WEBVTT 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.060 Breaking free from the chains of the past Where 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:18.820 truth moves faster than a Holstein calf No law 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:21.660 waiting on some printed page We're charting new 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:25.300 ground in the digital age From genomic codes 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:29.120 to robot facts We cut through the noise, no hold 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.460 them back not your daddy's dairy news tonight 00:00:32.460 --> 00:01:03.189 we're sparking Welcome back to the Bullvine Podcast, 00:01:03.490 --> 00:01:05.730 where we cut through dairy industry noise to 00:01:05.730 --> 00:01:07.590 get you the insights that actually matter for 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:10.109 your operation. I am your analytical lead. And 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:12.950 I am your practical farmer perspective. And today, 00:01:13.150 --> 00:01:15.609 we are diving deep into a feature piece about 00:01:15.609 --> 00:01:19.909 functional profitability. Or, as I like to call 00:01:19.909 --> 00:01:22.049 it, why the cow's winning ribbons might be the 00:01:22.049 --> 00:01:24.250 exact ones draining your bank account. We're 00:01:24.250 --> 00:01:26.629 definitely going to ruffle some feathers today 00:01:26.629 --> 00:01:29.890 with this deep dive. We are digging into a massive 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:32.549 piece of research, the million cow proof for 00:01:32.549 --> 00:01:34.689 functional profitability. And this isn't just 00:01:34.689 --> 00:01:37.549 theory. Right. It involves hard data from Dr. 00:01:37.769 --> 00:01:40.629 Jeffrey Buehle at Holstein Association USA and 00:01:40.629 --> 00:01:43.799 the absolute legacy of Ed Bosses. at Bosdale 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:46.280 Farms. I really love this topic. It is, you know, 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:47.599 it's one of those things we talk about at the 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:49.859 coffee shop but rarely see put down on paper 00:01:49.859 --> 00:01:52.319 with this kind of actual mathematical ricker. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:54.540 Exactly. But before we get into the nitty gritty 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:56.500 of why my favorite show cow might be a liability, 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.959 let's set the stage for the listener. Why are 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:00.579 we talking about this right now? Why does this 00:02:00.579 --> 00:02:03.519 specific study matter to you, the dairy farmer, 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:06.700 right now? It is the economy, frankly. You know 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:08.860 the numbers better than anyone. You feel it every 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:11.020 single time you write a check. I do. Look, I 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:13.900 was just crunching the USDA data on replacement 00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:16.159 prices before we hopped on the mic today. And 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:18.520 we have to talk about the sheer sticker shock 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:21.080 out there. Yeah. If you rewind the clock to, 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:26.229 say, October 2023, you could pick up. a decent 00:02:26.229 --> 00:02:30.389 replacement heifer for around $1 ,990, basically 00:02:30.389 --> 00:02:32.889 two grand. Which even then felt like a fair chunk 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:35.090 of change. It really did. But you fast forward 00:02:35.090 --> 00:02:39.199 to July 2025. That same heifer, and maybe even 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.580 of lesser genetic quality, depending on where 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:44.740 you are buying her, is costing you $3 ,010? That 00:02:44.740 --> 00:02:47.039 is a massive jump. That is not just standard 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.620 inflation. That is a fundamental shift in the 00:02:49.620 --> 00:02:51.620 market structure of the dairy industry. It is 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:55.719 a 164 % increase from the lows we saw back in 00:02:55.719 --> 00:02:57.979 2019. I mean, I remember 2019. You could barely 00:02:57.979 --> 00:02:59.900 give heifers away. Right. The market was flooded. 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:03.319 Exactly. Now, you are paying a massive premium 00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:06.259 just to get a heartbeat in the parlor. So when 00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:08.639 you are paying three grand just to get a heifer 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.080 to the point where she can even start paying 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.340 you back, the margin for error is gone. Totally 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:15.800 gone. You cannot afford to have her wash out 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:17.900 in the first lactation because she is too frail 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:19.800 to handle concrete or she just can't get bread 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:22.860 back. Exactly. With input costs where they are, 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:24.879 and we haven't even touched on feed or labor 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:27.800 or interest rates, the era of trophy genetics 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.699 is officially dead. I'm going to call it right 00:03:30.699 --> 00:03:33.800 now. Breeding cows just because they look pretty 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.080 in a photo or because they might catch a judge's 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.939 eye at the county fair. That is a luxury hobby 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:41.960 now. Farmers literally cannot afford to pay rent 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.400 on those cows anymore. And the stakes are so 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.960 high. We aren't talking about saving a few pennies 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.300 on semen straws here. We're talking about a difference 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:54.360 of $2 ,678 per cow in lifetime revenue. That 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:57.340 number stops you right in your tracks. It does. 00:03:57.500 --> 00:04:00.259 That is not pocket change. For a lot of guys. 