Freedom's the lynchpin

摘要

Innovation is fueled by need, but it's bom through freedom. Ponder anjrthing in the cattle business long taken for granted. Expected progeny differences (EPD) and the estimated breeding values (EBV) before them were developed to more accurately assessthe genetic merit of breeding stock. Growth implants were developed because of the need to increase cost efficiency, as well as the ongoing need to feed more people with the same land and cattle resources. Even the ubiquitous cattle trailer is a relatively newfangled innovation. As Harry James, DVM of Pond Creek, OK, explained at this year's Wheatland Stocker Conference, cattle trailers were still a rarity in the 1960s. As they became more common, so did local sale barns and haul-in veterinary practices. James continues to practice in the same clinic he built 50 years ago.