The Best Practices Manual from Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) offers management tips that may help.

�To make progress and profit in the cattle business, records must be kept,� the manual states.

John Paterson, Montana Extension beef specialist, agrees. He oversees the Montana Beef Network program, where nearly 300,000 calves have been source- and age-verified in this decade.

Some ranchers there tie calf information back to individual cow identification (ID).

�We know we can use that to look at what kind of calves this cow is routinely producing,� he says. �Then we can tighten up the cowherd in terms of cow size, and get rid of some of the outliers.�

Following calves through the feeding phase gives more answers.

�Did we make a mistake by really being critical of these lightweight, poor performing calves?� Paterson asks. �It looks to me like a poor calf on the ranch has been a poor calf in the feedlot, too.�

The Beef Network is developing a �report card� for producers. �We want to give him some idea of where he fits in terms of body condition score, weaning weight, cow weight and those kinds of issues,� he says. �You can't do that without an ID tag.�

Tracking health requires ID, too.

�From a disease management standpoint, you've got to have a calf management program,� Paterson says. Montana is completing a statewide test for bovine viral diarrhea (BVD).

�You can't do that test unless you know where the ear notch came from,� he says. �That calf has got to be married back to its mother.�

Pfizer Animal Health veterinarian Glenn Rogers says consistent information can be the key to identifying a health challenge early.

�Records can help evaluate the reproductive health of a herd,� he says. Comparing one year's breeding rate to the baseline can point to problems. Even a slight drop can indicate the possibility of BVD or other diseases that hurt reproduction.

�You need to at least have good enough records to know what happened,� Rogers says.

Those records can also add dollars when marketing calves.

�If you maintain a processing map and volunteer that information at marketing, it really adds value,� he says. �If you go to the trouble of working cattle, you want to get the most out of it.�

The data can come in handy if you want to make production changes, like tightening your breeding timeline.

�If you're going to back up a breeding season, you need to develop a calendar for what they're currently doing,� Rogers says. The transition from an undefined season to a two- to three-month window can take several years, he adds.

Although it's a long process, there are many benefits to making the switch.

�If there's one management idea that's most effective for herd health, it's a controlled breeding season,� Rogers says. �That gives you not only consistency and uniformity in a calf crop, but also consistency and uniformity in your health program.�

Typically, vaccinations are given based on a production calendar, but must default to seasonal if the herd is not in the same stage at the same time, he says. �Reproductive vaccinations should be done routinely in all cowherds, but you'll get more bang for your buck with a defined breeding season.�

The shorter window also provides more options, because certain products, like modified-live vaccines, are more difficult to incorporate into herds with no defined breeding period.

�With the high cost of labor, anything we can do to lessen labor expenses in calving, handling and marketing is another bonus,� Rogers says.

Paterson says it just takes some up-front investment to make handling easier.

�As I travel around there's one thing I wish we had on more ranches: squeeze chutes,� he says. �You can work cattle faster, but I think you can also work cattle safer.�

From facilities upgrades to better year-to-year analysis, a few tweaks could make a big difference in terms of progress and profit.