Breeding Data Turns into a Decision Making Issue for Latin American Ranching Businesses

There has been growing availability of herd performance information among cattle breeding programs within Latin America. Nevertheless, breeding programs usually involve genetic analysis, fertility monitoring, and animal performance assessment. At the same time, such information is not always utilized by ranchers in order to make decisions regarding herds, since they do not have specialists who would be able to interpret those statistics. This is an important limitation, which may be partially explained by the fact that breeding efforts take time to pay off.

Since breeding programs require considerable investment, producers will see their effect in a few seasons. Thus, errors in data, as well as lack of herd statistics can distort producers' understanding of the actual situation with regard to cattle breeding. As can be seen, this problem cannot be fully attributed to technological inefficiency, but rather requires more sophisticated solution based on professional interpretation of the existing information. This point is becoming evident for software vendors, who are currently working with the cattle breeding market. More and more platforms include consulting services, as breeders need help in interpreting reproductive trends rather than gathering new data. Such an approach allows obtaining comprehensive herd analytics, although the practical applicability of that information is still questionable.

One of the problems that may arise due to inconsistent record keeping involves inconsistency in statistics. For instance, calving interval, fertility history, and weight performance can be analyzed quite successfully. However, this does not mean that breeding providers will be able to measure herd improvements over long periods of time, given inconsistent data records across different breeding operations and their units.

At the same time, family ranching businesses face a peculiar dilemma. While younger producers may insist on genetic evaluations, the older members of such organizations may resist changes in their herd management routines. This implies that the integration of modern practices of herd assessment can take some time and lead to inconsistencies inside one company.

This issue gains further relevance in light of rising pressure on export-oriented producers, whose buyers are becoming more concerned with issues related to breeding. Specifically, producers of premium beef products are expected to demonstrate clear information about herds' breeding, since breeding records may become one of the criteria that would be used to review suppliers. Thus, ranchers that lack proper organization of herd records would be put under pressure despite good-quality beef.

Interpretation of breeding statistics can be made harder by varying environmental factors. For example, drought periods, insufficient pastures, or certain diseases can impact herd performance in terms of genetics. It means that breeders analyzing herd statistics may encounter problems related to determining whether poor performance is caused by genetic defects or production environment. In turn, consultants advise their clients to focus on fewer performance indicators instead of extensive reporting systems in order to make breeding decisions easier.

As mentioned above, the cattle breeding market is becoming oriented towards provision of breeding services. In particular, suppliers would better be able to advise their customers in herd management and breeding programs.