Nearly 300 years ago, farmers in Herefordshire, England, founded the Hereford breed in response to consumer beef demand created by Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Efficient production, high yields and sound reproduction were of utmost importance.
Hereford cattle arrived in the U.S. in 1817 to serve a similar need—efficiently adding pounds to native cattle grazing the nation’s rangelands while also creating reproductively efficient females. American Hereford breeders founded the Hereford Cattle Breeders Association in 1881, which was later renamed the American Hereford Association (AHA).
The Hereford breed and AHA maintain the original vision—build more pounds of quality beef and more production-efficient females with fewer resources than otherwise possible via the breed’s inherent genetic advantages, which include longevity, fertility, docility and feed efficiency in the feedlot and pasture.
Commercial cow-calf producers in the U.S. magnify these advantages by utilizing Hereford genetics in strategic complementary crossbreeding programs. Black baldies, red baldies and tiger stripes built with Hereford genetics prove their advantages from border to border and coast to coast.
Heterosis pays
Decades of industry-wide research document the advantages of heterosis (hybrid vigor) in commercial crossbreeding systems.
Direct heterosis: increased performance of the crossbred calf relative to the average of the straight-bred parental breeds.
Maternal heterosis: increased performance of the crossbred cow relative to the average of straight-bred females of the parental breeds.
A primary crossbreeding advantage is the improvement of lowly heritable traits, such as those associated with reproduction, which are difficult to impact through direct selection pressure. Small, net-positive effects in multiple traits affecting commercial cow-calf profitability—pregnancy rate, calf livability, calf health, etc.—yield significant returns that are difficult to measure.
Crossbreeding value is most visible in the increased number of calves (lifetime), cow longevity and cumulative weaning weight (lifetime).
Developing and maintaining a crossbreeding system that captures maternal heterosis is critical to long-term profitability in the commercial cow-calf business. Likewise, increased production efficiency is crucial to maintaining a social license to operate.
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Hereford heterosis pays more
Hereford genetics offer more crossbreeding power because they are the least related to other Bos taurus breeds, as documented by the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC).
Plus, Hereford’s unique, inherent genetic advantages compared to other breeds offer added breed complementarity, especially when crossed with Angus. Hereford advantages include:
• Docility.
• Fertility.
• Feed efficiency in the pasture and feedlot.
• Longevity.
• Production efficiency.
Research consistently documents the advantage of Hereford-sired F1 black baldy heifers and steers compared to straight-bred black Angus peers in the same production setting. Science and experience suggest these advantages would be similar in herds using Hereford bulls with Red Angus cows to produce red baldies. Unless otherwise noted, the research results below are from the multi-year Harris Ranch Heterosis Research Project completed in 2010.
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Hereford-sired black baldy female advantages:
• 7% higher pregnancy rate.
• More calves weaned per cow exposed.
• $51 more per cow per year in net present value (2009 calculation).
• 3.5% more average rate of return on assets.
• 2 lbs. less pasture forage per day while maintaining more body condition (Oklahoma State University, OSU).
Black baldy cows require one acre less of moderate-quality forage per year compared to straight-bred black Angus peers, according to OSU research.
Hereford-sired black baldy steers:
• Heavier weaning weights.
• Increased feed efficiency.
• Lower cost of gain.
• Lower feedlot breakeven.
• $28 per head less feed cost across the finishing period.
Based on feed efficiency alone—breed differences documented by the USMARC—Hereford has a $51 per head advantage over the finishing period when compared to Angus. Hereford’s economic advantage increases as feed costs rise.
Commercial producers on the Gulf Coast and in the Southeast see similar advantages when using Hereford bulls on Brahman (Bos indicus) cows to create what are commonly called “tiger stripes” because of their unique hide markings. The tiger stripe cow is recognized as the undisputed “queen of the South,” just as the black baldy cow is regarded as unmatched in other parts of the country.
AHA’s future research efforts include documenting tiger stripe advantages as it has done with black baldies in the research mentioned above.
Hereford is the essential component to crossbreeding systems in the U.S.— AHA