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:03.580 That is a new tractor payment. That is a significant 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:07.419 chunk of a robotic milk release. Or honestly, 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:09.580 that is just the difference between staying in 00:04:09.580 --> 00:04:11.780 business for the next generation or selling the 00:04:11.780 --> 00:04:14.039 quota and calling it quits. We're going to challenge 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:16.420 the holy grail of the show ring today. You're 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:19.560 going to talk about why dairy character, that 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:21.660 trait we've been told to worship for decades, 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:25.220 is often just a fancy word for frail. And we're 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:28.120 going to dissect why your utter composite score, 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:30.660 that number you probably circle in the bull catalog 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:33.399 immediately, is lying to your face. Oh boy, the 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.040 classifiers aren't going to like this deep dive. 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:37.180 I can already hear the angry emails being typed 00:04:37.180 --> 00:04:39.339 up. But let's get into it. This all starts with 00:04:39.339 --> 00:04:42.459 a specific benchmark. Start us off with Ed Boss. 00:04:42.779 --> 00:04:45.680 Who is he and why is his philosophy the anchor 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.660 for this entire conversation? So Ed Boss is a 00:04:48.660 --> 00:04:51.399 legend up in Cambridge, Ontario. Bosdale Farms. 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:53.660 And to understand Ed, you have to understand 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:56.839 the era he operated in. For 50 years, five whole 00:04:56.839 --> 00:04:59.160 decades, he was watching the industry chase a 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:01.680 very specific look. The 80s and 90s especially, 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:04.600 we were completely obsessed with height. Obsessed. 00:05:04.699 --> 00:05:07.699 We wanted tall, sharp, angular cows that looked 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:10.079 like giraffes. We wanted a clean bone. We wanted 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:12.139 necks that went on forever. And while everyone 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:14.560 else was chasing that aesthetic, Ed kept his 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:17.199 head down. He completely ignored the industry 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:19.860 trend. It is incredibly hard to do that. The 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:22.240 peer pressure in this industry is immense. You 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.160 want to walk into the barn with your neighbor 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.680 and have them say, wow, look at the style on 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:28.180 that two year old. You want that validation. 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:31.439 Ignoring that takes a serious backbone. It does. 00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.660 But Ed focused exclusively on functional traits. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.959 He was looking at udders, feet, legs and rumps. 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:41.009 He didn't care about stature. In fact, he arguably 00:05:41.009 --> 00:05:43.490 penalized it if it came at the cost of functionality. 00:05:43.910 --> 00:05:46.370 He didn't care about that clean bone look if 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:48.750 it meant the cow was weak or narrow. And the 00:05:48.750 --> 00:05:50.889 assumption, usually, is that if you ignore the 00:05:50.889 --> 00:05:52.490 style traits, you end up with a barn full of 00:05:52.490 --> 00:05:54.990 ugly functional cows. Commercial cows, in the 00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:56.930 derogatory sense of the word. Did he end up with 00:05:56.930 --> 00:05:59.410 a barn full of ugly cows? Far from it. That is 00:05:59.410 --> 00:06:02.490 the irony here. He ended up with 415 excellent 00:06:02.490 --> 00:06:05.509 classified Holsteins and three master breeder 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:08.420 shields. Three master breeder shields. You definitely 00:06:08.420 --> 00:06:10.540 don't get those by accident. No, you don't. He 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:12.519 proved that you don't need to follow the fad 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:14.519 to get the tight points. A great cow is a great 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:17.379 cow. But more importantly, and this is exactly 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:20.720 why we are talking about him today, he was vindicated 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:23.980 by the data. Dr. Jeffrey Buehle's team at Holstein 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:27.620 Association USA decided to run the numbers. And 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:29.319 they didn't just look at a few hundred cows, 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:32.720 they looked at over one million cows. A million 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:35.579 cows. That is a sample size you simply cannot 00:06:35.579 --> 00:06:38.259 argue with. You can argue with a study of 50 00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:41.259 cows in a university research barn. You can't 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:43.839 argue with a million actual records. Exactly. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.079 And here's the kicker. Buley admits he went into 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:49.220 this entirely skeptical. He thought confirmation 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:52.319 was soft data. He's a numbers guy. He thought 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:54.759 type was just for the show jockeys and that genomics 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:56.519 and production data were the only things that 00:06:56.519 --> 00:06:58.879 really drove profit. He thought type was just 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.680 vanity. Right. But the data absolutely shocked 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:03.860 him. They compared the top quartile of cows, 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:06.100 those scoring 82 to 89 points, which is the good 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:09.660 plus, to very good range against the bottom quartile, 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.579 those scoring 76 and below. The fair and poor 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:14.519 cows, the ones you usually don't talk about. 