This course focuses on the basic concept of livestock evaluation of the four meat animal species; cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats. Students will develop their livestock evaluation skills using a wide variety of through videos, pictures, and written reasons to understand the importance of selection in the livestock industry. Students will develop an understanding on how to set up their notebook for oral reason, breeds of livestock, Expected Progeny Differences, meat animal evaluation, and livestock terminology. Working in groups and utilizing peer, self, and teacher
Livestock Evaluation, Selection, Phenotype, Genotype, Livestock Terminology
As a result of this learning module, students will be able to:
Livestock judging can have an impact on young people’s life choices by creating activities outside of the classroom that still involve learning. Skills gained through livestock judging help promote basic life skills that can better communities, create leadership, and develop loyalty to a program (Rusk, Summerlot-Early, Machtmes, Talbert, & Balschweid 2003).
Livestock judging has been a critical evaluation skill since the domestication of food animals. It is essential for commercial meat packers to understand the value of live animals prior to purchase, and livestock breeders are responsible for generational improvement by selecting male and female parent-stock with desirable traits (Ganzel, 2007). The need to understand the effects of animal conformation, in order to keep up with consumer and industry demands, resulted in more scientific selection methods during the 1950s and 1960s (Ganzel, 2007). Now, breeders are able to combine live evaluation with performance records when selecting breeding animals (Landers, Frischknech, Johnson, Killingsworth, Howell, Brog, Hilliker,1986).
What comes to mind when you think of "Livestock Evaluation"?
From the class list:
Rank at least 4 Priorities for each specie and sex when making your selection
Breeding Cattle
1.
2.
3.
4.
Market Cattle
1.
2.
3.
4.
Breeding Hogs
1.
2.
3.
4.
Market Hogs
1.
2.
3.
4.
Breeding sheep
1.
2.
3.
4.
Market Sheep
1.
2.
3.
4.
Write on the Board the Question “What should you look for when ranking livestock for both breeding and market purposes?”
Ask students to look at the question and think of what they look for when they make selections in buying, raising, or showing livestock.
Discuss with students the Priorities they listed off and how they can fit them into 4 main categories of
Be sure to discuss what muscle, growth, structure, and balance all mean in the livestock judging. Also talk about where to look for these descriptions.
Ask Students to rank their priorities for each specie and sex for the following:
Students should then print off their list and store them in their judging manual
Your Goals
Before we get started into the course, I would like for you to think about what you want to accomplish throughout your career in livestock judging and academics. What do you want to take away from this course?
“The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.”
– Michael Jordan
Keep these goals with you in the front of your judging manual, be sure to check them off as you progress through the course.
Experiencing Growth
Ask the students to write down a few goals they would like to accomplish during livestock evaluation. These goals should be directed towards competition, knowledge, and futures of raising livestock.
Have the students record this in their books so they can reflect on them from time to time to see if they are meeting their goals and achieving success.
Share your goals with the class and encourage growth as a team.
Through the development of individual goals have the team then form a set of goals that they can accomplish throughout competition.
Have all the students sign the goals designed by the team and hang it up in the team meeting room.
This section will cover majority of the cattle breeds that we will see in contest. We will talk about what each breed has to offer to the livestock industry, and how they can complement other breeds. By covering these breeds it will allow you to be more comfortable talking them when given performance data.
Pair up with another student in class and go through each breed and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Review
After reviewing the cattle breeds, find a partner and put together three breeds you would use if you were a commercial cattlemen to incorporate into your operation. Be prepared to share and explain why.
Experiencing Growth
Discuss the following beef cattle mating systems and how they are used in the beef production
Discuss the following breeds of cattle and what they each offer
Have students:
find a partner and put together three breeds they would use if they were a commercial cattlemen to incorporate into an operation.
Have students be prepared to discuss their thoughts and why they would use a particular breed.
Through peer assessment have students comment on each group of the pros and cons of groups selection.
This section will cover majority of the hog breeds that we will see in contest. We will talk about what each breed has to offer to the livestock industry, and how they can complement other breeds. By covering these breeds it will allow you to be more comfortable talking them when given performance data.
Pair up with another student in class and go through each breed and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Following the review of each hog breed, you will need to understand the hog notching system. Hog ear notching is used for identification purposes. Please read the PDF below.
Experiencing Growth
Discuss the following swine mating systems and how they are used in the pork production
Discuss the following breeds of hogs and what they each offer
Berkshire
Chester White
Burkshire
Hampshire
Landrace
Poland
Spot
Yorkshire
This section will cover majority of the sheep breeds that we will see in contests. We will talk about what each breed has to offer to the livestock industry, and how they can complement other breeds. By covering these breeds it will allow you to be more comfortable talking them when given performance data.
Pair up with another student in class and go through each breed and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Review
After reviewing the Sheep breeds, find a partner and put together three breeds you would use if you were a commercial flock manager to incorporate into your operation. Be prepared to share and explain why.
Breeds
1.)
2.)
3.)
Why?
Experiencing Growth
Discuss the following sheep mating systems and how they are used in the sheep production
Discuss the following breeds of sheep and what they each offer
Columbia
Polled Dorset
Horned Dorest
Hampshire
Southdown
Suffolk
Have students
find a partner and put together three breeds they would use if they were a commercial flock manager to incorporate into an operation.
Have students be prepared to discuss their thoughts and why they would use a particular breed.
Through Peer assessment have students comment on each group of the pros and cons of groups selection.
Read each of the PDF files to learn more about EPDs and how to incorporate them into selection for cattle, sheep, and hogs
At the end of each PDF file there is an assignment you will complete putting what you learned into practice.
Discuss with the class how you can make selection in livestock through phenotype (their physical appearance) and genotype (using Expected Progeny Differences).
