Purebred cattle producers admit they need more training when it comes to producing good stock and marketing their pedigreed bulls and females.
Those were just some of the findings of a purebred risk assessment study done by the Canadian Beef Breeds Council.
Mail-in surveys, live interviews and focus groups among seedstock and commercial producers, auctions and processors listed in detail the strengths and weaknesses of the purebred sector.
The result is a comprehensive review of what the purebred sector means to every level of the production chain. Risks to the industry were identified and a committee has been established to implement suggested improvements.
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The study received a high level of response and found participants were willing to provide opinions and ideas for improvement.
A major request was for improved communication and collaboration among the sectors to add value to every link in the chain.
“We want to continue to generate momentum on this by identifying things that need to be worked on now and communication is one of them, both internally and within our own groups,” said Herb McLane, manager of the beef breeds council.
The industry needs to promote its value to the public, breed members and media.
The study said the purebred sector needs to find ways to add more value, whether it is offering traceback information, individual identification or genetic statistics for crossbred programs.
People want economically valuable information like carcass merit and animal evaluation. This can be done through alliances within the production and processing chain.
They want more collaboration among the breeds. While cattle producers are competitors at many levels, they agreed there are areas where they might work together.
The survey and interviews also discussed the value of associations and relevance of purebred cattle.
“A lot of breeders did comment that they wondered about the value of breed associations and the services they provide and why that should matter to them on the ground,” McLane said.
The associations handle such things as animal registration, ownership transfers and genetic records.
Commercial beef producers said they value purebred cattle. They want animals with good body conformation and information on expected birth weights. Many had specific breed preferences. They also relied on trust and past experience when buying animals.
The survey revealed the purebred producers’ average age is 52 and they have more post-secondary education than most producers.
Eighty percent said they want training on production methods and marketing skills, but no one indicated who should provide education programs.
Many lamented their lack of time because they had off-farm jobs. They chose to spend more time on animal production than market development, something they agreed is a weakness.
“A lot of people look for diversification with off-farm jobs,” McLane said.
“We need to help them try to identify other ways to diversify, not necessarily taking an off-farm job. That speaks to the sustainability of not only their operation but also the stable nature of rural communities.”
Other opportunities could come from international market development, as well as ways to add value in the domestic market.
“We need to try and position ourselves so we can apply innovation. Innovation doesn’t necessarily have to mean technological. It could be the innovativeness of new solutions and working more smartly together,” he said.
The beef council represents breed associations that have 9,000 active members registering about 125,000 head of registered cattle each year.
