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Time to Crossbreed
It’s becoming
more difficult to ignore heterosis for economic efficiency and
the need to produce more for less.
by:
Wes Ishmael |
“Simple crossbreeding systems that
combine Continental and English cattle, tempered by genetics
that deal with environmental needs are still incredibly
important today for the commercial cowman to maintain
profitability,” explains Bob Prosser, who, with his wife, Judy,
owns and manages the Bar T Bar Ranch headquartered near Winslow,
AZ. “Hybrid vigor is the catalyst that provides a cost effective
way to blend the needs of the producer and the consumer, while
capitalizing on efficiencies that lead to net profit for
producers.
“Most important though, hybrid vigor is the most powerful tool a
producer has to use in avoiding wrecks,” Prosser says. “In times
of climatic, nutritional or immunological stress, crossbred
animals have an absolute advantage over their straight-bred
counterparts when you consider morbidity, mortality and
reproductive performance. That’s why hybrid vigor is a
cornerstone of profit-minded programs.”
The U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) has documented
heterosis advantages for decades. Among them, 25% more lifetime
cow productivity and 38% more cow longevity. All told, crossbred
females are estimated to be 30% more productive over their
lifetimes, due to increased fertility, calf survivability,
increased weaning weights and cow longevity.
That’s before you consider breed complimentarity that can meld
maternal ability, carcass yield and quality into an animal that
is also more feed efficient than straight-bred counterparts.
“Heterosis is the trump card to actually lower costs,” says
Barry Dunn, Executive Director of the King Ranch Institute for
Ranch Management. “That’s the primary strategy I recommend for
coping with these times of increasing input costs and narrowing
margins.”
You can cut costs outright, of course, but Dunn points out, “The
challenge with just lowering costs is that often times you’re
also lowering production along with it. If you’re going to lower
production, you’ve got to figure out how to market fewer pounds
for more money. I’d rather work on the other side of it with
heterosis.”
Slice it how you want, heterosis, especially maternal heterosis
means being able to increase production with the same inputs or
maintain current production with fewer inputs.
Yet, Dave Daley, a fifth generation California cattle producer
who is also a professor of animal science at California State
University-Chico believes crossbreeding continues to be vastly
underutilized.
In fact, Daley told participants at the recent Beef Improvement
Federation (BIF) conference in California, “In the past few
years, we seem to have drifted away from crossbreeding to more
traditional straight-bred programs that intend to focus on
phenotypic consistency and end product, but not necessarily on
profitability. Is there a rational explanation for our
unwillingness to take advantage of a proven technique to enhance
economic return?”
Crossbreeding Challenges
For one, Dunn points out, “Some producers still don’t utilize
crossbreeding is that they’ve made the thoughtful decision to
exploit the market premiums available for black cattle with the
ability to grade Choice. Though a logical decision in the short
term, the problem with that is that by not crossbreeding you’re
lowering production overall.”
Besides, as consumers opt for lower-priced beef during these
tough economic times, the Choice-Select spread narrows; the
premium for Choice is diminished.
Another reason some ignore crossbreeding is fear about
phenotypic consistency and marketability, a challenge that can
be managed conveniently, while still exploiting the benefits.
Consider the storied Spade Ranch headquartered in Lubbock, TX.
When John Welch, Spade CEO arrived here, the previous manager,
Dub Waldrip, had developed an aggressive 4-breed Continental X
English rotational system that maximized maternal heterosis.
Though effective, Welch explains its complexity made it a lot
easier to do than to try to explain. Plus, at any one time you
had two herds that were 67% English and 33% Continental, and two
herds that were just the opposite.
“So, although the herds were stable genetically, you had two
distinct types of cattle requiring different management,” says
Welch.
Consequently, Welch switched to a simpler system by which
Balancer bulls are mated to Simmental X Angus cows, and
Simmental X Angus bulls are mated to Balancer females.
“You end up with a cow and a calf that are half English and half
Continental. Since Simmental and Gelbvieh are similar
phenotypically, the calves look very uniform, and you retain 67
percent heterosis,” explains Welch. “Wherever you begin with
this program, within a couple of generations you’re already very
close to where you want to go.”
As input costs increase, Welch says the value of heterosis
grows. “You can maintain a higher level of fertility with the
same inputs, or the same level of fertility with fewer inputs…At
our ranches we’re also moving to become less and less
labor-intensive, so we’re trying to get cows to do more with
less attention.”
The convenience of systems like this one—those that optimize
rather than maximize heterosis—is one reason for the growing
popularity of hybrid bulls (see Crossbreeding made Easier, page
111).
Of course, original breed experience is also a reason some
producers hesitate to crossbreed.
When Continental breeds were introduced to the United States,
primarily in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and the application of
crossbreeding was new in the business, selection and mating
decisions were often haphazard. There were some classic wrecks,
remembered and still retold as if they occurred yesterday.
Realities then have become the myths of today.
For instance, some commercial producers shy away from
crossbreeding because they’re afraid of what heterosis will do
to the mature size of their cows.
“We’re thinking back to 35 years ago when we had 935 lbs. cows
bred to a Continental bull, kept heifers back and had cows
weighing 1,100 lbs. We don’t have nearly that much diversity
between breeds today,” says Welch. As far as Welch is concerned,
key challenges facing commercial producers now are the same on
both sides of the crossbreeding fence.
