for moving beef cattle from your state into Colorado, call the Colorado State Veterinarian’s Office at (303) 239-4161 or visit www.ag.state.co.us/animals/Rules/InterstateMovement.html on the Web. Cattle Delivery Participants must deliver cattle to the Colorado State University (CSU) Ag Research, Development and Education Center (ARDEC) north of Fort Collins, Colo., between Nov. 1 and Nov. 15, 2007. Before delivery, participants must contact Bo Sexson at NALF or Tom Field at CSU to make delivery arrangements and provide an estimated time of arrival. Daytime delivery is strongly encouraged. Arrival, Processing Once delivered, cattle will be processed, evaluated and sorted. Animals will be tagged using electronic identification (EID), implanted, weighed and scored for frame size, docility, muscle thickness and capacity. DNA samples will be collected for animal ID (if tags are lost), sire verification (if necessary) and DNA-test validation. Upon arrival, steers should weigh at least 600 pounds and heifers at least 550 pounds to ensure they reach their optimum carcass weights. Cattle of the same sex from different participants will be grouped together by expected time of harvest. Cattle will be placed in 10-head pens where feed intake will be measured on a pen basis. In February 2008 (90 to 120 days before harvest), cattle will be re-evaluated for frame size, docility, muscle thickness and capacity. In April 2008 (60 to 90 days before harvest), animals will be scanned using ultrasound to help optimize harvest dates and to contribute data for NALF’s genetic evaluation of carcass traits. Contact Sexson for information about the VQ implant protocols. Feeding, Yardage Charges Cattle will be moved through a series of rations, reaching about 90 percent concentrate in mid- to late-January 2008. The cost of feed will be determined from the average amount of feed consumed per animal within each pen (10 head per pen). CSU will assess a yardage charge of 35¢ per animal per day for collection of feed-intake and other data. There will be a $1 per head chute charge for sick animals added to treatment and medication costs.
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