A recent news release from Pork Magazine describes the new swine identification tag as approved by the USDA. While this latest news sparks a new round of questions to be answered, it does demonstrate progress in the National Animal Identification System. Check out the article here:

USDA Approves Swine ID Tag
By Pork news staff (Tuesday, July 01, 2008)
www.porkmag.com

The first visual swine identification tag has received USDA approval. The premise identification tag, manufactured by Destron Fearing, will provide a valuable tool to enhance the identification of swine entering harvest channels and to support the USDA's National Animal Identification System.

Consisting of a pink tamper-proof button and a pink visual panel stud, each tag carries the official USDA shield, the assigned premises identification number and a notice stating "unlawful to remove". In addition, there is space available on the visual panel for producers to include an individual management number.

"Over 73 percent of pork producing sites have registered their premises and received a premises identification number, or PIN," said Patrick Webb, director of swine health programs for the National Pork Board. "Having premises identified is the first step in improving the animal health infrastructure of the country. The availability of USDA-approved tags for market sows is a logical next step toward enhancing traceability and improving the industry's ability to detect diseases earlier so the spread of a disease can be limited efficiently."

I always feel fortunate to be able to work with a wonderful group of colleagues in this industry. I’m also grateful to be able to continue working with folks that I started in this business with, such as Casey and Tracy McMurphy.

I met these two individuals when they were Casey McMurphy and Tracy Hanger and my teammates on the livestock judging team at Oklahoma State. Fast forward a few more degrees and several years later and we’re still collaborating together.

Casey and Tracy both received bachelor’s degrees from Oklahoma State University, Casey in Agricultural Business and Animal Sciences and Tracy in Agricultural Communications. Casey has since earned his Master’s degree in Ruminant Nutrition from the University of Arizona, where he also served as the livestock judging coach. Tracy completed her Master’s degree in Mass Communications from Arizona State University. Now the couple is back in Oklahoma where Casey is working on his Ph.D. at Oklahoma State. Tracy now works as the web content specialist for the Division of Agriculture at OSU.

But of course, their involvement in the livestock industry doesn’t stop with their education experiences. Casey and Tracy, along with Casey’s parents Randy and Paula and brother Cody and his family operate a registered Angus seedstock operation in Alva, Oklahoma. They raise red and black Angus cattle and Casey is highly involved in the breeding direction and marketing for their family operation. Learn more about the McMurphy family cattle operation by visiting them on the web at www.mcmurphyfarms.com. In addition to this Tracy operates her own advertising and web design company, Dream Designs. You can visit the website at www.dreamdesignsbythm.com.

Here is my favorite quote from the McMurphy Farms website, which encouraged me to write about this great family this month. “Our greatest joy is working with livestock and people in the agricultural industry. We understand that it is as much of a people business as it is a cattle business.” I agree. Well stated!

Like many of you, I grew up showing livestock, hogs mostly, with a little bit of beef cattle thrown in. I started showing when I was two years old. I’m pretty sure I mostly followed my Uncle Dennis around the showring that year, tapping my barrow (whom I affectionately named Barrel, as “barrow” was a foreign word to me at age two) and brushing him in the placing pen. In the years that followed, Dad would take my brothers and me to dozens of county fairs, state fairs, jackpot shows and NAILE’s. And we loved every minute of it.

Even though we looked forward to driving our hog in class and competing in showmanship, I’m not sure we would have kept at it all those years if it weren’t for all the other aspects of going to a show. I was reminded of this when B.J. and I spent some time at the National Junior Summer Spectacular and Summer Type Conference in Louisville, Kentucky over the Fourth of July. Of course we enjoyed watching the boar and gilt classes and the breed sales, but the best aspects of participating in livestock shows are almost never found in the showring.

Yes, we’ve all heard judges talk about the people, skills gained, and lessons learned. In fact, I’ve heard B.J. give those remarks at shows he has judged. However, I’d like to present a top ten list of experiences you might gain at a livestock show that have nothing to do with the livestock.

Gain a new appreciation for your furnace or air conditioner as you brave the frigid temperatures of a jackpot show or the unbearable heat of the state fair.
Meet other folks who value 4-H and FFA as much as you do.
Buy a funnel cake, ice cream cone and pork burger all within 50 feet.
Learn how to get up early, drive all day and still be on your A-game the next morning.
Manage to fight with a sibling five times in the same hour but still learn how to get over it because you have three more hours in the truck together.
Learn card games from around the state as you wait for check-in to complete.
Practice your business skills as you introduce yourself to countless new people each year.
Expand your community of contacts before you even get to college.
Find your career path.
Meet the love of your life.

How many of these items will you cross off this summer?

Spring is here, and for many of us, it’s time to think about the matings that will make the next crop of animals even better than the one on the ground now. Our operation’s goals should strongly dictate how we proceed in making these decisions, which makes breeding season the perfect time of year to evaluate the path we are on within our breeding program and identify the turns along this path we must take to reach the goals we have set.

Selection is an intricate process. From one operation to another, the criteria used to make selection decisions can be widely varied. An operation breeding for elite show pigs might only consider which boar best compliments their sows from the standpoint of phenotypic design. However, a seedstock producer might be considering not only the phenotypic qualities an individual possesses, they may also be weighing the vast number of EPD’s and indexes available to help them in their selection decisions.

Regardless of the process a company may be using to make breeding program selections, the endpoint of the livestock being produced should be the first item considered as this process begins. What will your buyers be doing with the animals they purchase from you? Will they be going to shows? Will they be used as breeding stock for a commercial operation? What is your buyer’s endpoint for his livestock and what are the goals of your buyer’s operation? Producing animals that meet the goals of your clients is by far the number one key to the long-term success of a livestock operation. Beginning with the end in mind should help direct your decision-making and narrow the number of possibilities on the table. Approaching breeding season with a clear definition for the purpose and direction of your operation as well as a solid idea of who your potential customers are and what they will do with your product should put your breeding program on target to produce your most successful crop thus far.

When I began writing this issue of Across the Fence, I quickly began to think of Luke Bowman. In this issue where the focus is driven by both education of producers and breeding livestock with purpose and direction, Luke entered quickly as a classic example of someone who lives his life with these two tasks as both his passion and priority.

Luke Bowman is first and foremost a stockman. Luke is the sole proprietor of Luke Bowman Consulting, a livestock marketing agency based in his hometown of Greens Fork, Ind. Luke is also a full-time teacher who is as passionate about educating people as he is about livestock. The two passions come together in the classroom and in his business – an animal science instructor by day, livestock marketer by night.

Make no mistake, Luke doesn’t lead a double-life, but he seems to work as much as any two men. When you are around Luke, it is all stock, all the time. For someone of his age and experience, he knows the pedigrees and history of cattle and cow families and individual breeders as well as most who have been in the business for decades.

Aside from teaching and marketing cattle, Luke is a collaborative partner in Bowman Superior Genetics, a purebred Shorthorn seedstock operation. The Bowman family has installed one of the more unique breeding programs of any Shorthorn operation east of the Mississippi River. 2008 will mark the first-ever production sale at Bowman Superior Genetics. On August 29, the Form to Function Female Sale will certainly catch the attention of many Shorthorn breeders across the United States and Canada and elsewhere around the globe.

Be sure to get to know Luke and his family as you travel about the country in the coming months. They are outstanding people with great livestock, breeding with direction and leading through education. Visit their websites to learn more about Bowman Superior Genetics, www.bowmansuperiorgenetics.com and Luke Bowman Consulting, www.lukebowmanconsulting.com.