Measuring Cow Efficiency in the Herd. Ryon S. Walker Livestock Consultant Noble Research Institute

Transcription

1 Measuring Cow Efficiency in the Herd Ryon S. Walker Livestock Consultant Noble Research Institute

2 Does Cow Size Matter? If you don t tag at birth, you don t know who belongs to who, and you don t weigh your cows or calves, THEN NO! How can you make change if you don t know what to change! If you do all the above, THEN YES!

3 Guess the Weight Cow 097 body weight 1510 lbs Closest guess 1497 lbs Range 800 to 2050 lbs 62% missed it by 200 lbs or more 89% guessed too low 11% guessed too high

4 Guess the Weight Cow 4016 body weight 1225 lbs Closest guess 1225 lbs Range 812 to 1700 lbs 34% missed it by 200 lbs or more 75% guessed too low 25% guessed too high

5 Can t Manage What You Don t Measure!!!

6 NASS, Federally Inspected Slaughter Report

7 U. S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) evaluation of current breed genetics Breed Mature Cow Size Simmental 1,353 pounds Hereford 1,348 pounds Angus 1,342 pounds Charolais 1,339 pounds Limousin 1,330 pounds Gelbvieh 1,282 pounds All cows are four-year olds at a body condition score of 5. Adapted from American Gelbvieh Association

8 What Happened the Last 30 Years! Feedlots were putting pressure on faster gaining heavier calves going in and out of the feedlots = more lbs of Closely Trimmed Retail Cuts! Introduction of more continental bloodlines High correlation between growth and mature size, and carcass weights and mature size (.80 and.76; Bullock et al., 1993)

9 Dickinson Research Extension Center (NDSU) Mature cows (ages 5-9) Avg. Cow Wt - lbs Avg. Weaning Wt - lbs % of Mature Body Weight Weaned 1,272 lbs 602 lbs 47 % 1,571 lbs 603 lbs 42 % Kris Ringwall, Beef Talk, Dickenson Extension Research Center, Dickenson, ND, NDSU

10 NW MN Beef Improvement Program (12 Beef Herds [914 hd] Avg Mature Wt. = 1386 lbs) Light Cows Heavy Cows Ages 4 ½ and up lbs. difference 0 (Walker et al., 2011)

11 NW MN Beef Improvement Program lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lb lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs lb lbs lbs

12 Hill Farm Research Station, LSU Mature cows (ages 5-9) Avg. Cow Wt - lbs Avg. Weaning Wt - lbs % of Mature Body Weight Weaned 1,185 lbs 488 lbs 41 % 1,343 lbs 515 lbs 38 % Cow weight difference lbs Calf weight difference - 27 lbs

13 Dean Lee Research Station, LSU Mature cows (ages 5-9) Avg. Cow Wt - lbs Avg. Weaning Wt - lbs % of Mature Body Weight Weaned 1,177 lbs 581 lbs 49 % 1,342 lbs 585 lbs 44 % Cow weight difference lbs Calf weight difference - 4 lbs

14 Distribution of Cow Weight within Herds Herd 12 Herd 11 Herd 10 Herd 9 Herd 8 Herd 7 Herd 6 Herd 5 Herd 4 Herd 3 Herd 2 Herd

15 Dry Matter Intake, lbs Calving 35 Dry Matter Intake Requirements for Maintenance lbs 1200 lbs 1400 lbs Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Producing 20 Peak Milk Production - NRC, 1996

16 Daily Intake Based on Cow Size POST-WEANING Light Group - cow = 1221 lbs Heavy Group - cow = 1385 lbs DMI lbs For every 100 lb increase in BW, 1.5 lb increase in DM intake. 5 0 Light Heavy

17 Daily Intake Based on Cow Size LACTATION Light Group - cow = 1200 lbs Heavy Group - cow = 1369 lbs 40 DMI lbs For every 100 lb increase in BW, 1.1 lb increase in DM intake Light Heavy

18 Average Daily Temp & Average Daily Dry Matter Intake for low and high RFI Low RFI (1286 lbs) avg. daily DMI High RFI (1288 lbs) avg. daily DMI Mean Temp Low RFI Avg. RFI High RFI Apr 21-Apr 1-May 11-May 21-May 31-May 10-Jun

19 Heifer DMI Based on Dam BW Group BW, lbs Light Heavy Dam Heifer Dam Heifer DMI, lbs Light Heavy (P = 0.42) Positive correlation between dam BW and subsequent heifer: Heifer BW (r = 0.54) BW gain (r = 0.31) DMI (r = 0.42) Frame Score (r = 0.58)

20 Does Cow Efficiency Matter?

21 U.S. Cow Herd Forage DM Requirements Forage DM Requirement Tons DM (1,000,000) Forage DM

22 Cow Inventory Decline in the U.S Number of Producing Beef Cows Head (1,000,000) Cow Inventory

23 Forage Dry Matter Required to Support the Beef Cow Herd Cow Inventory and Forage DM Requirement Head (1,000,000) Tons DM (1,000,000) Forage DM Cow Inventory

24 Why is the forage requirement the same for 13 million fewer cows? Because we have made the cows bigger and asked them to do more!

