A*L*O*T General Membership Meeting - October 11, 2002

The annual A*L*O*T general membership meeting was held Friday night, October 11, 2002 at the sale facility in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

A major concern for the Association is updating the website. The website is a major benefit for ALOT members, but the membership list contains information on many people who are no longer members.

The members voted to set March 1 as the deadline to pay membership dues. If dues are not paid by that date, the member’s information will be removed from the website. If the individual pays his/her dues later than March 1, they will be added back on to the site.

New members who join and pay dues after October 1 will be paid up for the following year. Current members who pay their dues after October 1 will also be paid up for the following year.

Treasurer Learon Roberts presented a financial report.

In other business, the current ALOT officers were re-elected. Ernest Shelton continues to serve as President, Bill Stone Vice President, Learon Roberts as Treasurer, and Beth Wicker is the Sale Secretary. Darrin Marical was elected as an Oklahoma Director and Allen Garner will serve as a Director from Arkansas.

Newsletter Publication Schedule

• Winter 2003 – Ad copy deadline December 20, 2002 for January 2003 publication.

• Spring 2003 – Ad copy deadline February 20, 2003 for March 2003 publication.

• Summer 2003 – Ad copy deadline May 20, 2003 for June 2003 publication.

• Fall 2003 – Ad copy deadline August 20, 2003 for September 2003 publication.

Send all ad copy to geraldf@texhoma.net

A Successful A*L*O* T Fall Female Sale

Your A*L*O*T marketing team conducted another great female sale on Saturday, October 12, 2002 at the Titus County Fair Facility in Mt. Pleasant, TX.

Auctioneer Jerry Lehmann from Lake Ozark, MO moved sixty eight lots through the ring in short order for an overall average of over $1300.

As in past sales, the sale staff was made up of A*L*O*T member volunteers. Because of this, President Ernest Shelton expects that sale costs will continue to be about ten percent.

“This has been a trademark of A*L*O*T sales,” said A*L*O*T Vice President Bill Stone. “The association has worked hard to keep sale costs to a minimum so that our consignors can pocket more of the sale price of their cattle.”

A detailed sale report will be published in the Winter newsletter.

The next sale will be the annual Bull and Female sale scheduled for November 30, 2002 at the Mt. Pleasant facility. Sale Secretary Beth Wicker expects to catalog about 55 Bulls and 30 Females.

Got EPDs?

Did you ever wonder why a particular calf does not have growth EPDs? Chances are it’s because one of the parents still has Interim EPDs. The American Angus Association will not compute EPDs for a calf if one of the parents has Interim EPDs.

What are Interim EPDs? As the term implies, they are temporary figures assigned to an animal until a permanent set can be computed. All cattle enrolled in the Angus Herd Improvement Records (AHIR) program are processed through the National Cattle Evaluation (NCE) twice per year; however, cattle registered between these evaluations do not have NCE generated EPDs. The American Angus Association will therefore calculate in-between, or interim values based upon the EPDs of the sire and dam and the individual record of the calf. In most cases, if two out of three of these factors are present, an EPD can be calculated on the calf. Generally, a calf’s EPDs will be Interim until the animal has been weighed for weaning and yearling with at least one other animal of the same sex in the proper contemporary group. This isn’t hard and fast, but it is the usual case. Again, Interim EPDs are not calculated from Interim EPDs of parents.

So, how do you get EPDs on a calf that does not have interims calculated? Weigh the calf in a proper contemporary group and turn those weights in. This will remove the “I” from the parents’ interim EPD and make it possible for interims to be calculated on the calf. Once a calf goes into production, weigh the progeny and report the weights. This will continue to remove the “I” from the now parent EPDs so that the progeny can have EPDs computed. The bottom line is to enroll your herd in the AHIR program and report all weights.

Items of Interest