Prime Time Summer 2018

Akaushi Matters Janie Bain | Executive Assistant/Office Manager | jbain@akaushi.com AMERICAN AKAUSHI ASSOCIAT ION UPDATE

Whole-Herd Reporting – This

24 months of age or a male reaches 30 months of age. The annual assessment pay- ment on a bull allows for the subsequent registration of calves sired by the bull dur- ing that year of service, provided all other registration requirements have been met. Major benefits of WHR include: Simplicity – one fee covers the most com- mon breeder expenses, rather than mul- tiple fees for routine transactions. Quality – complete reporting will improve the reliability of expected progeny differ- ences (EPDs) on all AAA cattle by remov- ing the effects of reporting bias. Improved customer service – no extra fee for calf transfers ensures more complete reporting of transfers. Improved bull owner identification – in- creases the likelihood of participation in commercial marketing programs, which will improve demand for AAA seedstock. New selection tools – Whole-herd report- ing makes it possible to estimate fertility and survivability EPDs and to calculate herd-average reproduction and production management measures for within-herd use. These calculations are meaningless with incomplete reporting. Fee Structure and Registration Regulations Assessment age is defined as males and females at least 24 months of age. The spring herd assessment will include full- blood or purebred cattle born Jan. 1-June 30. The fall herd assessment will include fullblood or purebred cattle born July 1-Dec. 31. Payment of the annual assess- ment makes that animal “active” for the following 12 months. Progeny may only be registered to dams that are “active” during the birth year of the progeny and sires that were “active” during the year the progeny was conceived.

term probably generates more questions and frus- tration than anything we do as an association. In general, associa- tions exist to promote the organization and provide services to members. In order to stay in business,

associations must charge fees for the ser- vices performed. For a breed association, one of the main services is the registration and transfer of animals, as well as record- ing and maintaining each animal’s weights and measurements. Historically, breed associations charged separately for each of these services. With the development of whole-herd reporting (WHR), the assess- ment paid on the adult animal covers these fees for much less than the traditional calf- based fee structure. The American Akaushi Association (AAA) whole-herd reporting system is designed to improve the collection of performance information on all active animals in the breed and to spread the costs of promoting the breed equally across all active animals in the breed. Rather than the traditional calf-based registration fee structure that discourages the reporting of complete con- temporary group information, WHR uses an inventory-based fee structure, or annual assessment charge, on all reproductively mature animals instead of charging sepa- rately for registering, and then transfer- ring a calf. Under WHR, members will pay a single, annual assessment on each animal of “as- sessment age.” Payment of the annual assessment on a cow entitles the owner (breeder) to register one calf born to the cow during that 12-month period and a sin- gle transfer of that calf to a new owner if the transfer occurs before a female reaches

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Akaushi Prime Time • Summer 2018

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