“When you consider the success objective genetic information brought to our seedstock market over the past several decades, you get some idea what could happen in the feeder cattle market,” says Tom Brink, Red Angus Association of America CEO and one of the GMP Task Force founders. “It’s a very complex situation we’re getting into now,” Uden says. He cautions that it’s not as simple as genetics or being fed right. Identifying those cattle is difficult, but when we find those cattle, they’re worth more.” “They want cattle that grade and perform. “My most astute feeding custom ers want it all,” Uden says. Weaning, vaccinating and pre-conditioning calves with the auctioneer’s mention on sale day stops short of the goal line. “Producers must learn to get their cattle in front of the right audience of buyers.” “They must also have a marketing plan,” recommends Craig Uden, former NCBA president and co-owner of Darr Feedlot in Cozad, Neb. That means more commercial cow-calf operators will need to capture and record data about genetics and performance, but that is just the beginning. “I believe the next 20 years the major progress is going to come on the genetic side.” “Now, I think we are in transition,” he says. Over the past 20 years, Odde says when considering value-added calves the industry mostly thinks of calf health. That lack of genetic information creates a big hole in our ability to price cattle according to their true value.” Without objective genetic information on potential growth rate, feed e¬fficiency, marbling and other key traits, we cannot accurately project how a given group of cattle will perform or how valuable their carcasses will be. “Yet in the beef industry, we trade millions of feeder cattle and calves annually, while knowing next to nothing about their genetics. “If you look at crops, pork, poultry, dairy and virtually all other agricultural products, genetics are heavily emphasized,” Odde says. (The group’s initial meeting was held Nov. Ken Odde, former Kansas State University animal science department head and group facilitator, believes the Genetic Merit Pricing Task Force has a critical mission that can help make all industry segments more efficient and prosperous. That’s the idea behind the Genetic Merit Pricing Task Force, a coalition of 32 producers and industry stakeholders dedicated to helping the industry accelerate toward widespread use of genetic information in pricing feeder cattle. In a 2019 research paper, “Matching Beef Cows to Forage Resources,” Oklahoma State University beef specialist David Lalman, et al, observed: “profit-minded commercial cow-calf enterprises need to a) maintain good records b) shift focus to controlling cowherd input costs, and c) work to capture increased postweaning value through marketing or some form of retained ownership.”Ĭontrolling costs might be di¬fficult, but capturing more value for calves could offer significant opportunities. But constant selection for growth and carcass can lead to increased annual cow costs. Improving carcass quality or postweaning performance could increase ranch income through increased weaned calf value and/or postweaning performance and carcass value. University Extension specialists generally agree refining production efficiency and resource utilization remains a challenge. Such progress won’t be easy as the low-hanging fruit has already been picked.
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