Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back talking with professor and Extension Beef Cattle Specialist at Oklahoma State University, Dr. David Lalman, about hybrid cows.
As expenses are directly related to a cow’s ability to thrive in a forage environment, Lalman said a hybrid cow might be a good idea, especially in times of drought and high feed prices.
“If you have to go purchase all of those harvested feeds to either maintain a cow that is of larger weight but not maybe weaning a bigger calf, that is going to work against your bottom line,” Lalman said. “I think there is a lot of opportunity to improve there.”
When it comes to researching the improvement of individual cow forage intake and efficiency, Lalman said there is tremendous variation.
“We found some cows that weaned big calves and give a lot of milk and only consume 20 to 25 pounds of hay a day and maintain their body condition,” Lalman said. “We found a few of those cows that are just rockstars.”
There has also been work to breed cattle that produce less methane.
“The government is throwing a lot of money into research looking at that kind of thing,” Lalman said. “We have been fortunate at OSU to get some of those grants that will help us with some of these other practical questions along the way, but yes, methane production is one thing that we are looking up in our research program at OSU.”
The cattle industry does not produce a tremendous amount of methane to begin with, and it has about a 10-to-12-year cycle, Lalman said, so what is produced is just recycled.
“We have about the same number of ruminants, apparently, in the U.S. that we had 200 years ago,” Lalman said. “They were just different types of ruminants- deer, elk bison, and so on.”
Working in collaboration with Kansas State University, Lalman said, OSU is hoping to develop a genetic tool to find animals that are productive and low methane producers.
For the cow-calf operator who is planning to rebuild their cow herd, Lalman gave some insight on what genetics they might want to select for.
“First of all, you need to have a very good plan in terms of your breeding program,” Lalman said.
Moderation, Lalman said, is a good start when rebuilding in terms of EPDs. There is no need to be too radical in terms of high calving ease or low birth weight, he added, because there is a strong correlation between birth weight and weaning weight.
“We have EPDs in several of the breed associations to help you identify those cattle,” Lalman said.
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.
