Mark Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist, offers herd health advice as part of the weekly series known as the “Cow Calf Corner,” published electronically by Dr. Derrell Peel, Johnson, and Paul Beck. Today, Johnson AddressesFollow-up Questions to Carcass Weights, Quality Grades & Consumer Demand.
The article titled “Carcass Weights, Quality Grades & Consumer Demand” from last week led to several good questions. This week, I will address the most commonly asked questions.
First, the key points from last week. Carcass weights are going up and there are currently no market signals to indicate they will go down. Even long-term, pending increased heifer retention and a larger national cow inventory, market signals indicate more days on feed and heavier carcass weights will be the new normal. One of the most dramatic and interesting market signals is the proportion of higher USDA Quality Grade (upper two-thirds Choice and Prime) carcasses currently in the weekly harvest mix and robust consumer demand for consistently great tasting, higher quality beef. Consumer preference for high quality beef and their willingness to pay for a great tasting beef product have created the need to supply this demand.
Most frequently asked question: “Do commercial cow-calf producers need to select for more growth and accordingly increase mature cow size to produce calves that fit the current industry norms?”
Answer: No. The cows in our nation’s cow herd are the cows currently producing the feeder calves spending over 200 days on feed and finishing at live weights well in excess of 1,500 pounds. As an entire industry, it appears we have ample growth. The post weaning growth potential of feeder calves produced in the U.S. is not tethered to weaning weights. This suggests, at the cow-calf level, the production environment (forage availability and level of nutrition) is not permitting cows to tap their full potential for milk production, nor calves to tap their full potential for growth to weaning. Whereas, the post weaning production environments (stocker operations and feedyards), ARE permitting calves to tap their full genetic potential for growth which manifest itself in the form of strong postweaning growth, heavier finishing weights and heavier carcass weights than ever. Given the diversity of our production environments and biological diversity of the U.S. cow herd, it is still critically important that beef cows fit their production environment. The best evidence that a cow is a good fit to her production environment is producing a weaned calf each year. Repeating this process year after year, and weaning off as high a percentage of her body weight as is reasonably possible.
As cow-calf producers, we all like heavy weaning weights. That being said, there is a growing amount of evidence that efficiencies and profit potential of commercial cow-calf operations would be better served by focusing selection pressure on other economically important traits and avoiding excessive mature weight. Several Cow-calf Corner articles over the past three years have addressed this issue. Bottomline: seldom is the maintenance cost of high growth cows with excessive mature size offset by the additional calf weight that results.
This question leads to another question to consider: “How can commercial cow-calf operations responsible for producing calves with superior post weaning growth and end-product merit reap the dividends of superior genetics?”
Answer: Avoid Information Asymmetry when marketing calves. This can be done by documenting the pre-weaning health/vaccination protocol and providing evidence of the post-weaning genetic potential. This is a long-term process that will require a combination of: 1) retaining a share of ownership through finishing and collecting evidence of post weaning performance which can be used in marketing future calf crops, 2) submitting DNA samples or, 3) enrolling calves in a program like Anguslink to receive a Genetic Merit Scorecard. More details about avoiding information asymmetry when marketing calves can be found in the August 18, 2025 Cow-calf Corner Newsletter.
Mark Johnson, OSU Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist, takes a closer look at carcass weights, quality grades, and beef consumer demand on SunUpTV’s Cow-Calf Corner from October 11, 2025. Learn how market trends, breeding decisions, and production efficiency influence carcass outcomes and shape today’s beef quality standards. Mark also shares insights on how producers can align with shifting consumer preferences and maintain profitability in 2025 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ONUG5EWGsc
