Measuring Cow Efficiency in the Herd Ryon S. Walker Livestock Consultant Noble Research Institute
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!
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
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
Can t Manage What You Don t Measure!!!
NASS, Federally Inspected Slaughter Report
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
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)
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
NW MN Beef Improvement Program (12 Beef Herds [914 hd] Avg Mature Wt. = 1386 lbs) 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 Light Cows 1050-1385 Heavy Cows 1388-1918 1297 1490 Ages 4 ½ and up 600 400 200 579 596 17 lbs. difference 0 (Walker et al., 2011)
NW MN Beef Improvement Program 1319 1488 169 lbs 623 640 17 lbs 1268 1482 214 lbs 620 623 3 lbs 1294 1447 153 lbs 563 595 32 lbs 1250 1431 181 lbs 498 516 18 lbs 1414 1694 280 lbs 598 623 25 lbs 1261 1431 170 lbs 516 516 0 lb 1269 1476 207 lbs 586 612 26 lbs 1353 1519 166 lbs 526 547 21 lbs 1257 1410 153 lbs 574 599 25 lbs 1260 1398 138 lbs 544 585 41 lbs 1238 1380 142 lbs 639 633-6 lb 1369 1533 164 lbs 623 627 4 lbs
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 - 158 lbs Calf weight difference - 27 lbs
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 - 165 lbs Calf weight difference - 4 lbs
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 1 750 950 1150 1350 1550 1750 1950
Dry Matter Intake, lbs Calving 35 Dry Matter Intake Requirements for Maintenance 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1000 lbs 1200 lbs 1400 lbs Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Producing 20 Peak Milk Production - NRC, 1996
Daily Intake Based on Cow Size POST-WEANING Light Group - cow = 1221 lbs Heavy Group - cow = 1385 lbs 40 35 30 DMI 25 20 24.9 2.4 lbs 27.3 15 10 For every 100 lb increase in BW, 1.5 lb increase in DM intake. 5 0 Light Heavy
Daily Intake Based on Cow Size LACTATION Light Group - cow = 1200 lbs Heavy Group - cow = 1369 lbs 40 DMI 35 30 35 1.8 lbs 36.8 25 20 15 For every 100 lb increase in BW, 1.1 lb increase in DM intake. 10 5 0 Light Heavy
Average Daily Temp & Average Daily Dry Matter Intake for low and high RFI 90 80 Low RFI (1286 lbs) 31.97 avg. daily DMI High RFI (1288 lbs) 39.42 avg. daily DMI 70 60 50 40 Mean Temp Low RFI Avg. RFI High RFI 30 20 10 0 11-Apr 21-Apr 1-May 11-May 21-May 31-May 10-Jun
Heifer DMI Based on Dam BW Group 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 BW, lbs 1378 1212 604 633 Light Heavy Dam Heifer 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Dam Heifer DMI, lbs 35 36.8 15.6 16.9 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)
Does Cow Efficiency Matter?
U.S. Cow Herd Forage DM Requirements Forage DM Requirement 250 200 Tons DM (1,000,000) 150 100 50 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Forage DM
Cow Inventory Decline in the U.S. 50.0 45.0 Number of Producing Beef Cows Head (1,000,000) 40.0 35.0 30.0 25.0 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Cow Inventory
Forage Dry Matter Required to Support the Beef Cow Herd Cow Inventory and Forage DM Requirement 50.0 250 45.0 200 Head (1,000,000) 40.0 35.0 150 100 Tons DM (1,000,000) 30.0 50 25.0 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Forage DM Cow Inventory
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!
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 0.51 62.2% 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)
So What Do We Want? Bigger calves means bigger cows Smaller cows means smaller calves but more cows IDEAL smaller cows with bigger calves
What do we Want in a Cow? Forage Efficiency 50 Pounds of Product 20 High Fertility 20 Moderate Size 10 X X X
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 485 540 507 560 Dam DMI 34.5 35.6 36.2 37.8 Dam BW 1204 1195 1345 1391
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 485 540 507 560 Dam DMI 34.5 35.6 36.2 37.8 Dam BW 1204 1195 1345 1391 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
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 485 540 507 560 Dam DMI 34.5 35.6 36.2 37.8 Dam BW 1204 1195 1345 1391 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
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
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
Minnesota - Cow BCS and calf weaning weight 27 lb diff in weaning wt. 267 lb diff in true cow wt. Minnesota Beef Herds
Hill Farm - Cow BCS and calf weaning weight 1400 1200 1000 800 600 10 lb diff in weaning wt. 92 lb diff in true cow wt. Avg Adj Cow Wt Avg True Cow Wt Avg WW Wt 400 200 0 4.6 BCS 5.2 BCS 6.1 BCS Minnesota Beef Herds
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, 1300 1.08 = 1203 pounds
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
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
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.
QUESTIONS?