USA SUSTAINABLE RANCHING COURSE (BREEDING / MANAGEMENT excludes GRAZING)

Transcription

1 USA SUSTAINABLE RANCHING COURSE (BREEDING / MANAGEMENT excludes GRAZING) PRESENTER: Johann Zietsman (BSc. Anim. Sci. Cum laude; University of Pretoria). Zimbabwe based Consultant, Cattle Breeder and Originator of Ultrahigh Density Grazing on a ranch scale. OBJECTIVE: The attainment of maximum sustainable profit/ha in any ranching situation worldwide. DURATION: Two full days of lectures including a field demonstration. COURSE CONTENT: 1. Generally speaking, the goal of virtually every rancher is maximum production or profit per animal. This is neither ecologically nor economically sustainable because of the resultant erroneous breeding and management practices. Virtually all conventional breeding and management practices lead to range degradation and low profit/ha as well as a poor return on capital investment. An appropriate goal is maximum sustainable profit/ha. 2. Cattle have a dual role: They need to efficiently convert grass into beef and they have to improve the range on which they graze. Neither of these roles is currently being fulfilled. 3. Stocking rate is a far more important determinant of profitability than individual animal performance. An increase in stocking rate results in a decline in the individual performance of conventionally bred cattle, but an increase in production and profit per hectare. However, an increase in stocking rate with cattle that have a good inherent body condition results in an increase in profit in line with the number of cattle. 4. Body condition is the alpha and omega, the A to Z and the beginning and end of cattle breeding and management. Everything influences body condition or is influenced by body condition. 5. Cattle ranchers have an option: Breed or feed for body condition. 6. Body condition is determined by Relative Intake, is a reflection of grass conversion efficiency and is the major determinant of Practical Fertility. 7. The determinants of Relative Intake. 8. Large frame cattle are genetically handicapped. There is an inverse relationship between Frame Size and Relative Intake.

2 9. Large frame cattle require high octane grass. 10.Growth is essential, but what is meant by growth? The faster an individual animal gains weight the greater is the efficiency of feed conversion. The fastest gaining animal is not necessarily the most efficient convertor. At similar weight gain the smaller frame animal is more efficient. In order for animals of varying size to be equally efficient each animal has to gain in proportion to its size. Although cattle have to grow in proportion to their size they cannot eat in proportion to their size. Intake is in proportion to metabolic size which decreases, relative to size, the larger the animal Small frame cattle have an unfair advantage. 11.The reason why cattle are conventionally bred to be lean and efficient and fed to be productive. 12.The loose skin and heavy bone syndrome. 13.The consequences of lean and efficient and fat is bad. 14.The most productive animals are being culled in the name of science. 15.Why are the so-called unimproved breeds superior to the so-called improved breeds in range tests in southern Africa? 16.Growth needs to be measured in relative, and not absolute, terms. 17.The modifying influence of hormones on fertility, growth, size and morphology. Visual appraisal in the cow is of historical value. Visual appraisal in the bull has predictive value. 18.Visual selection of bulls for a desirable hormonal balance. 19.The difference between Practical Fertility and Academic Fertility. 20.According to the professors, textbooks and conventional wisdom fertility is lowly heritable. If that is true then little, if any, progress can be made through selection. If that is true then survival of the fittest does not apply. Fortunately it is not true.

3 21.Practical Fertility is highly heritable. In fact, there cannot be a lowly heritable survival trait. Period. 22.The determinants of Practical Fertility are hormonal balance and inherent body condition. Although these determinants are highly heritable and Practical Fertility is highly heritable, the conventional selection criteria used to measure fertility are lowly heritable. It is not fertility that is lowly heritable, but the criteria used to measure it. 23.No-one will deny the importance of body condition (nutrition + inheritance) in determining fertility. Why, then, are most cows forced to calve when naturally occurring nutrition is at its worst? 24.There is no major ranching area in the world where a breeding season longer than 42 days is necessary. 25.With a 42 day breeding season approximately 80 90% of suckling cows will have 1-3 heat cycles before the start of the breeding season. What is the significance of this in terms of overall fertility, herd health and the option for effective AI? 26.Are 100 ten-year-old cows that have each produced 9 calves equally fertile? What if conditions were historically different shorter breeding season and less feed supplements? What if conditions were such that only 10 cows had a perfect calving record? 27.The 10% most fertile cows (relatively speaking) are present in all herds, whether they are identified or not. What chance is there that, with current selection and breeding practices, the bulls in use will at least complement these cows in terms of fertility? In other words will the fertility of the female progeny be on a par with their dams or will it be lower? 28.It is possible to identify the 10% most fertile cows by making conditions so tough that only 10% have an ideal calving record. That would obviously not be practical. However, there is a way this can be done even with a 100% calving record. 29.Milk has priority over fat in terms of nutrients. High milk producing beef cows require dairy cow nutrition in order to conceive. 30.The ideal cow as determined by society has varied from an over-fat dwarf to a slab-sided, long-legged freak. The ephemeral nature of the ideal animal disqualifies man from determining what is desirable or undesirable.

4 31.In conventional cattle breeding the unimportant is made important and the important is made unimportant. 32.The problem with conventional breeding is that the environment is changed to fit the genotype instead of the genotype being changed to fit the environment. 33.The irrelevance of pedigree and breed purity. 34.The difference between scientist logic and herdsman logic. 35.The use of EPDs in the current situation is akin to accelerating the speed of a car on the wrong road. In relation to these figures, what is too small or too big; too much or too little; too short or too long; too slow or too fast? The ingredients of vested interests and ego, in an already questionable mix, make this recipe a failure. 36.Nature is the ultimate judge of what is desirable and undesirable. Cattle breeders have to devise ways of reading nature correctly. 37.The best that we, as breeders, can do is to accelerate natural selection. 38.What are the attributes of an efficient grass convertor? Inherently good body condition resulting from a high Relative Intake Desirable hormonal balance Optimum milk High meat: bone ratio Easy-care Temperament Parasite resistance Disease resistance Calving ease Mothering ability Poll 39.The selection criteria that identify an efficient grass convertor: Maturity Rate

5 12 Month Maturity Ranking Cow Efficiency 6 Month Maturity Ranking Cow Fertility Calving Corrected ICP/PPAP Cow Fertility Ranking Bull Fertility 12 Month Maturity Ranking 12 Month Scrotal Circumference Ranking Breeding Ability Meat: Bone Ratio 8-in-5 vs. 9-in-10 package 12 Month Maturity Ranking Easy-care Direct and indirect selection criteria 40.Cattle Breeds and their unique traits: African Sanga African Zebu Asian Zebu Conventional Composites Tropically Adapted Bos Taurus British Beef Dual Purpose Continental 41.Breeding Systems:

6 Pure Breeding Conventional Crossbreeding Crossbreeding of Crossbreds Pure Breeding of Crossbreds 42.Accelerating Natural Selection: Use genetically discerning selection criteria Ensure sufficient Genetic Variation Minimum of selection criteria Eliminate antagonistic criteria High Selection Differential Short Generation Interval Fast Genetic Turnover Initiate / Exploit Mutations 43.A Practical Selection Blueprint. A problem cannot be solved by the same thinking that created it Albert Einstein. The problem of range degradation and unproductive cattle cannot be solved by the current institutes universities, colleges and breed societies. These problems can only be solved by independent thinkers. The problem for cattle producers is that the ideas that can empower them to change positively are too revolutionary for the mainstream to accept. We all need to get more cow dung on our boots. Johann Zietsman Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe barzed2000@ yahoo.com