“The industry has gotten the performance so high in Angus, for
example, that the average Angus cow is bigger than the average
Gelbvieh; the average Angus cows milks more than the average
Simmental cow,” says Welch. “So, the challenge of not getting
your cows too big through crossbreeding are the same challenge
you face if you’re straight-breeding today.
You can find moderate-framed composite bulls as easily as you
can moderate-framed purebred bulls.”
Besides practical experience, US MARC data also underscores the
fact that breeds are becoming more alike rather than maintaining
or growing the performance diversity that existed between them
previously.
Daley has summarized 10 key reasons why too many breeders leave
heterosis on the shelf (see www.beefimprovement.org--2009
Proceedings). More than anything, he says, “I am convinced that
the primary drawback is the focus (industry) on measuring
outputs rather than inputs. With a few notable exceptions, all
of the individual animal traits we measure reflect bigger,
faster, more.”
Spun differently, the benefits of heterosis, especially maternal
heterosis, aren’t easy to see or quantify.
“The value in crossbreeding is often underestimated because it
has a small positive effect on many different traits that are
lowly heritable and difficult to measure. Frequently, maternal
heterosis (the value of the crossbred cow) is about decreasing
inputs as much as it is about increasing output,” Daley says.
“Let’s not get sidetracked on what determines maximum sustained
profit for all segments of the industry. It is not the amount of
pounds of product per head. It is the amount of product per unit
of input cost.”
Heterosis in the Real World
California State University-Chico is in the third year of a
research trial comparing Angus cows bred to Angus bulls with
Angus cows bred to Hereford bulls in extensive range conditions.
Collaborators included Harris Ranch Beef Company (Coalinga, CA);
Lacey Livestock of Independence, CA and the American Hereford
Association. DNA was used to determine parentage at weaning, and
only those calves that could be definitively matched to a single
sire were used in the data analysis.
“Preliminary results are not surprising,” Daley says. “As we
measured direct heterosis (heterosis of the calf), there was a
small positive advantage in most traits. In particular,
crossbred (F1) calves were slightly heavier at weaning, had a
slight advantage in feedlot gain and feed efficiency and a lower
cost of gain. The crossbred calves had lower quality grades,
partially offsetting the economic advantage in the other
segments. However, in the first two years of the study, there
was a consistent economic advantage to crossbreeding, even
factoring in the quality grade advantage of the Angus-sired
calves.”
All of that is icing on the proverbial cake.
“Although direct heterosis is important, we must remember that
the true value is maternal hybrid vigor—the incredible value of
the crossbred cow,” Daley explains. “The most important economic
return will be when the crossbred cow enters the production
system. In particular, the potential increase in lifetime
productivity and longevity is key to maximum sustained profit
per unit of input.”
Heterosis adds to Industry Sustainability, Too
Exploiting the power of heterosis is about more than the
efficiency of individual operations. It’s about industry
sustainability and the ability to continue feeding the world,
too (see Running on Empty, page 20).
“We need the economic viability of our suppliers. Heterosis is
one of the tools, a powerful one, that our cow-calf supplies can
use to remain viable while still producing a product that can be
managed for value-added markets,” says Ben Brophy director of
genomics commercialization for Cargill, which includes Cargill
Cattle Feeders and Cargill Meat Solutions (formerly known as
Excel). “We have a good spectrum of demand for High Select and
Low Choice grade beef, guaranteed tender, that we market as our
Rancher’s Registry brand. We also have good demand for High
Choice and premium beef programs like Certified Angus Beef and
our Cargill Meat Solutions Sterling Silver.”
In fact, Cargill is focusing on cattle and carcasses that fill
these two categories, staying away from cattle that won’t work
within them.
“Within both categories, there is a reasonable fit for cattle
coming out of crossbred programs,” says Brophy.
A set of steers from Spade Ranch serves as an example. These
were 288 steers out of Balancer cows, sired by Simmental X Angus
bulls. They gained 3.5 lbs. in the feedlot with a dry matter
feed conversion of 6:1. They graded 74% Choice, 64% Yield Grade
1-2. “Those calves returned us $30 per head premium through
Cargill’s Sharing Total Added Value Alliance (STAV) program,”
says Welch.
If you’re not familiar with it, Cargill Cattle Feeders buys and
owns all of the cattle it feeds. Through STAV the feeding
company pays premiums to producers of the calves it has already
purchased if the calves are among the top feeding and carcass
cattle.
“The Southern half of the United States doesn’t need to be very
concerned with premium Choice programs because that target is
not typically sustainable from a production standpoint,” says
Brophy. Understand, he is also general manager of his family’s
Babocomari Ranch at Elgin, AZ.
“It is time for many producers to design long-term, simplistic
plans that capture maternal heterosis,” says Daley. “I would not
want to manage cattle in any environment without that incredible
value. And the tougher the environment the more critical hybrid
vigor becomes.”
“Our environment is tough enough through weaning that we can’t
chase 80% Choice grade, never mind the maternal side of it. It’s
a lot easier and more profitable to make a profit with heterosis
than carcass premiums,” says Prosser. “Our job is to put as much
carcass premium in the cattle as the maternal efficiency
demanded by our environment will support.
“You make money in this business with maternal performance, calf
performance and the carcass,” says Prosser. “Without the added
efficiency provided by managing heterosis there isn’t enough
money left in the business to survive.”
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