The beef industry is in the perfect storm right now with one of the smallest cow herds on record while experiencing continued demand for high-quality beef and an increasing per-capita consumption of beef. Beef producers are seeing record-high prices for the cattle they are selling. This is a perfect time to invest in the future of your cow herd to prepare for the next price cycle.
When commercial cow/calf producers ask me why they should use genomic testing, I like to use a golf example with them. If a friend and I are choosing teams for a round of golf, I’ll let my friend choose three golfers from the group first. He chooses three people to complete his team of four based on whether they look athletic or look like they play golf.
Now, it’s my turn; and I look out among the crowd and ask, “How many people have a handicap under 20? How many people have a handicap under 10? How many people have a handicap under five?” I pick from that group to form my team.
Then, I ask the producers who they think is going to win the round of golf. Most will say that I will win the round because of how I picked my team.
That analogy is a perfect demonstration of how we pick our replacement heifers today, if we aren’t genomic testing. We go in the pen and say, “Well, that one looks like she’ll make a good cow.” But if I layer in more data about the genetics behind those heifers, then I can make smarter decisions than I can on just phenotype alone.
Dr. Bob Weaber with Kansas State University once shared that you can make progress a certain percentage faster by using genomic-enhanced expected progeny differences (GE-EPDs) than by not using them. I think it’s hard to see that easily in a cow herd. But if I run “X” percent faster than my friend, that’s easier to see. We need to ask ourselves, “What if the race is continuous, like when you are building a herd?” That distance between the herds selecting replacements with GE-EPDs and the herds not using them is going to keep getting bigger with the faster genetic progress.
Getting Started
I always tell producers who want to start genomic testing that the earlier you test in an animal’s life, the more decisions you can make with the results. For many spring-calving herds, spring branding and turnout are just around the corner. That is the next big opportunity we have to collect a DNA sample from heifer calves. If you collect the sample in the spring, you will have results back and can make more-informed culling decisions at weaning.
Or if you are a fall-calving herd, you either just weaned or are weaning. That is another opportunity to collect DNA samples. You can then get the results, which can help inform some breeding decisions or even decisions on which heifers to keep in the herd for breeding.
Zoetis Precision Animal Health helps remove the barriers to genomic testing through providing access to tissue sampling units (TSUs) and the applicator to take the samples. The inside sales representatives can help with the ordering process and where to send samples once they are collected. Once the results are back, we offer support in how to read the results and how to use them in making decisions.
The next question I get from producers is: “How many should I test?” My response to that depends on how fast you want to make progress. If you have time and you want to make slower progress, then test only your heifer calves to help determine your replacements. Continue testing replacements every year, and, eventually, your whole herd will be tested.
If you want to get there faster, test all your cows, along with your replacement heifers. It’s a bigger investment, but you will have a more complete picture of the genetics behind your herd: strengths, weaknesses and areas to improve through breeding decisions. You may also decide it’s time to sell the cows that truly don’t fit your goals.
INHERIT® Select offers genetic predictions in 21 economically important traits, including the first commercially available genetic predictions for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) health (BRDH) and BRD survival (BRDS), along with four economic indexes.
I always caution commercial cow/calf producers to not overselect on any single trait. BRDH and BRDS are great additions, but they aren’t silver bullets. How I describe it to producers is: Select the heifers that you would normally select and then use the BRD genetic predictions as tiebreakers. Or another example: You tested 100 heifers and want to keep 50, but there are five heifers in that top 50 that are really bad in the BRD traits, so I might keep Nos. 51 through 55 to replace those and put those heifers that have poor GE-EPDs for BRD in the cull pen.
We have record calf prices, and now is the time to build the genetics in your cow herd to withstand the next low cycle. If you have a better cow herd that’s more profitable when the next low cycle gets here, you’re going to be the person who survives it. There’s been no better time in the history of the cattle business to invest in genetics.
Visit beefgenetics.com to connect with one of our team members to begin your genomic testing journey.
