SE Manitoba | BLKCOW - 12/7/2022 17:35
This has been discussed in other threads in the past. Was quite a stir a few years ago when ACTUAL RANCH DATA from various various extension programs across the country (such as SPA CHAPS etc.) showed weaning weights have been more or less flat for decades while mature cow size continued to climb. Feeding more factory for nothing. That is what the numbers race has produced. "SEEDSTOCK" operations generally don't care about the cost of production because there is little correlation to what their cattle bring (besides fat usually sells in that scenario.)
While we have cattle prices approaching those seen eight years ago, look at what input costs have done. There is no proof that on the cow-calf end increasing production can offset increasing production costs in many areas and for the near future anyway. There has never been a time when cattle that fit your environment has been more important. Yes there are areas that consistently produce more forage. But the competition for those acres for other purposes has never been higher either. Traits like longevity and fertility are where you find them. Cows that can cycle and get pregnant with a less than optimum BCS are out there, but they aren't likely the result of chasing EPD's.
Well said !
The present hyper search for the highest calf weaning weights from cow/calf producers using that almost exclusively as a metric is part of what is making the industry so uneconomic.
I'm a thinking that most have forgotten that the cow/calf guy is really selling forage - - just on the hoof as it were.
But try convincing a guy with 50 years in the biz that he's making no money when he can point as more than 5 years of sale topping calf weights and prices (he loves 1800 to 2000# cows).
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Terminal vs maternal breeding
