Cow Size and Efficiency:
Solving the Puzzle
Speakers offer tips to consider in determining the optimum cow size for an individual’s operation.
by Troy Smith for Angus Productions Inc.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (Jan. 27, 2010) — Cow size has become a hot topic of debate among cow-calf producers. One side argues that smaller cows are more efficient, and rising feed costs have only fueled that argument. The other side counters that bigger cows produce the bigger calves that many if not most cattle feeders favor. And the beef packing industry generally rewards the feeder for heavy carcasses from large-framed cattle.
Cow size and efficiency were addressed during a 2010 Cattle Industry Convention Cattlemen’s College® session presented by Texas A&M University King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management (KRIRM) students Jennifer Johnson and J.D. Radokovich, along with KRIRM Director Barry Dunn. The trio confessed to having no easy answer, no simple rule-of-thumb, and said the best way to frame the efficiency question is to ask which cattle are most efficient for a specific environment and production system.
“It’s complicated,” Radokovich said. “We can’t tell you exactly what kind of cattle to run. The best we can do is give you some tools to use in making good decisions for your individual operations.”
Johnson explained how overall efficiency is a combination of biological efficiency (feed consumed to beef produced) and economic efficiency (dollars spent to dollars returned). Attempting to achieve both simultaneously requires understanding and managing the genetic potential of cattle, the environment in which the cattle must perform, and decisions about what product a producer is marketing and when that product is marketed.
It’s a mistake to equate low cow maintenance requirements with efficiency, she said, noting that low-maintenance cows aren’t always efficient. They can be, but they aren’t necessarily always efficient. Nor are high-maintenance cows always inefficient. Johnson also warned against using the old rule-of-thumb calling for a cow to wean a calf weighing 50% of her own body weight.
“Though commonly used, it’s not an accurate measure of efficiency. It doesn’t consider calf age and the cow’s milk production. The ratio of total pounds of calves weaned to the total number of cows exposed to breeding is a better evaluation,” Johnson suggested.
The KRIRM team said matching growth and milk production to available feed resources is key to creating efficient cows. The natural availability of feed resources varies greatly across the U.S., and utilizing cattle with different genetic potential for production is a logical response to environmental differences. Cow size must fit the environment and economic guardrails (rebreeding on time and producing a calf with market acceptability), to be the “right size.”
“The most efficient cow is one with the highest milk production potential that can, without reducing the percent of calves weaned, repeatedly produce a calf sired by bulls with the growth and carcass characteristics valued most in the marketplace,” Dunn stated.
“It’s management that makes resources productive. We don’t need better cow sizes for our managers. We need better managers for our cow sizes.”
Pfizer Animal Health sponsored the Cattlemen’s College, now in its 17th year.
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