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:17.019 The ones you hide out back when visitors come. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:20.500 And the difference was staggering. The top quartile 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:23.120 cows, the ones with the functional type, gave 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:27.240 13 ,389 pounds more lifetime energy corrected 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.040 milk. Wait, let's pause on that. 13 ,000 pounds. 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:33.500 That is half a lactation for some herds. That 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:36.879 is a massive amount of fluid milk. It is. And 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:38.800 it wasn't because they milked harder per day 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.019 necessarily. It was because they lasted. They 00:07:41.019 --> 00:07:44.379 stayed in the herd 142 more days on average. 00:07:44.579 --> 00:07:46.839 That is nearly five extra months of production 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:49.829 compared to the low type cows. So let me get 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:51.790 this straight. We aren't saying type in the sense 00:07:51.790 --> 00:07:54.129 of winning at Madison is profitable. We are saying 00:07:54.129 --> 00:07:57.709 functional type, the actual physical machinery 00:07:57.709 --> 00:08:00.230 that keeps the cow working is profitable. Correct. 00:08:00.350 --> 00:08:04.329 That equates to roughly $2 ,678 more gross revenue. 00:08:04.709 --> 00:08:08.290 But, and this is the big caveat, the traits that 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:10.410 kept them in the herd weren't the ones that win 00:08:10.410 --> 00:08:12.829 grand champion banners. It wasn't stature. It 00:08:12.829 --> 00:08:14.769 wasn't extreme angularity. It was udders and 00:08:14.769 --> 00:08:17.170 feet. Okay, but play devil's advocate with me 00:08:17.170 --> 00:08:20.480 here. I am a farmer. I am looking at a Sire catalog 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:24.600 right now. I buy bulls with high udder composite 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:28.160 or UDC because I want good udders. That is just 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.660 common sense. If I see a bull with plus 2 .50 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:35.019 UDC, I assume I am getting great udders. Are 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:36.980 you telling me I am wrong? I am telling you that 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:39.139 you might be falling into what we call the stature 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:41.120 trap. The stature trap. I feel like I've walked 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.580 right into this one before. Make it make sense 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:45.940 for the guy driving the chopper right now. Here 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:48.279 is the math problem that does not fit on the 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:50.970 breed association poster. There is a roughly 00:08:50.970 --> 00:08:54.269 50 % genetic correlation between stature and 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:56.429 utter composite. Wait, explain that. What does 00:08:56.429 --> 00:08:58.730 a 50 % correlation actually look like in the 00:08:58.730 --> 00:09:01.169 real world? It means the formula for calculating 00:09:01.169 --> 00:09:03.590 utter composite is heavily, heavily weighted 00:09:03.590 --> 00:09:06.490 by how tall the cow is. If a little is plus three 00:09:06.490 --> 00:09:09.929 for stature, his UDC is mathematically inflated. 00:09:10.090 --> 00:09:12.309 The formula essentially says, well, she's tall, 00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:14.710 so her utter must be good. So it is a bias. It 00:09:14.710 --> 00:09:17.279 is a built -in bias in the math itself. It is. 00:09:17.379 --> 00:09:19.360 You aren't necessarily getting better attachments. 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:22.220 You aren't necessarily getting a stronger suspensory 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:24.519 ligament or better key placement. You are getting 00:09:24.519 --> 00:09:27.600 taller daughters. And the Index Awards points 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.879 for that height, disguising it as udder quality. 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:33.220 That explains so much. I have literally stood 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:35.419 in my barn looking at two -year -olds from high 00:09:35.419 --> 00:09:39.179 UDC balls, scratching my head. They are sky -high, 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:42.600 literal giants, but the udders are just average. 00:09:42.899 --> 00:09:46.279 Or worse, they are deep. And I am thinking the 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:49.519 catalog promised me a 2 .5 udder. Exactly. You 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:51.399 bought the height and the udder score just rode 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:54.360 along for free. Nate Zwald from Alta Genetics 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:56.379 demonstrated this beautifully a few years ago. 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:59.120 He showed three hypothetical sires to a room 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:01.279 full of breeders. I love these hypothetical scenarios. 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:03.740 It really clears the fog. So you have sire A. 