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| With all the genetic "tools" we have there is no reason to have the smallest cow herd in 75 years. We should be like corn and bean farmers, efficiency producing more and more per acre. But just the opposite is true with cattle. There is plenty of evidence that weaning weights have basically been flat for decades, yet mature cow size continues to grow, though more and more producers are realizing it. In reality less and less efficient because we are selecting for the wrong genetic traits. Unless you retain ownership of your calves or direct market, you are in the cattle business NOT the beef business. Yet what has been pushed genetically is "carcass" traits, often at the expense of the efficiency on the cow-calf level. I know, I went down that road. It took more acres and more inputs to produce the same pounds.
That same prefix polluted the Angus breed with genetic defect carriers that cost producers millions. There was a good deal of debate about who knew exactly what and when. Luckily I had sampled some of those genetics and found them to be some of the poorest cattle I ever raised and got rid of them before ruining an entire herd of cattle. Fool me once, etc. | |
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Just for fun what is this bull worth