Cover EPDs in cattle
Cover EPDs in Hogs
Cover EPDs in Sheep
Growth
Maternal
Carcass
Have students complete each of the assignments at the end of each PDF file to keep in their judging mannual.
Please watch the Following Video to understand market livestock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GNnqNM_nVU&index=74&list=PLBbqj4rlYMt600yxbNLLsYRhnxtzTsaQP
Now Since you have an understanding of what to look for in market livestock place the class of steers given
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31hkOnoaK5w
Once you have watched both videos and you have placed the class, there are a few PDFs attached for additional readings. Within the PDF complete the assignments.
Ask students to Define
Quality Grades
Yield Grades
Discuss these terms with students, so they can develop an understanding and incorporate them into their market animal evaluation.
Watch Video of Judging Pro- Talk to students about what they learned
Watch Video of steer class- Have students place the class and dicuss why they placed the class that way.
A few things students should think about:
All students in class should bring a steno notebook with them to class. This book is used to take notes on classes for reference in oral reasons. later we will give you terminology to use in the notebooks, but for now understanding how to take notes will help you get organized and prepared for contest.
Here is an example of how to set up your notebook.
Box 1- Represents the positives about your first place animal in your top pair
Box 1A- Represents what you like about your second place animal as equal or better than first place animal.
Box1B- Represents the negative attributes of the second place animal
Box 2- Represents the positives about your second place animal in your middle pair
Box 2A- Represents what you like about your third place animal as equal or better then second place animal.
Box2B- Represents the negative attributes of the third place animal
Box 3- Represents the positives about your third place animal in the bottom pair
Box 3A- Represents what you like about your fourth place animal as equal or better then third place animal.
Box3B- Represents the negative attributes of the third place animal
This system will allow you to be organized and most importantly keep track of ID’s of each animal. Making sure to incorporate animal ID’s can give you an extra point on a set, if used in the correct spot. These ID’s include: colors, horned vs, polled, underlines, udder development, testicles shapes and sizes, and etc.
Your Turn:
Use the four heifers below to organize a set of reasons in your steno notebook, choosing which heifer you would like to own first to last.
Show students the steno notebook that is required for class, and how they can use it to take notes on a livestock class for oral reasons.
Show how to divide your steno notebook into the "judging boxes" so it is easier for students to take notes and stay organized.
Explain what each box represents and what information should be used in that particular box.
Have students work together to design their box structure in their steno notebook
Students complete note taking exercise using the PDF pictures of the 4 heifer calves and turn in notes.
Since we have covered everything from an animal science perspective that goes into livestock judging, we can now learn how to “Talk the Stock”. This chapter covers the terminology we will use in oral reasons.
Read the following to learn the new terminology and we will put it into practice.
Watch these Video showing how to perform a set of reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3zBr10WOjU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50bZZ5QxEJE
As the teacher cover the following:
Terminology
Presentation
Show Sample videos of other reasons sets and allow students then to write up a set on the Angus Heifers and have them give a set of reasons to you.
Please complete the survey following the course
Once you have complete survey, please turn into your teacher for evaluation.
The last part of this learning module will be performing a set of reasons for your peers and then presenting them to your teacher.
Steps to follow
Use the following class for your final set of oral reasons:
Through the evaluation be looking to improve as a coach, while also meeting the needs of the students enrolled in the course. Through the outcomes you should hope to see that the students have made progress and reached personal goals they set for themselves. If students who had access to the judging book consistently scored higher in judging contest it will prove to be beneficial. By doing so, you should hope it provide more opportunities for those students to enroll into universities livestock judging program and finish their bachelor degree in agriculture.
Example of what final set of reasons should look like:
Gelbvieh Bulls Official Results
Provided by: Jared Boyert, Black Hawk College
3-2-4-1 Cuts: 3-5-3
I place the class of Gelbvieh bulls 3241. Finding a top pair of higher quality bulls; 3’s added muscle and masculinity make him my pick to win. He’s the bigger bodied, more rugged bull who offers more shape and dimension. The high milk bull also reads functional in the angles to his joints. Now, 2 is the extended, nice profiling bull but when compared to my winner, he doesn’t offer as much body and shape; so he is second.
Even so, in a more logical middle pair, it is skeletal differences that keep 2 over 4. He appears to be the bigger footed, stouter featured bull whose functional skeletal base will be better utilized by him and his offspring throughout production. I realize that 4 might provide more muscle shape and expression, however he is the frailer boned bull that is coarser about his shoulder.
Still though, there is a clear performance in 4 over 1. Here is the longer bodied more extended bull who appears to have more growth. Yes, 1 is the more efficient bull, evident by his deeper softer body and his EPI, but unfortunately here is the smaller framed, shorter sided bull that offers less growth so he is fourth.
American Angus Association, 3201 Frederick Ave, St. Joseph, MO 64506
American Hereford Association, P.O. Box 014159, Kansas City, MO 64101
American Boer Doe Association, 1207 s. Bryant, Blvd, San Angelo, TX
American Dorset Association, 305 Lincoln, St, Wamego, KS
American Hampshire Association
American Simmental Association, 243 Pine st, WY
American Shorthorn Association, 8288 Hascall st, Omaha, NE
American Southdown Breeders Association
CPS- Certified Pedigreed Swine, Peoria, IL
Colorado State Extension, Greeley, Colorado
Judging Connection, www.thejudgingconnection.com
National Swine Registry, 6664 Jaeger Dr, Lafayette, IN
Praire Pure Pork, www.prairiepurepork.com
Oklahoma State University, Animal Science Department, Stillwater, OK
South Dakota State University, Animal Science Department, SD
Sunglo Feeds, Facebook page
United Suffolk Sheep Association, P.O Box 872000, Canton, MI
USDA, United States Department of Agriculture
Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL
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