The Six Types of People at My Thanksgiving Dinner

Everyone on my Dad's side of the family gets together for one pretty amazing Thanksgiving celebration, but since my Dad is one of five children, and each one of his siblings had at least two children, who now have children of their own, it gets really loud and crazy! This year I found myself taking a good look around our very large gathering. Minus the toddlers, I think I can pretty much lump all of them into six categories.

The Farmer. You know the one who talks commodity pricing, eats and then immediately nods off. This year, due to unusual weather, the conversation also included how much corn still needed to come off.

The Retail Aficionado. These are the family members who bring the sale ads along and comb through every one, while making a detailed list of exactly what store, what time and in what order.

The Hunting Enthusiast. Thanksgiving falls during deer hunting season in Wisconsin, so there are plenty of photos and stories to share. When talk of deer hunting is exhausted, there are always bear, turkeys and ducks to talk about.

The Food Lover. This person may or may not be guilty of wearing stretchy pants to dinner!

The Ultimate Host. Takes your coat, your beverage order and shows you the snacks (are you kidding me, who needs snacks?) within the first 30 seconds of your arrival - all while tending to the gigantic dinner they will be serving in under 30 minutes.

The Football Fanatic. Be careful not to walk in front of the television, or you just might get scolded. It doesn't matter what teams are playing, these people are always interested.

So what does your Thanksgiving look like? Do you have a few more categories to add? What type are you?

No matter the types of people you had around your Thanksgiving table, hopefully you
were able to enjoy a good meal with great conversation. I know I am thankful for each and every one of those I am lucky enough to call my family. We may be different, but we can set our differences aside to enjoy each other's company. For this I am truly thankful!

Consistency Main Reward to GENEX Test Herd

The goal of the GENEX progeny test program is to determine the true breeding value of a young bull as quickly as possible.

GENEX works with some of the industry's best ranchers to prove young sires. These cattlemen, both registered and commercial producers, work together with GENEX to breed their cows and heifers to GENEX young sires and proven sires used for reference. Then, they provide fertility, performance and ultrasound/carcass data on the resulting calf crop.

This month, we would like to introduce you to four of our test herds through #TestHerdTuesday.

Today's feature is the Oneida Nation Farm in Seymour, Wisconsin, which has been a GENEX test herd for three years. They run a 240 head cow/calf operation, which consists of 360 acres of rotational pasture which is grazed from May 1 through December 1. Each year they retain 40 replacements and finish out the remaining 200. Finished cattle are sold on a quarter and half basis to the public, with several head per year going to the Oneida Nation School, Oneida Nation Elderly Home and Oneida Nation Retail Store.

Since becoming a GENEX test herd, Oneida Farms has seen more consistency in their calves. Calves typically range in birth weight from 65 to 80 pounds without calving difficulties which is especially important as several people who work at the farm have little experience with difficult calvings. In addition, the calf crop is very uniform at weaning. Herd Manager, TJ Swiecichowski sees a noticeable difference.

"Now that we are calving females sired by GENEX bulls and breeding heifers out of GENEX bulls, we really see the consistency within our cow herd," notes TJ. We see our cows being more efficient. They are smaller than a lot of our older cows, yet still wean some of the biggest calves. They are also much better on their feet and legs and will be around for a long time."

When asked what bulls have had the most impact on the herd, TJ listed 1AN01360 ELEMENT and 1AN01355 ALTITUDE.

Relationship Key to Test Herd Performance

The goal of the GENEX progeny test program is to determine the true breeding value of a young bull as quickly as possible.

GENEX works with some of the industry's best ranchers to prove young sires. These cattlemen, both registered and commercial producers, work together with GENEX to breed their cows and heifers to GENEX young sires and proven sires used for reference. Then, they provide fertility, performance and ultrasound/carcass data on the resulting calf crop.

This month, we would like to introduce you to four of our test herds through #TestHerdTuesday.

Today we are featuring Pleasant View Farm in Belmont, Wisconsin. Josh and Gretchen Kamps joined the test herd program in 2013, with the first calves being born in the spring of 2014. Some of that progeny has just weaned off their second calves. 

Pleasant View Farm is a predominantly Angus cow/calf to finish operation in the southwest corner of the state. Their cows calve in a loading area and then are moved to pasture. They have a spring herd and a fall herd, so their biggest calving months are March, April, September and October.

The Kamps say the benefits of being a GENEX test herd are that they have been able to develop some cow families they are excited to see the future of, both in the herd and in the feedlot. "We have also built a strong relationship with the GENEX team we work with. We put a lot of faith in their bull selection for our herd, and they have continually proven they are buying the right bulls." 

When asked what bulls have had the most impact on their herd, the Kamps listed the following:

1AN01302 WESTERN CUT - These heifers are weaning their second calves. They are functional, sound and productive cows that we've been very happy with.

1AN01302 WESTERN CUT daughters

1AN01300 INVESTMENT - A good carcass animal. They were efficient converters of feed and performed well on the rail.

1AN01379 iBULL - We didn't have good success with him on the heifers, but the the cows, the success was better. The iBULL calves sifted themselves to the top of the scale at weaning, we're excited to see how they perform in the feedlot.

1AN01379 iBULL calf

1AN01340 Upward - We used him as a reference sire early in the program. He made solid daughters for us, as well as feedlot cattle.

Generations of GENEX Testing

The goal of the GENEX progeny test program is to determine the true breeding value of a young bull as quickly as possible.

