Prime-Time-Winter-2018

INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY Untangling the Helix

Elisa Marques, Ph.D., MBA | Founder, AgFRONT | emarques@agfront.com

Back to the Basics With a New Twist

C ongratulations on the inaugural is- sue of the Akaushi Prime Time magazine! I am very humbled, hon- ored and happy to con- tribute to the magazine and its future growth.

stand today. Recordkeeping is as old as dirt and it will never, and should never, go away. It’s basic. What has changed today is how you record, manage and make deci- sions using data. That’s the twist. We have added technology, whether it’s the new technology that allows us to man- age our data in the cloud, DNA technology or e-commerce technology that changes how we sell to our customers. Technology helps us make informed decisions about our business. It also helps us do less of the things that we are not good at so that we have more time to do the things that we are good at. Technology allows us to stay in our zone of genius. DNA Technology: Science over Sales During my presentation to the 2013 American Akaushi Association (AAA) Annual Convention, I said, “the Akaushi breed is a force to be reckoned with.” I meant what I said then, and I mean it now. Contrary to what you may think, I am not an advocate for one breed versus another. I believe in diversity, science and technology. There are several things that the AAA has done correctly, right out of the gate.

It also happens to be the beginning of a new year. With every new year, we make new resolutions. We often do this because we think that what we did before is not working or because we have the illusion that new is better. So sometimes we tend to abandon the old. However, when it comes to cattle breed- ing, not much has changed over the years. You still select your bulls for your next breeding season. You still wean your calves. You decide which females to keep as replacements. Maybe you retain ownership. Maybe you don’t. You sell your calves. While cattle breeding has maintained much of its essence, we can’t help but no- tice that changes are happening faster than before. Decision making is happening faster and more precisely. You may wonder why. It is largely because of how we pro- cess all the data we collect and because we are adding more information early on in the animals’ lives via DNA testing. There is no miracle pill, though. You still need to col- lect data. That’s not going away. In the context of this article, back to the basics means the following: 1. You keep records of your cattle and their performance; 2. You keep records of your expenses; 3. You keep records of your breeding groups; and 4. You keep vaccination records. And so on. You must keep records. There can be no improvement if you don’t know where you

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Akaushi Prime Time • Winter 2018

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