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:06.519 Sire A is tall. He has good type on paper. Then 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:08.860 you have sire B, who is moderate, and sire C, 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:11.929 who is small. Now, if you hold the actual functional 00:10:11.929 --> 00:10:13.649 utter traits constant, so they all have the exact 00:10:13.649 --> 00:10:16.029 same actual utter quality, Sire A ranked fourth 00:10:16.029 --> 00:10:18.710 on TPI. Just because he was tall. Purely because 00:10:18.710 --> 00:10:22.789 the stature boosted his composite scores. Sire 00:10:22.789 --> 00:10:27.250 B, the moderate one, he ranked 100th. And Sire 00:10:27.250 --> 00:10:29.669 C, the small bull with the exact same utter, 00:10:29.830 --> 00:10:34.840 he ranked 1 ,000th. That is insane. So I am paying 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:37.279 a premium for the fourth -ranked bull, probably 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:39.620 paying $40 or $50 a straw thinking I'm getting 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:42.620 world -class udders, but I am actually just buying 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:45.480 altitude. You are buying expensive air. Swald 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:47.600 put it perfectly. He said it shouldn't take a 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.100 tall cow to have a good udder. But the index 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:52.600 makes it look like it does. And this leads to 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:54.779 what the researchers call floor -hugging udders. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.460 Floor -hugging. That sounds descriptive and not 00:10:57.460 --> 00:10:59.899 in a good way. It is not. Think about it. If 00:10:59.899 --> 00:11:02.350 you breed a tall cow... She has a deeper body 00:11:02.350 --> 00:11:04.549 cavity. She inevitably gets deeper. If you couple 00:11:04.549 --> 00:11:06.629 that with the trend for deep rear rib and capacity, 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:09.549 you end up with udders that hang much lower relative 00:11:09.549 --> 00:11:11.710 to the hock, even if the attachments are okay. 00:11:11.830 --> 00:11:14.470 Deep bodies and deep udders are major culling 00:11:14.470 --> 00:11:16.529 risks. Because they get stepped on. Because they 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:18.429 get mastitis. Yeah. Because they drag in the 00:11:18.429 --> 00:11:21.899 mud. Exactly. And it is not just U .S. data either. 00:11:22.259 --> 00:11:24.500 We aren't just picking on American Holsteins 00:11:24.500 --> 00:11:27.559 today. Studies from Brazil by Kern, South Africa 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:30.659 by Satati, Hungary by Turok, they all found the 00:11:30.659 --> 00:11:33.320 exact same thing. The deadliest combination you 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:35.960 can have in a dairy cow is extreme angularity 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:39.360 plus a low rear udder. Which is exactly what 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.580 we used to breed for. Open rib, dairyness, sweep 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:44.679 to the rib. We wanted them to look like they 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:46.320 were working hard. We wanted that sharpness. 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:50.820 And that brings us perfectly... Use the word 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:53.480 lie. I like it. We have always been told sharpness 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:55.840 means milk. A thick cow is a lazy cow, right? 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.179 That is what my grandfather told me. That is 00:11:58.179 --> 00:11:59.820 what the judge says when he places the class. 00:12:00.039 --> 00:12:03.159 She's cleaner cut. She's more dairy. Your grandfather 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:05.259 was breeding in a totally different era, with 00:12:05.259 --> 00:12:07.179 different feed and entirely different management 00:12:07.179 --> 00:12:10.299 systems. Today, dairy character is often just 00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:13.149 a euphemism for lack of constitution. DeCho and 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:16.590 his team showed a negative 0 .73 genetic correlation 00:12:16.590 --> 00:12:19.990 between body condition score and dairy form. 00:12:20.129 --> 00:12:23.009 Negative 0 .73. Break that down. In the world 00:12:23.009 --> 00:12:24.950 of genetics, that is practically a lock, isn't 00:12:24.950 --> 00:12:27.549 it? It is a seesaw. Think of it like a seesaw 00:12:27.549 --> 00:12:29.669 on a playground. If you push the dairy form side 00:12:29.669 --> 00:12:32.830 up, making them sharper, more angular, more refined, 00:12:33.129 --> 00:12:36.149 the body condition side blindly crashes down. 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:39.450 You cannot have both. You are genetically programming 00:12:39.450 --> 00:12:43.049 that cow to be fin. So she is genetically wired 00:12:43.049 --> 00:12:45.409 to strip the fat right off her back? Yes. She 00:12:45.409 --> 00:12:48.169 cannot hold flesh. So she calves in. She has 00:12:48.169 --> 00:12:50.250 that massive energy demand for milk production. 00:12:50.389 --> 00:12:52.350 She burns all her fat reserves in the first 60 00:12:52.350 --> 00:12:56.470 days. And she crashes. Ketosis. Displaced abomasum. 00:12:56.610 --> 00:12:58.730 And then the big one, she doesn't breed back. 00:12:58.970 --> 00:13:00.970 Because her body thinks she is starving. Exactly. 00:13:01.070 --> 00:13:03.429 Biology takes over. A starving mammal does not 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:06.289 ovulate. So she is open at 150 days. She is open 00:13:06.289 --> 00:13:09.129 at 200 days. And then she leaves the herd. And 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:12.230 you are out $3 ,010 for a replacement because 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:14.429 you thought she looked dairy. That hits hard. 00:13:14.490 --> 00:13:16.529 We are literally breeding for a metabolic crisis. 00:13:16.950 --> 00:13:20.710 We are. And here's a shocking stat from Alcantara's 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:23.149 analysis at the University of Gulf. This is Canadian 00:13:23.149 --> 00:13:25.490 data, so it feeds directly into the pro dollar 00:13:25.490 --> 00:13:29.509 index. Yeah. They looked at 9 ,351 bulls. They 00:13:29.509 --> 00:13:31.610 analyzed which traits actually contributed to 00:13:31.610 --> 00:13:35.460 profit. Body depth, which is a show ring, absolute 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:37.840 favorite. We love a deep bodied open root cow 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.539 is the single most negative contributor to the 00:13:40.539 --> 00:13:43.080 Canadian pro dollar index. Wait, deep body loses 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:46.110 money. It loses money. It is a drag on your profit. 00:13:46.149 --> 00:13:48.570 It costs more to maintain that frame size, and 00:13:48.570 --> 00:13:50.049 it correlates with frailty. Do you know what 00:13:50.049 --> 00:13:52.549 the unsung hero was? The trait that actually 00:13:52.549 --> 00:13:54.210 makes money? I'm going to guess it is something 00:13:54.210 --> 00:13:57.070 boring. It is always the boring traits. Heel 00:13:57.070 --> 00:13:59.789 depth. Heel depth. Of course it is. No one is 00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:02.490 standing ringside cheering for a cow's heel depth. 