ADS #007: Angus Data Services – Optimizing Your Contemporary Groups

Chris Stallo • September 11, 2024

ADS #007: Angus Data Services – Optimizing Your Contemporary Groups: A Timely Reminder for Fall and Spring Calvers

Optimizing Your Contemporary Groups:  A Timely Reminder for Fall and Spring Calvers
Now is an ideal time for both fall and spring calving operations to focus on their contemporary groups. For fall calvers, it's a chance to think about how they will set up their groups in preparation for the new calving season. For spring calvers, it’s an opportunity to review your birth groups and finalize their contemporary groups as they prepare for weaning those calves.

Ensuring that your contemporary groups are accurately established now will help streamline data management and enhance the accuracy of future evaluations.

The largest your contemporary group will ever be is your calving records (birth contemporary group). From that point, your weaning, yearling, and other groups will always be the same size or smaller, never larger. If your birth contemporary group isn’t set up correctly, it affects all future groups.

How to review your groups? 

Access Reports > AHIR Reports > AHIR Work History/Reports. To look at your birth contemporary groups select the Birth Type and click Search. The latest birth groups you have submitted will be on the screen.  Click the word Details to drill into those groups.

I recommend closely examining smaller groups to understand why they are isolated. 

Sometimes there are clear reasons, such as a foster calf that was recorded separately. 


Other times aren't as clear. For example, if you needed to use DNA to determine the dam, you might have submitted the calf without a dam listed to identify its correct dam. Once the dam information is corrected, the calf won't automatically be reassigned to the larger group. 


Or another example, if you sent something in as an ET calf and after DNA, found out it was actually a clean up sire with a registered recipient and had it corrected.


In either case, the calf won't automatically be reassigned to the larger group.


You'll need to contact the Association to make the adjustment, and they are very helpful in resolving these issues.


Click here for a reminder on how groups are split.


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