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Show Good News for j Cattle Ranchers I A system of managing beef herds recently tested by Dr. James Wiltbank in Animal Science at Brigham Young University, could J be good news for cattle ranchers. The system, which controls body condition and several factors related to breeding, increases both the number of calves born each year 1 and the weight of the calves when 4 they are weaned. After one breeding i season with the system, the next i return on the sale of calves from a 4 100-cow herd was $4,315 more than the sale of calves' from a control herd of the same size. 4 The test group produced 98 calves with an average weight for 488 pounds each, while the control group 4 had 78 calves at an average 460 pounds each. The novelty of the system lies in the fact that the five management i techniques used have never been combined before. "The principles used in this system have been known for years and yean," said Harold J Fillmore, a graduate student working with Wiltbank. "But nobody ' had put them together in this way. ', "It will give the cattlemen a chance to become more com- ' petitive," he said. "It will give them a chance to make more money just by changing their management". More information may be ob- , tained by calling Wiltbank or Fillmore at 378-2397 or BYU, Public Communications Dept., Brent Harker at 378-4511. |