00:14:02.649 --> 00:14:04.370 Wow, look at the heel on that one. It is not 00:14:04.370 --> 00:14:07.529 sexy at all. But they should be cheering. If 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:09.750 we were smart, we would be giving the championship 00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:13.600 ribbons for heels. Heel depth is the most positive 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:16.019 contributor to profitability in that entire study. 00:14:16.460 --> 00:14:19.039 Because if a cow has a deep ear, she has a good 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:21.360 foot angle. If she has a good foot angle, she 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:23.179 walks comfortably. If she walks comfortably, 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:25.600 she goes to the bunk and eats. If she eats, she 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.379 milks, and she doesn't get lame. It is the foundation. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:32.139 We are building skyscrapers on swank land when 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:34.600 we ignore feet. So effectively, we are giving 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.419 blue ribbons to traits that lose money, like 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:40.220 body depth, and completely ignoring the traits 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:43.220 that keep cows alive, like heel depth. We are 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:45.500 breeding for vanity, not sanity. That is the 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:47.799 bumper sticker for this deep dive. Breeding for 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:51.730 vanity, not sanity. Okay, let's talk money. Because 00:14:51.730 --> 00:14:53.669 I am sitting here thinking about my feed bill, 00:14:53.789 --> 00:14:56.590 and I am thinking about that $2 ,678 number. 00:14:56.830 --> 00:14:58.990 But let's break down the half lactation economics. 00:14:59.389 --> 00:15:01.649 What does that mean for the listener? This comes 00:15:01.649 --> 00:15:04.289 from Lactinet data. They mapped the lifetime 00:15:04.289 --> 00:15:07.789 profit curve. It is a graph every single dairy 00:15:07.789 --> 00:15:09.629 farmer should have taped to their office wall. 00:15:10.179 --> 00:15:13.200 A cow does not pay back her raising costs, that 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.100 $2 ,000 to $3 ,000 investment we talked about 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:18.620 earlier, until she is 40 months old. 40 months. 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:21.799 So she calves at 24 months. She milks for a year. 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:26.299 That puts her at 36 months. Then a dry period. 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:28.519 So we were talking about the middle of her second 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:30.860 lactation. Right. She has to calve a second time 00:15:30.860 --> 00:15:33.659 and reach peak milk in her second lactation before 00:15:33.659 --> 00:15:36.659 she has generated one single dollar of pure profit 00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:39.620 for you. That is the valley of death for cash 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:42.100 flow. It really is. So if you call her at the 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:44.460 end of the first lactation because she is frail 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:46.639 or she has bad feet or she didn't breed back, 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:49.919 you didn't just make zero profit. You literally 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:52.940 lit two grand on fire. You subsidized her life. 00:15:53.100 --> 00:15:55.320 You paid for her feed, her bedding, her vaccines, 00:15:55.559 --> 00:15:58.019 and you got nothing back but a cold check that 00:15:58.019 --> 00:16:00.240 barely covers the trucking. That hurts to hear. 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:02.539 It really does. Because we all have those heifers, 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.320 the ones that look great at two years old, but 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:05.919 by the time they're three, they're just gone. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:08.059 Let's do the bar in math. I want to make this 00:16:08.059 --> 00:16:12.500 real for you. Imagine a 300 cow dairy. Pretty 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:15.080 standard family operation. If you can move your 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:18.139 average lactation number from 2 .7, which is 00:16:18.139 --> 00:16:21.179 pretty typical, to 3 .2, that is just a half 00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:23.980 lactation increase. We aren't asking for miracles 00:16:23.980 --> 00:16:26.299 here, just keeping them six months longer. Okay. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:29.360 Half a lactation. That shift means you need about 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:33.139 17 fewer heifers per year to maintain your herd 00:16:33.139 --> 00:16:35.700 size. 17 heifers doesn't sound like a ton until 00:16:35.700 --> 00:16:39.169 you actually do the math on it. At $3 ,010 a 00:16:39.169 --> 00:16:42.169 head over five years, that is more than $255 00:16:42.169 --> 00:16:44.950 ,000 in avoided replacement purchases. That is 00:16:44.950 --> 00:16:47.190 a quarter of a million dollars just by keeping 00:16:47.190 --> 00:16:49.610 them alive six months longer. That feeds a lot 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:52.370 of families. That pays off the milking robot. 00:16:52.710 --> 00:16:55.450 That buys the neighbor's land when it comes up 00:16:55.450 --> 00:16:57.370 for sale. And that doesn't even count the extra 00:16:57.370 --> 00:17:00.029 milk. Because remember, a third lactation cow 00:17:00.029 --> 00:17:02.549 gives way more milk than a first lactation heifer. 