FAQ

What is age verification?

Age verification is a voluntary, free of charge program under the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) National Traceability program. With many of Canada's international trading partners now requesting birth date information as a pre-requisite for export, the need for age verification is obvious. Recording and submitting birth date data to CCIA provides access to international markets and builds upon the credibility and value of Canada's traceability program.

Herd Recording

Why did the price of herd recording go up?

BIO operates as a business and has not received Ontario government funding since 2005. Therefore, the services that BIO offers now need to reflect the costs of offering them.

How does your calving ease evaluation work?

For most of the BIO EPDs, a value that is increasing is getting you more of that trait. BIO's calving ease evaluation is measuring the increase or decrease in the number of unassisted calvings. Therefore, a higher value for the Calving Ease BIO EPD means that we can expect more unassisted calvings. The unassisted calvings are based on heifer matings.

How do I read the reports?

The information is arranged into areas of pedigree, the animals own performance including adjusted values and then the BIO EPDs. The BIO EPDs are reported with an across breed percentile ranking, and a within breed percentile ranking and an accuracy value. The quickest way to see how an animal is doing is to look at it's percentile ranking. If you have one breed only, you can the within breed ranking to see how the animal compares to other animals of the same breed for the trait you're looking at. If you have cattle from more than one breed, or percentage cattle you can use the across breed percentile rankings to compare.

The adjusted values are adjusted to 200 days for the pre weaning traits. For the post-weaning traits the values are adjusted to 365 days.

What is the difference between the three herd recording levels, bronze, silver, and gold?

Bronze - Purchase tags through BIO, send us your calf's birthdates and we will age verify into the CCIA database for free.

Silver - This is a within herd management tool that also includes all of the benefits of bronze. You must submit cow information, bull information, calf birth date, birth weight (optional) and weaning weight. In return you will receive a summary of your cows and calves, weaning indexes and a summary of your calving season to help you make important on farm culling and replacement decisions.

Gold - This is a complete herd management tool. Along with all of the benefits of bronze and silver, you will also get a full genetic profile of your herd complete with BIO EPD's and across breed comparisons (ABC's). You provide BIO with your cow and bull information including any extended pedigrees that you have. For the calves you provide birth dates, birth weights, weaning weights and yearling weights. In return you will get full genetic reports and certificates for your cows and bulls, calving indexes, bull productivity reports. This information is ideal for making informed management decisions. Know which cows need to be culled, which cow families to keep replacements from and this sets your herd up for the Bull Evaluation Program.

Bull Evaluation

What do I need to do to send a bull to test and what information does BIO require?

You will need to be a herd recording client, gold level and submit all your data to BIO. After choosing a consignment center of your choice you will have to follow their vaccination protocol and deliver the bull to the centre during the specified time.

How do I read my bull reports?

The information is arranged into areas of pedigree, the animals own performance including adjusted values and then the BIO EPDs. The BIO EPDs are reported with an across breed percentile ranking, and a within breed percentile ranking and an accuracy value. The quickest way to see how an animal is doing is to look at its percentile ranking. If you have one breed only, you can the within breed ranking to see how the animal compares to other animals of the same breed for the trait you're looking at. If you have cattle from more than one breed, or percentage cattle you can use the across breed percentile rankings to compare.