Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with professor and Extension Beef Cattle Specialist at Oklahoma State University, Dr. David Lalman, about the quality of today’s beef cow.
“If you just look at the amount of beef we produce today in cow numbers compared to what we were doing thirty years ago, the progress is incredible,” Lalman said. “We produce a whole lot more beef with a whole lot fewer cows today than we used to.”
Lalman said the cattle industry has also done a great job of reducing calving ease issues.
“All you have to go do is select the genetics that fit your cow herd, your heifers, or whatever, and we can find those cattle with calving ease and tremendous growth potential afterward,” Lalman said.
Out of all of the traits that have been improved on, Lalman said, reproductive efficiency/fertility is at the bottom of the list when it comes to progression.
“I think there are opportunities there going forward,” Lalman said. “Cow size in terms of weight continues to increase along with yearling weight growth. The industry is aggressively selecting for yearling weight growth. There is a strong genetic correlation between yearling weight growth and mature cow size.”
When assessing projected delivery date as a proxy for weaning weight with data from Superior Livestock Auction, Lalman said it was discovered that in the northern and mountain west part of the country, calf weaning weight had stabilized around the year 2006.
“In other words, we are selecting rapidly for growth, but it is not occurring at the cow-calf level,” Lalman said. “You wouldn’t think it would make a whole lot of sense to make bigger cows that aren’t creating bigger weaning weight if you sell your calves at weaning. So, I think that is important for people to know, and honestly, it is not very difficult for folks to keep those records and look at that trend over time.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