00:17:02.669 --> 00:17:05.670 You get a maturity bonus. A mature cow is a milk 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:08.559 factory. A heifer is still expending energy growing 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:11.099 her own frame. So it is a double whammy. You 00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:13.720 save the replacement, cost the actual cash outlay, 00:17:13.819 --> 00:17:16.480 and you get higher volume milk in the tank. Why 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.599 are we not all doing this? Why is the turnover 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:21.440 rate still so high in the industry? Because we 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:24.440 are addicted to the fresh heifer look. We like 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:26.579 the turnover. We like seeing the genetic progress 00:17:26.579 --> 00:17:29.640 on paper. But the pro -dollar analysis confirms 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:34.519 this. Top pro -dollar sires result in 7 .4 % 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:37.660 more daughters surviving to six years compared 00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:40.740 to middle -ranked sires. Bottom pro -dollar sires, 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.059 6 % fewer survivors. So the genetics actually 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:46.359 work if you pick the right bulls, if you pick 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:48.740 the bulls that prioritize longevity over style. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:51.220 Exactly. It is all about picking for the right 00:17:51.220 --> 00:17:52.859 traits. Let's look at some people who are actually 00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:55.240 walking the walk. Because it is easy to sit here 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:57.500 in the studio and talk theory. Who is doing this 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:00.069 right out in the real world? Well. Let's look 00:18:00.069 --> 00:18:02.529 at Glenn Klein from Y Run Farms out in Pennsylvania. 00:18:02.869 --> 00:18:06.289 He has 1 ,200 cows. He started genomic testing 00:18:06.289 --> 00:18:09.490 back in 2011. An early adopter. That was back 00:18:09.490 --> 00:18:11.849 when genomics was still the Wild West. Very early. 00:18:12.190 --> 00:18:15.029 And he credits that testing with the massive 00:18:15.029 --> 00:18:18.049 difference in longevity he sees today. He said 00:18:18.049 --> 00:18:19.849 when they expanded and had to buy in outside 00:18:19.849 --> 00:18:22.490 cattle to fill the new barn, the difference between 00:18:22.490 --> 00:18:24.829 his home -bred genomic herd and the purchased 00:18:24.829 --> 00:18:28.269 cattle was night and day. How so? His cows lasted. 00:18:28.410 --> 00:18:30.970 The purchased ones didn't. The purchased ones 00:18:30.970 --> 00:18:33.490 melted under the pressure. His home -bred cows, 00:18:33.730 --> 00:18:35.730 which were bred for specific functional traits, 00:18:35.930 --> 00:18:38.670 handled the environment perfectly. That is the 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:40.430 home court advantage of breeding for your own 00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:42.700 specific environment. But it's also about the 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:45.480 criteria. If you buy generic cattle, you are 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.099 buying someone else's problems or someone else's 00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:50.980 breeding goals. What about Eric Rodegett? I know 00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:54.180 that name. 3 ,500 cows in Wisconsin, right? Yes. 00:18:54.299 --> 00:18:57.140 The 2025 Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year. 00:18:57.319 --> 00:18:59.579 He has a target that I think every listener should 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:02.420 write down right now. He targets a 25 % replacement 00:19:02.420 --> 00:19:05.740 rate. 25%. The industry average is usually pushing 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:08.440 35 or 40%. Some guys are at 45 % because they're 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:10.779 using so much sexed semen. They have heifers 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:13.700 coming out of their ears. Exactly. He is totally 00:19:13.700 --> 00:19:16.200 bucking the trend. He used to sell cull cows 00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:18.299 every single day. The truck was there every day. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:21.680 Lameness, pneumonia, mastitis, now. He sells 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:23.980 cull cows one day a week. He literally says, 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:26.839 They don't have to go. That is a massive mental 00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:29.720 shift. From I have to replace these broken cows 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:32.359 to I have nowhere to put these incoming heifers 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:34.660 because the old girl simply won't leave. That 00:19:34.660 --> 00:19:37.319 is a really good problem to have. It is the best 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:39.339 problem to have. It allows you to be highly selective. 00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:41.539 You can sell your bottom end heifers for beef 00:19:41.539 --> 00:19:44.059 prices or as premium replacements to other guys 00:19:44.059 --> 00:19:46.880 and keep only the absolute cream of the crop 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:49.799 for yourself. And then there is Kristen Metcalf 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.720 with Glacier Edge Dairy. They milk jerseys. I 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.200 love the jerseys. She uses data to rigorously 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:58.259 filter traits. Her philosophy is simple. She 00:19:58.259 --> 00:20:00.319 asks, why not leave them as long as the data 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:02.539 is there? It doesn't matter if they are pretty. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:03.920 It doesn't matter if they have a slightly high 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:06.339 tail head or their udder isn't perfectly level. 00:20:06.660 --> 00:20:09.039 It matters if the data says they are profitable. 00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:11.240 It is removing the emotion from the equation. 00:20:11.980 --> 00:20:14.720 We get so emotional about our cows. Oh, I loved 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:16.759 her mother, or she has such a pretty face, the 00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:18.799 spreadsheet does not care about her face. The 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.660 spreadsheet only cares about the milk check. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:22.980 And we cannot ignore the Dutch in this conversation. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:25.440 Holland has been on this longevity kick for a 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:27.940 very long time. They faced harsh environmental 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:31.240 regulations way before we did, especially on 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:33.099 nitrogen and phosphate limits. I had to be efficient. 