GENEX works with some of the industry's best ranchers to prove young sires. These cattlemen, both registered and commercial producers, work together with GENEX to breed their cows and heifers to GENEX young sires and proven sires used for reference. Then, they provide fertility, performance and ultrasound/carcass data on the resulting calf crop.

This month, we would like to introduce you to four of our test herds through #TestHerdTuesday.

Today's feature is Chris Larkin from Ottumwa, Iowa, who started as a test herd for GENEX in 1985. He runs a black Angus cow-calf operation, and finishes the steer calves. The heifer calves are fed until yearling, and for the last 25 years, they've sold as replacement heifers. Recently they started breeding all the heifers and selling a portion as bred heifers.

When asked what benefits he has seen in his herd as a result of being a GENEX test herd, Chris responded, "The use of GENEX bulls has greatly improved the quality of our cattle; performance, carcass and maternal traits. It has also enabled us to use many of the different bloodlines within the Angus breed." Chris noted that many bulls have made an impact on his herd after over 30 years in the program including: Bando 5175, 1AN01099 DENSITY, Net Worth, Traveler 004, Objective 3J15, Final Answer, 1AN01146 RIGHT ANSWER, Upward, New Day, Successor, 1AN01238 RESOURCE, 1AN01131 BISMARCK, and his current favorite 1AN01170 CHISUM.

Five Influential #FlashbackFriday Sires

Throughout the month of September, we featured a sire a week as a #Flashback Friday on the GENEX Dairy Facebook page. These sires were all influential to the GENEX story. Here are the five posts, all compiled together. I hope you enjoy reminiscing as much as I enjoyed learning and remembering!

21HO00280 I-O State Chief Ford

21HO00280 I-O State Chief Ford was born August 9, 1974. He was sired by Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief. His dam, Ludvue Heilo Lulu was sired by Burkgov Heilo Belle. Ford received his first progeny proof in June 1979 and was marketed by GENEX predecessor, 21st Century Genetics, Shawano, Wisconsin. During his career, there were 18,395 daughters in 5,569 herds in his production proof. Today the main production barn at GENEX headquarters in Shawano is named the Ford Barn in his memory. Ford is pictured above with his sire handler, Geno Hagel.

1HO07380 Lutz-Brookview Bellman Rex-ET

1HO07380 Lutz-Brookview Bellman Rex-ET was born November 16, 1981. He was sired by Carlin-M Ivanhoe Bell. His dam, Lutz-Brookview Bova Alice was sired by Rockalli Son of Bova-ET. Rex received his first progeny proof in July of 1987 and was marketed by GENEX predecessor, 21 Century Genetics, Shawano, Wisconsin. Rex sired great udders with strong ligaments. The rear udders were extremely high and wide and the teat placement was excellent. By January 1994, he had nearly 19,000 milking daughters in 5,288 herds and his Predicted Transmitting Ability was +2303 for Milk and +70 pounds of Protein. On February 28, 1995, Rex had produced over a million units of semen, and he joined the prestigious Millionaires Club. During his career, Rex sired 39,721 milking daughters in more than 8,550 herds worldwide!

1HO00414 Tesk-Holm Valiant Rockie

1HO00414 Tesk-Holm Valiant Rockie was born January, 21 1981. He was sired by S-W-D Valiant. His dam, Houvale Apollo Gail was sired by Whittier-Farms Apollo Rocke. Tesk received his first progeny proof in January of 1986 and was one of the most popular bulls of his time for his tremendous ability to increase protein. He was also one of the best all-around calving ease bulls of this period and was known for siring daughters with very well-attached udders, sound feet and legs and moderate size. He sired nearly 46,000 milking daughters in over 9,700 herds throughout the world. He was also used very heavily as a sire of sons for the next generation and his genetics were valued for many years to come.

8HO02024 Rothrock Tradition Leadman

8HO02024 Rothrock Tradition Leadman was born March 5, 1985. He was sired by Sweet-Haven Tradition. His dam; Walkup Valiant Lou Ella was sired by S-W-D Valiant. Leadman received his first progeny proof in July of 1989 and was marketed by GENEX predecessor; Federated Genetics in Lancaster, PA. He was among the top 10 TPI® bulls of the breed when he was first proven in the early 1990’s. He was one of the few active A.I. bulls at that time to sire an increase in protein percent blended with extreme PTAM. It was exciting to see how Leadman could sire this extreme production along with impressive overall type. He was also one of the most popular choices available for siring shallow udders with a strong cleft. Leadman claims over 31,600 milking daughters in 8,073 herds around the globe in his career. In addition, Leadman was used very heavily as a sire of sons for the next generation and his genetics were valued for many years.

1HO07235 Jenny-Lou Marshl Toystory-ET

1HO07235 Toystory was born at Mystic Valley Dairy near Sauk City, Wisconsin, in May 2001. At his November 2005 debut in the artificial insemination (A.I.) industry, Toystory was noted as "the new must-have sire, whether your breeding goals are profitability or show type." His daughters provided a level of productivity, profitability and improved conformation that impressed producers as well as show judges across the globe.

In addition to his outstanding genetic qualities, Toystory possessed an unmatched semen production ability. In April 2009, he joined an elite group of bulls throughout the industry that had produced 1 million units of semen. Then, in May 2011, he became the industry's all-time semen production leader surpassing the previous world record of 1.767 million units held by the Dutch bull Sunny Boy. By May 2012, Toystory had furthered his impact on the A.I. industry reaching a remarkable 2 million units. At the time of his death,at age 13, Toystory had produced 2.415 million units.