Erin Massender

@EastwoodL13 Wishing you all the best on your next challenge Laura! Hope to still see you and Link around the agility field this summer :)!

OMAFRA is hiring 3 students for summer 2024 out of the Lindsay office. Working on grazing, beef, or goat projects. Deadline January 9th. Details: gojobs.gov.on.ca/Preview.aspx?L… #ontag @OACAggies @AlgonquinColleg @TrentUniversity @FlemingFrost

This was the most fun game of Spot the Difference ever as we kept a close look out to find the cows while touring 1,500+ acres of rangeland and cacti on the family’s ranches. - They were hiding well, we only found 3 Herefords, 4 Salers and an F1 in over an hour 😂.

Some of the stock we visited at Casa Blanca Herefords and Salers, including my new friend Oddie one of the Hereford bulls. - Obviously some selection pressure on Docility around here!

This week Betty-Jo and @ErinMassender are in Mexico meeting ranchers and associations and helping setup pilots of #bioTrackPlus. - Special thanks to our partner Marcela at CanMexTrade for being a wonderful guide! - Stay tuned for more updates!

This week @AgSights is in Mexico meeting with ranchers to pilot bioTrack Plus and discussing other partnerships like @HerdWhistle and @CanBeefNetwork. Thanks to our partners at CanMex trade for facilitating the trip! - Great food and wonderful hospitality on the trip so far!

Excited to be back at the @OntarioSheep Convention! Stop by the @AgSights booth and say hi! - Awesome to see carcass grading in the agenda. A bit of a throwback, 8 years ago our @ABSc_UofG @CgilUofG work on carcass EPDs won the poster competition here!

Great pitches and conversation at the #AgTechBreakfast at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show #COFS! @AgSights

Final stop was to the K2 location of Rimrock Feeders! We toured the High River location at BIF in July, but today we got to see even more of this impressive operation with capacity for 85,000 head on feed!

Next stop was the Sunterra Green House, growing hot house tomatoes and strawberries under 20 acres of glass to supply their markets.

First stop at the @CDNBeefConf Pre-Tour was a great breakfast and open house of the CCIA office! Over 4 million tags have moved through this building since it opened mid-COVID. @albertabeef @AgSights

Logistics had to be be re-worked a bit for this carcass ultrasound demo (electronics and a down pour don’t quite mix 😂), but I had a great time with a dedicated group of breeders at the Ontario Angus Association Field Day last weekend! @AgSights

“What EPD do we NOT have that we most NEED?” 1) Methane & Heart Health 2) Grazing Functionality Index - BCS, DMI, Feet and Legs etc. & Heifer Re-Breeding 3) Lifetime Sustained Profitability Index #BIF2013 #whatiheard

- The EPD most highly correlated with price… might not be the one you think it is for your customer. What a fantastic discussion of how EPDs make good business sense on 3 very different operations, and some great insights into how we can market genetics to increase adoption.

- “How much fuel we have available in our environments, shows what engines we need” - Bull development needs to focus on finding the genetic differences, without sacrificing longevity.

Notes from the BIF Producer Panel “Business Case for EPDs”: - “Comfort level in EPDs is higher today than ever on our operationl” -“EPDs are only as good as the ingredients (data) we put into the system.” -Genotyping pre-weaning gives more confidence in a weaning sort #BIF2023