25 Positive Feed Efficiency Correlations Dam BW and Offspring Heifer BW (Walker et al., 2015) 0.54 and Offspring Heifer DMI (Walker et al., 2015) 0.42 Heifer DMI on forage then on grain (Cassady et al., 2016) 0.58 Heifer RFI on forage then on grain (Cassady et al., 2016) 0.40 Repeatability of RFI as a Heifer and later a Cow % remained in same classification 37.8% changed classification (Morgan et al., 2010) Pre- vs Post-pubertal RFI remaining the same (Loyd et al., 2011) 0.48 Repeatability of RFI as Heifer and later as 3 yr old Cow 0.13 (Black et al., 2013)

26 So What Do We Want? Bigger calves means bigger cows Smaller cows means smaller calves but more cows IDEAL smaller cows with bigger calves

27 What do we Want in a Cow? Forage Efficiency 50 Pounds of Product 20 High Fertility 20 Moderate Size 10 X X X

28 Feed Efficiency Hill Farm Research Station Cow Production and Feed Efficiency Data! Dam Light BW Group Dam Heavy BW Group Trait Light Calf WW Heavy Calf WW Light Calf WW Heavy Calf WW Calf Adj. WW Dam DMI Dam BW

29 Feed Efficiency Hill Farm Research Station Cow Production and Feed Efficiency Data! Dam Light BW Group Dam Heavy BW Group Trait Light Calf WW Heavy Calf WW Light Calf WW Heavy Calf WW Calf Adj. WW Dam DMI Dam BW Small Cow Heavy Calf versus Big Cow Light Calf Small cows weigh 150 lbs less Small cows eat 0.6 lbs DM/day less $8.76 Small cows wean 33 lbs more $52.80

30 Feed Efficiency Hill Farm Research Station Cow Production and Feed Efficiency Data! Dam Light BW Group Dam Heavy BW Group Trait Light Calf WW Heavy Calf WW Light Calf WW Heavy Calf WW Calf Adj. WW Dam DMI Dam BW Small Cow Heavy Calf versus Big Cow Heavy Calf Small cows weigh 200 lbs less Small cows eat 2.2 lbs DM/day less $32.10 Small cows wean 20 lbs less - $32.00

31 What s Our Goal? To Produce: Little Cows with Little Calves Little Cows with Big Calves Big Cows with Little Calves Big Cows with Big Calves

32 What do we Need to Measure? Who Belongs to Who 30 Cow Size 25 Calf Weaning Weight 20 Body Condition Score 15 Pregnancy Rates 10 Economics 5

33 Minnesota - Cow BCS and calf weaning weight 27 lb diff in weaning wt. 267 lb diff in true cow wt. Minnesota Beef Herds

34 Hill Farm - Cow BCS and calf weaning weight lb diff in weaning wt. 92 lb diff in true cow wt. Avg Adj Cow Wt Avg True Cow Wt Avg WW Wt BCS 5.2 BCS 6.1 BCS Minnesota Beef Herds

35 Adjusting for BCS How do I estimate the weight of a 1300 pound cow at a BCS 5 if she is a BCS 6? 1300 (SBW, percent of CS 5 for the CS in question) So, = 1203 pounds

36 Selection based on an Economic Ranking System Breakeven Economic Value Ranking Cow Cost Differences Calf Cost Differences avg. adjusted mature cow wt. & avg. adjusted 205 day calf weaning wt. Individual cow cost difference + individual calf cost difference (avg. herd adjusted cow BW individual adjusted cow BW) x diff DMI/lb x $/lb hay x 210 days feeding (individual adjusted 205 d calf wt. avg. herd adjusted 205 d calf weight) * $/lb

37 Road Blocks Factors affecting production efficiency: Breed Genetics Dam age Forage Quality Weather Not all producers have a set of scales. Not all producers: Tag calves and pair up Collect birth dates Collect birth weights

38 What We Learned! Our cows have gotten bigger. Approximately 30% of herds do not wean bigger calves from bigger cows. Differences in DMI exist based on cow size. Moderate correlation with dam BW and multiple offspring growth traits, such as DMI. We are not good guessers at cow body weight.

39 QUESTIONS?