What are the key drivers that position a cow-calf operation for success? Most farmers and ranchers would respond to this question with answers like taking care of the land, creating a cow herd with genetics that work in their environment and meet consumer demands, and taking care of the people who live and work on the operation.
All three of these factors are of course dependent upon profitability. Profits enable us to maintain and improve our resources and enable us to provide a standard of living that those working on the operation deserve. I would also argue that identifying one’s “why,” or purpose, should be part of that equation, as well as identifying a business model and market targets that allow them to differentiate their product and leverage the value they have created.
All of these are vitally important, but for this article we are going to focus on the cow herd and the bull battery.
Maternal traits matter
Your cow herd is typically the biggest distinguishing factor as an operation, and the largest point of differentiation. The cow herd not only contributes 50% of the genetic makeup of the calf crop but is really and truly the factory. The cow herd is the building block of everything we are trying to accomplish as producers. As trite as it sounds, you are not in the cattle business without cows.
The old formula for building a cow herd served us pretty well—understand the level of mature size and milk production your environment can sustain. Once those thresholds are established, work to select for higher levels of fertility, keeping in mind the “necessity” traits like mothering ability, udder quality, feet and leg structure, and disposition. The economists would tell us this would allow us to optimize the economics of our operation, finding the optimum combination of production costs and weaned calf percentage.
Then there’s the other half of a calf’s performance equation: its expression of sire genetics. With value differences between pens of cattle routinely exceeding $600, a low-cost, highly fertile cow herd is not the guarantee of success it once was.
While herd strategies differ, one thing remains the same—purchasing the right bull is also influential in your long-term success. The first step in choosing the right bull is to define your herd goals. What are your breeding objectives and how can you choose the right genetics to meet them? When you concentrate on those areas, you can make rapid progress in advancing your herd.
A bull has a lasting genetic impact on your herd. In natural service, a bull normally sires 20 to 40 calves each year while a cow produces less than half that many offspring in her lifetime. Consequently, most herd improvement comes from the sires chosen to produce each calf crop, particularly if daughters are retained for breeding.
Upgrading your genetics can have a significant effect on the performance of your herd, how do you capture value on investments in your bull battery? In a commodity pricing system with little or no price differentiation, this is difficult. However, the value of the terminal traits—postweaning gain, feed efficiency, marbling, carcass weight and yield have grown in significance.
Cow-calf producers must not only create a cow herd that fits the environment, but a calf that meets the demands of the various sectors across the supply chain and, ultimately, the consumer. With value differences between pens of cattle routinely exceeding $600, a low-cost, highly fertile cow herd is not the guarantee of success it once was.
The exciting news is cow-calf producers have nearly doubled their opportunity to increase margins. The troubling part is the difficulty level of hitting these targets has also increased. Thankfully, we have better tools than we have ever had to make the right genetic decisions.
Tools to help
Genomically enhanced EPDs and new EPDs like functional longevity, foot EPDs, and teat and udder scores enable us to manage the numerous genetic antagonisms that exist. A producer truly can select cattle with appropriate levels of mature size and milk production, while simultaneously improving growth and composition of our end product. Sire selection, heifer selection and culling regimens are the typical tactics employed to reach these goals, but all three require more information to make informed decisions.
GeneMax Advantage gives producers the capability to make better selection decisions. The Maternal Score with AngusLink’s Genetic Merit Scorecard gives buyers a better understanding of what they are buying and sellers an avenue to further differentiate their product through documented and verified information.
Sire selection has become more accurate because of genomically enhanced EPDs, but we are now tasked with finding the optimum combination of 22-plus traits, all of which potentially have a significant influence on the bottom line. Some traits we are striving to optimize, while others we are attempting to maximize. Still others fit under the category of threshold traits. Add in the fact we have a wide variety of production environments, costs and marketing objectives, and the simple task of selecting next year’s bulls becomes somewhat daunting.
A producer truly can select cattle with appropriate levels of mature size and milk production, while simultaneously improving growth and composition of our end product.
That is why so many people are relying on selection indexes to help them move toward their breeding objectives and to make decisions that keep them out of the ditches. The science of selection has never been better. Visual appraisal will always be a vital component of selection decisions; however, in today’s world, with increased demands and economic values, it is sorely inadequate if one wants to make truly informed decisions.
The Angus cow is the standard, and thanks to a lot of committed breeders and the largest database for genetic evaluation in the world, the gap is widening. But, saying you are going to run an Angus bull on an Angus-based cow herd is probably not sufficient if you are truly committed to positioning your herd for the future.
Be a confident decision-maker and maximize your profits by setting goals for success with your cow herd, bull battery and marketing strategies in mind. Learn more about tools for commercial cattlemen, backed by industry-leading expertise, at angus.org/commercial-cattlemen. — Troy Marshall, director of commercial programs, American Angus Association
