Dear Producers,

GeneNet is excited about the new premiums that we can offer our customers. We are grateful to our past customers for their continued support and happy with their success. We are very pleased with the interest and the new customers that have started using our program this past year.

GeneNet will pay $25.00 per head premium for all cattle that are eligible to export to Japan, but CAB premiums are not available because the plant does not roll any CAB’s on cattle going to Japan. This $25.00 premium will continue until July 1, then it may be adjusted depending upon the Japanese demand. We want you to be able to take advantage of the added export premium, and to do so, you will have to have your cattle age and source verified by a third party that is USDA approved. In addition to getting your calves approved, the feedlot needs to also be USDA approved even if you feed your own calves. If the feeder is in the area of a Swift cattle buyer, he can get you approved under the Swift umbrella for free. This all need’s to be done several weeks before the cattle are ready to sell.

John & Leann Saunders of IMI Global, Inc. were the very first USDA approved off-site supplier evaluation system and one of two in the U.S. This means that someone doesn’t have to come to your ranch to audit your records for your cattle to become eligible for export. I am very impressed with this company and hope you will look over their services (click here). Call them and let them help you get your cattle US Verified for source and age, and on the “Approved Supplier” list. They will be happy to answer any questions, please tell them that you are a customer of GeneNet.

We will continue our premium of $6.00 per head for all domestic source verified cattle. The owner of the cattle signs an affidavit stating the ranch of origin, ranch address and group calving dates. This is all we need for domestic source verification. However, these cattle are not eligible to be exported.

We have had a large number of cattle being forward contracted this spring on our Grid. We would like to encourage you to look really hard at forward contracting, as the futures look really strong at this time. Please give me a call if you have any questions about forward contracting. If you would like to forward contract any of your cattle or just find out what the prices and basis would be, please call Tim Schiefelbein at 970-506-7829. Tim is in charge of all formula cattle for Swift & Co. and can handle all of your contracting needs. Make sure to tell him you would like to forward contract on GeneNet’s Grid.

Ever since we started GeneNet nine years ago, we have not changed the fees to our customers. Due to the increase in all costs plus an increase in data collection fees at the Grand Island plant, I need to increase my fees by $1.00 at the Grand Island plant only. This will put our fees at $4.00 per head for Group Data, $6.00 for Normal (Tag Transfer) Data, and $8.00 for Complete Data.

GeneNet is very pleased with our relationship with the Montana Branded Beef Association and all of their producers. We feel we are making progress on our mission to increase our supply chain numbers that will eventually lead to developing a branded beef program. Steve Christensen has been working very hard to help his members get their cattle all age and source verified through IMI Global. Please call Steve if you need to get your calves aged & sourced.

Check us out; GeneNet’s Grid is one of the very best in the country for high quality cattle. Over the past we have killed over 850,000 head on our formula. All of these have averaged $23.73 per head above the average live price, while the top 25% have averaged $63.58. Thanks to our exclusive carcass merit formula, a total of $20,000,000 in premiums above the average price has been returned to our customers.

Ken Conway, PhD
Owner & President

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