MFA's Health Track Beef Alliance began in its present form a little less than 3 years ago. On April 28, 2003, at the farm of Weaver and Louise Forest near Verona in southwest Missouri, we issued our 100,000th Health Track tag. That's significant for many reasons. First, it was a happy coincidence that our 100,000th tag was issued at the Forests' place. The couple has been among the program's earliest supporters, entering calves as far back as Sept. 25, 2000. Since then, they've run just shy of 500 calves through Health Track. They don't need convincing of the program's benefits.

Three years is a short time in the beef industry. So having registered 100,000 calves in this short a time is an accomplishment worth celebrating. We began MFA Health Track Beef Alliance in true cooperative fashion. Based on our experience with different programs and offerings over the years, we know that for anything to be successful, it must increase the value returned to our members. That's a given. Some people call it the Show-Me mentality that exists in the Midwest. But I call it common sense. If a program cannot show members benefit, there is very little reason to participate.

We experienced this early in building our swine network offerings which have proved so popular with our independent producers. To gain the necessary volume to attract buyers, we structured a program so that any operation, regardless of size, could benefit. We structured the program so that quality and reliability were central parts of the program. And we structured the program in such a way that we could capture and use data across the spectrum so that our producer/members could use that information to streamline their own operations and make sound, data-driven business decisions.

We used that same approach on Health Track. As a result, benefit is written all over Health Track. In addition to all of the above attributes, the program is built around an informational database that's unique in the cattle industry. Having the data to back up business decisions is crucial in today's hyper-competitive business world. Make no mistake, the cattle industry today is an industry driven by business considerations.

With the Health Track database, participating producers can sort by adjusted 205-day weights, by weight per day, by treatment sheets, by respiratory, by non-respiratory, by 4-way virals, by blackleg, by treatment rates, by vaccine, by shots preweaning and by shots at weaning. Hard decisions based on hard data.

Producers in Health Track have the ability to quantify their decision-making process and base their decisions on facts, not opinion. We've assembled the data to answer the questions everybody has always asked but nobody could answer. Until now.

Health Track producers can decide what they're doing right and what they can improve. The bottom line (There's always a bottom line, isn't there?) is that more informed decisions almost always translate into increased income. Better still, the data is collected not just from one source like many large ranches have traditionally done. These data are collected on animals spread over 600 to 700 different farms and ranches. That gives Health Track data a verification that's unsurpassed.

If you want to reduce treatment and death rates at weaning, how can you do that? We've got the data on what's worked and what hasn't worked on hundreds of operations. What vaccination program can you use to change your treatment rates? We've got the data backed up by all those farms across our sales territory.

As a result, we're getting calls from producers, from veterinarians, from animal health companies, from packers, from feed yards, from sale barns--and from buyers. Each one of those groups is interested in different aspects of this collected data.

Why are we going to so much trouble? That leads me back to the value statement above. Using this data, producers in Health Track have specific answers to specific problems. Cattle are healthier, reach target weights more quickly and add value to the entire production chain.

More to the point, our source and process-verifying program allows producers to specifically identify and properly condition calves to meet the demands of buyers. Demand is driving the process. The program has been a tremendous success. We have more buyers than animals for Health Track cattle. And those buyers are paying premium prices for Health Track animals. It's a fact that buyers specifically ask for MFA Health Track cattle. The program takes one more piece of subjective judgment out of the process. That's because buyers know what they're buying. Guesswork is eliminated. Buyers know Health Track cattle meet all quality assurance, source-verification and process-verification requirements necessary to participate in any of the marketing efforts available today.

The success of MFA Health Track Beef Alliance underscores our job as a farmer-owned cooperative. We make money when you make money. And we've structured our programs and offerings around that basic philosophy. Health Track is designed to allow each and every producer (regardless of herd size) to participate, armed with the volume and data necessary to continue to be a vital part of today's beef industry.