SELECTIONS - Fall 2003
Customer Needs Drive Select Success
Consistent results. A product you can trust. Reliability.
These phrases all are associated with Select Sires.
But, just as good, solid genetics take time to prove
themselves, reliability and consistency is not a new
phenomenon with Select. It is one that has taken years
of involvement with the industry and response to customer
needs to develop.
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Reliability breeds customer satisfaction. Second-crop daughters, like these, are examples of the consistent results Select customers expect. (L-R) 7HO5206 Bo-Bar-Ran Elton CLARK-ET*TV daughter: Powers-Haven Clark Saphira, John & Adrian Powers, Columbus, Wis., John Erbsen; 7HO5255 Na-Lar Elton KENNETH-ET*TV daughter: Spring-Hill-OH KT Practice, Spring Hill Farm Inc., Big Prairie, Ohio, Frank Robinson; 7HO5375 Mara-Thon BW MARSHALL-ET*TV daughter: Cook-Farm BW Marsh Freeze-ET (VG-88-EX-90-MS), Cook Farms, Hadley, Mass., Cybil Fisher; 7HO5435 Be-Ware Juror GENO*TV daughter: Bonnett Geno No. 1039-Grade, Bonnett Farm, Kent, Ill., John Erbsen, photo reversed; 7HO6250 Ricecrest EMERSON-ET*BL,TV daughter: Vandyk-K Emerson Dolly (VG-87), Van Dyk K Holsteins, Lynden, Wash., Frank Robinson. |
Ron Long, vice president, dairy sire procurement, has
been in the dairy industry for more than 40 years.
He has been involved with several different capacities,
from working on his family’s operation to managing a
herd to classifying cattle for Holstein Association USA.
He came to Select Sires at a time when the industry was
buzzing about artificial insemination, a relatively new
and exciting tool.
"At that time," recalls Long, "A.I. was better than the
herd bull because it naturally was understood that the
A.I. organizations were selecting the best bulls and the
best calves to sample."
With A.I. being so new to the industry, companies like
Select Sires were relied upon to pave the way for genetics.
A.I. was more convenient for the traditional 50-head
dairies of the time than it was to raise a bull, and
choices were much simpler, since there were no official
type proofs and producers mostly were concerned about
milk and fat production. This, however, was soon to change
as the industry evolved.
Herd Size Explosion
"When I started with Select, I could count on one hand
the number of 1,000-cow dairies in the United States,"
comments Long. Today, these 1,000-cow-plus dairies are
the trend in the dairy industry, with previously considered
large 200-cow dairies thought of as small. According to
Long, this is one of the biggest factors as to why Select
Sires has adapted our business practices over the years.
Traditional ways of doing business were to help a producer
make mating decisions on individual cows. With the larger
operations, producers no longer had time to make these
decisions, instead turning either to groups of bulls or to
a professional mating service.
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Ron Long (in front of cow), established a herd-consulting service that became SMS. This is just one of the services Select Sires offers to help customers make their businesses as profitable and productive as possible. |
The Birth of Select Mating Service™
Long recalls that when he was hired at Select Sires,
one of his goals was to establish a herd-consultation
service to serve the needs of large-herd owners. Although
the methods have changed, the premise of the program,
Select Mating Service (SMS™), remains the same: establish
customer goals and make the best matings to achieve those
goals. In the early days of SMS, pounds of milk and fat
were the basic selection goals. During the first year of
the program, evaluators mated cows approximately 7,000 cows
by hand, using sound knowledge and personal judgment to
make decisions. Today, SMS accounts for a number of traits,
including calving ease, production, type, inbreeding and
recessives. Evaluators still rely on good old-fashioned
cow sense to make decisions, but are assisted by a
sophisticated computerized system. Since SMS began 30 years
ago, it has grown to one that has made more than 3 million
matings, and now is an international program.
Meeting Market Demands
As the dairy industry was experiencing herd expansion,
it also was experiencing an information explosion.
The United States Department of Agriculture and breed
associations produced research that identified economically
important traits, such as productive life and somatic cell
score. Milk markets began rewarding premiums for low somatic
cell scores and fat and protein percentages. The small
"family farms" of the past evolved into businesses, often
supporting several families instead of just one, and savvy
herd managers began looking at operational costs from all
angles.
Select’s role as a genetic resource no longer was to simply
recommend genetics, but to offer a complete portfolio of
customized services to enable producers to have a profitable
business. It began with the development of a sire program
that offers balanced bulls that excel in production traits
and functional type, combined with a sampling of bulls that
are extreme for NM$ or show-ring type.
"You’re not going to get everything that all dairy producers
want in one bull," comments Long. "We have a program to meet
the greatest needs that we see customers are requesting.
It’s a democratic process - our customers vote for the genetics
they want."
While not a vote in the traditional "ballot" sense of the word,
every unit of semen purchased is a vote for the genetics you
want. Semen sales are evaluated each year, with the results of
that evaluation carefully considered as Select continues to look
for ways to serve our customers and meet your needs. Beyond
genetics, Select representatives serve as consultants, helping
producers troubleshoot reproductive issues. These representatives
also help us to know how to better serve our customers by reporting
to us the needs they hear.
Offering Reliable Genetics
Not only is Select committed to offering a balance of the best
genetics in the industry, but to provide results you can trust.
Since the beginning of the organization, Select always has taken
a conscientious and methodical approach to programs and services,
making sure that data is accurate and that our products will serve
customers to the best of our ability before they are released.
One example of this is the Program for Genetic Advancement™ (PGA™).
Long recalls only 30 or 40 bulls being sampled in his early years
at Select - now that number has grown to more than 350 sires of the
six dairy breeds. The PGA also is a national program, resulting
in more accurate proof information.
In addition, a third or more of the top 50 bulls for TPI with 97
percent reliabilities at Select Sires, according to Holstein
Association USA. This has been a consistent trend for the last
10 quarters.
Select’s Future
According to Long, Select’s bottom line always has been to determine
what customers want and offer it to them. History has proven Select’s
commitment to provide our customers with the best in reliable products
and services. This is a tradition that will evolve
only as our customers' needs do.
™Select Mating Service, SMS, Program for Genetic Advancement and PGA are trademarks of Select Sires Inc.
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