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:35.160 They essentially had a strict quota on manure. 00:20:35.420 --> 00:20:38.880 Right. CRV stats show that cold cows in Holland 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:42.940 are now averaging 84 ,500 pounds of lifetime 00:20:42.940 --> 00:20:48.059 milk and 2 ,255 days of life. They breed specifically 00:20:48.059 --> 00:20:51.059 for longevity. They don't care about the height 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:53.319 of the rear udder nearly as much as they care 00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:55.119 about whether that udder is still healthy and 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:59.000 functioning at 10 years old. 84 ,000 pounds lifetime 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:02.170 average. That is incredibly impressive. In the 00:21:02.170 --> 00:21:05.009 U .S., our average is probably closer to 60 ,000 00:21:05.009 --> 00:21:08.609 or 65 ,000 in a lot of herds. That is a massive 00:21:08.609 --> 00:21:11.809 efficiency gap. So where is this all going? Are 00:21:11.809 --> 00:21:13.930 we seeing a permanent divorce between the show 00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:17.029 ring and the commercial barn? The divorce papers 00:21:17.029 --> 00:21:19.430 are signed. The show ring and commercial profitability 00:21:19.430 --> 00:21:22.009 are officially separating. They're living in 00:21:22.009 --> 00:21:24.269 different houses. Just look at the index updates. 00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:28.049 The April 2025 net merit revision. What happened 00:21:28.049 --> 00:21:30.750 there? They put a negative 11 % penalty on body 00:21:30.750 --> 00:21:33.609 weight composite. Ouch. So if you breed a big 00:21:33.609 --> 00:21:36.789 cow, the index actively punishes you. Big time. 00:21:36.910 --> 00:21:39.809 It is a direct tax on size. And they increased 00:21:39.809 --> 00:21:43.789 feed save to nearly 18 % emphasis. The indexes 00:21:43.789 --> 00:21:45.650 are finally admitting that big cows are inefficient 00:21:45.650 --> 00:21:47.690 cows. They simply eat too much just for daily 00:21:47.690 --> 00:21:50.029 maintenance. It is basically the index saying 00:21:50.029 --> 00:21:52.369 we do not care how tall she is. We care how much 00:21:52.369 --> 00:21:54.990 she eats versus how much she milks. It is basic 00:21:54.990 --> 00:21:57.670 thermodynamics. A bigger engine burns more gas 00:21:57.670 --> 00:22:00.170 just sitting there idling. Exactly. And this 00:22:00.170 --> 00:22:01.829 brings us to the broader breeding philosophy 00:22:01.829 --> 00:22:04.130 debate. You have the ed boss approach, using 00:22:04.130 --> 00:22:06.849 proven sires, building deep cow families, taking 00:22:06.849 --> 00:22:09.730 it slow, versus the modern approach, which is 00:22:09.730 --> 00:22:13.589 genomics, speed, and turning generations as fast 00:22:13.589 --> 00:22:15.930 as mathematically possible. Fies won't touch 00:22:15.930 --> 00:22:18.150 a bull without a daughter proof. That is very 00:22:18.150 --> 00:22:20.589 old school. I mean, most of us are using genomics 00:22:20.589 --> 00:22:22.549 because we want that genetic gain right now. 00:22:22.569 --> 00:22:24.210 We don't want to wait five years to find out 00:22:24.210 --> 00:22:26.130 if a bull actually works in the parlor. And both 00:22:26.130 --> 00:22:28.289 approaches can work. That is the nuance here. 00:22:28.390 --> 00:22:31.630 You don't have to be a Luddite to breed functional 00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:34.930 cows. But the consensus, whether you are old 00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:37.450 school like Ed or new school, using predictive 00:22:37.450 --> 00:22:39.670 analytics, is that the traits you target must 00:22:39.670 --> 00:22:43.089 be functional. Heels and udders. Not stature 00:22:43.089 --> 00:22:45.329 and style. You can use genomics to find high 00:22:45.329 --> 00:22:47.769 heel depth. You can use genomics to find modern 00:22:47.769 --> 00:22:50.730 stature. So don't blame the cool. Blame the carpenter. 00:22:50.910 --> 00:22:55.089 Exactly. If you use Genomics to select for plus 00:22:55.089 --> 00:22:59.109 4 type and plus 3 stature, you are going to get 00:22:59.109 --> 00:23:02.470 a barn full of beautiful, frail cows that will 00:23:02.470 --> 00:23:05.799 bankrupt you. If you use Genomics to select for 00:23:05.799 --> 00:23:08.539 plus five productive life and moderate size, 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:11.799 you will get a barn full of invisible cows that 00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:14.119 pay for your retirement. Invisible cows. I really 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:15.880 like that. The ones you never have to treat. 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:18.019 The ones you never notice until you look at the 00:23:18.019 --> 00:23:19.799 lifetime production list and see they're sitting 00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:22.359 at one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Those 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:24.400 are the true queens of the herd. All right. Let's 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.119 get practical here because we have thrown a ton 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:29.859 of data at people today. A farmer just finished 00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:33.339 milking. The radio is off and they are. driving 00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:36.059 to the feed store right now. They are thinking 00:23:36.059 --> 00:23:39.299 about that $3 ,000 heifer price and sweating 00:23:39.299 --> 00:23:41.480 a little bit. What are the three things they 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:43.960 need to do right now to stop bleeding money on 00:23:43.960 --> 00:23:46.220 pretty cows? Okay, let's break it down into immediate 00:23:46.220 --> 00:23:49.000 action, medium -term strategy, and long -term 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:50.619 positioning. Hit me with the immediate action. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.200 This week, I'm sitting at the farm desk tonight. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:57.039 Step one. Audit your utter composite. Pull your 00:23:57.039 --> 00:23:59.619 classification summary or your sire list. Stop 00:23:59.619 --> 00:24:02.140 looking at the overall UDC number. Ignore the 00:24:02.140 --> 00:24:04.160 big number. That is hard to do. It is literally 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.400 bolded in the catalog. Ignore it. Treat it as 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.559 a marketing number, not a genetic number. Break 00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:12.559 it down into the linear traits. Is the UDC high 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:15.240 because of stature? Or is it high because of 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.319 actual utter depth and foreattachment? So I need 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.660 to look at the little bar graphs underneath. