Gerald Jahner and his wife Mary of Mott, N.D., were recently honored with North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement Producer of the Year award, earned thanks in part to use of the Cattle Herd Appraisal Performance Software (CHAPS).
"I think it's just another tool to improve your herd," Jahner said in a phone interview about the CHAPS system. "The information you get back from them just covers everything. you got a history on every cow and it's an ongoing history, so long as you provide the information needed to make that history."
CHAPS is a beef production record system that can provide producers with information regarding their herd's performance. The NDBCIA award for 2016 was based on the average number of cows calving in the first 21 days and pounds weaned per cows exposed for a 10-year average. In a press release from the Dickinson Research Extension Center, Jahner was quoted as speaking of the usefulness of the CHAPS system and how its wealth of historical information about his beef herd benefitted his ranch.
"I rely on the indexes (adjusted weaning index) and the cow indexes," he said. "I use the cow indexes basing decisions on history. I don't look at the calves. I try to keep everything over 100 index. I don't know if that is the right way to do it but I do that."
Besides using CHAPS, Jahner also utilizes a number of best practices to improve the quality of his cattle, including a twice-over rotational grazing system.
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"If you are in the cow business, you are in the grass business," Jahner said. "I generally have pretty good grass and during dry years I have been able to get by because of the rotation."
He practices the philosophy of take one half, leave one half of the forage in his pastures, which are mostly native. He said in years when forage growth has been "lush" the weaning weights have not been as good as the years when the grass was a little shorter."
Jahner said winning the CHAPS award left him in a "daze."
Jahner was born and raised in the Mott area, where he continues to raise cattle, having rented out his cropland a couple of years ago due to the changing tide of technology.
"I just enjoy the peace and quiet of country living and that's just the way I've been born and raised," Jahner said. "I've always enjoyed working with livestock."
According to the release, the value of CHAPS really shines during dry years, like North Dakota's recent drought.
"When we had to cut back the herd, we went to the records and looked at the old cows and then looked at the performance. CHAPS records have made it a lot easier to cull," Jahner said. He said that he tries to cull cows at 11-to-12-years of age, with other cullings determined by physical defects and indexes.
Jahner and his wife are high school sweethearts. They have five children, and 15 grandchildren. Jahner said that neither of his sons want to take over the business after him.