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:23.180 Yes. If the bull is plus three stature and plus 00:24:23.180 --> 00:24:26.559 2 .5 UDC. I should be worried. Treat that UDC 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:30.059 with extreme suspicion. It is a mirage. You want 00:24:30.059 --> 00:24:33.079 the bull that is plus 0 .5 stature or even negative 00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:36.640 stature and plus two UDC. That is the real deal. 00:24:36.700 --> 00:24:39.359 That is a bull putting good functional udders 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:41.500 on moderate functional frames. Okay, got it. 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:44.779 Step two, medium term. My next semen order is 00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:47.130 coming up in about a month. Step two. Set hard 00:24:47.130 --> 00:24:49.329 floors. You need non -negotiable minimums on 00:24:49.329 --> 00:24:51.470 your semen order. Give me the numbers. What am 00:24:51.470 --> 00:24:53.529 I telling the AI rep when he pulls in the driveway? 00:24:53.769 --> 00:24:55.509 Productive life greater than three. Positive 00:24:55.509 --> 00:24:57.750 utter depth. Positive heel depth. Write those 00:24:57.750 --> 00:25:00.390 three down. Even if the bull is the hot new release. 00:25:00.529 --> 00:25:02.609 Even if he is the one everyone is talking about 00:25:02.609 --> 00:25:05.450 online. Especially if he is the hot new release. 00:25:05.809 --> 00:25:09.029 Do not wave these floors. The hype machine is 00:25:09.029 --> 00:25:11.769 designed to sell semen. It is not designed to 00:25:11.769 --> 00:25:14.000 lower your call rate. But what if I want to sell 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:16.460 some show heifers? What if I just really enjoy 00:25:16.460 --> 00:25:18.779 the show ring on the weekends? That is completely 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:21.400 fine. We aren't the fun police here. But cap 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:23.940 your show type matings at 10 to 15 % of your 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:26.640 herd. Treat it like a hobby budget, just like 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.599 you have a budget for your boat or your hunting 00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:31.380 trip. The rest of the herd needs to be working 00:25:31.380 --> 00:25:34.339 girls. They pay the bills so the show cows can 00:25:34.339 --> 00:25:36.920 eat. I like that a lot. Hobby budget. Keep the 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:38.599 gambling money separate from the grocery money. 00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:41.269 Okay, what about long term? One to two years 00:25:41.269 --> 00:25:44.009 out. Step three is the lactation audit. Track 00:25:44.009 --> 00:25:46.269 your herd's average lactation number. If you 00:25:46.269 --> 00:25:48.910 were at 2 .5 right now, set a strict goal to 00:25:48.910 --> 00:25:51.230 get to three. Move the needle by half a lactation. 00:25:51.529 --> 00:25:54.329 Exactly. Calculate the savings in replacement 00:25:54.329 --> 00:25:56.710 rearing. If you haven't moved that number in 00:25:56.710 --> 00:25:59.069 12 months, your breeding criteria are still too 00:25:59.069 --> 00:26:01.589 focused on pretty. You are still selecting for 00:26:01.589 --> 00:26:04.130 traits that are pushing cows out the door prematurely. 00:26:04.150 --> 00:26:06.789 It is basically a scorecard for your entire breeding 00:26:06.789 --> 00:26:09.150 program. If the cows aren't getting older, the 00:26:09.150 --> 00:26:11.069 breeding isn't getting better. Simple as that. 00:26:11.609 --> 00:26:13.890 Longevity is the ultimate proof of functionality. 00:26:14.230 --> 00:26:16.650 If they work, they stay. If they don't, they 00:26:16.650 --> 00:26:18.819 leave. Well, before we wrap up, I want to leave 00:26:18.819 --> 00:26:21.640 you with one final provocative thought to chew 00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:24.839 on. We talked about feed efficiency and indexes, 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:27.920 but think about the supply chain. What happens 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.940 when the packing plants start actively panelizing 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:33.559 us for these massive cows because their carcasses 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:36.579 literally don't fit on the rail hooks? We are 00:26:36.579 --> 00:26:38.900 already hearing whispers of rail height limits 00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:41.859 becoming a real issue in slaughterhouses. If 00:26:41.859 --> 00:26:44.200 the packers start docking the price of your cull 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:46.539 cows because their frames are too huge, that 00:26:46.539 --> 00:26:48.759 vanity breeding is going to hit your wallet a 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:50.799 second time on the way out the door. Just something 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:53.420 to mull over while you evaluate your next sire 00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:55.920 lineup. That is a chilling thought, but a very 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:59.140 real possibility. Well, this has been another 00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:01.500 deep dive from the Bullvine podcast. We've covered 00:27:01.500 --> 00:27:04.319 a lot, but the message is clear. The market has 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:06.740 changed, and our cows need to change with it. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.700 If you are still breeding for tall cows after 00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:10.559 listening to this, do not call me when the feed 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.559 bill comes due. For more straight -talking industry 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:16.759 analysis, head over to www .thebullvine .com. 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:19.890 Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We 00:27:19.890 --> 00:27:22.369 are out with new deep dives every single day 00:27:22.369 --> 00:27:24.609 and upcoming topics will be tackling the truth 00:27:24.609 --> 00:27:27.730 about robotic milking data. Stop chasing ribbons 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:29.930 and start chasing profit. See you next time.