Beef Industry Tide is Turning in Favor of Beefmasters

By: Bill Pendergrass, Beefmaster Breeders United Executive Vice President

The tide is slowly beginning to turn in the favor of Beefmasters. Over the past 15 years as I have attended industry events across the country and participated in countless presentations by acclaimed professors, cattle feeders and packers there has been a recurring message being sent to the cow calf producer…make more high marbling product for the consumer.

The commercial sector has responded by using more British genetics for the past several years and guess what? We have transformed the genetic makeup of the nation’s herd to the point that according to BEEF magazine, 51% of the nation’s cow herd is now straight British. While that might help the packer produce more highly marbled product, it comes at a price. Reduced productivity.

One of the first signals the tide was changing have been the topics of presentations at industry events over the past year. I have been very pleasantly surprised to finally hear respected animal science professors from noted “cow colleges” finally begin to talk about heterosis and planned crossbreeding programs. This is a big departure from the days that it seems the only bull recommended by academia happened to be an Angus.

Now that we are finally in the age of heterosis, it is vital for us as Beefmaster breeders to produce the kind of cattle that will get the seal of approval from academia. Face it, Extension Beef Specialists and local Extension Service personnel are big influencers in their local bull market. If we are to bring them over to our side, it is vitally important for us to network with them and more importantly produce the kind of cattle they will recommend to their local producers.

The first step to getting their approval is to collect performance data and use it. Our competition in the genetics marketplace is exploiting their larger performance data bases against us and creating a technology gap to maintain their advantage. Some breeds are marketing Genomic Enhanced EPDs and sophisticated selection indices. We don’t currently have those tools but we do have heterosis on our side. While we work toward modernizing our selection tools, we have the opportunity to compile desperately needed data to solidify our claims.

Extension has proven time and again that they favor cattle with lots of performance data attached to them. Face it, educators have always been numbers oriented and always will be. Let’s embrace their concept and show them Beefmaster genetics are the optimum heterosis tool the industry desperately needs to increase productivity in our commercial cow herds. The “second chance” look we are getting from academia has been nice. If we want their continued endorsements, we must earn them. We earn that through data collection and utilization

I recently had the pleasure to call on several commercial herds in Florida. Over the course of the past twenty years, I have had the pleasure of working closely with several Florida cattlemen and have found that these ranchers are on the cutting edge for genetic and management trends. This trip to Florida was eye opening for me. Twenty years ago, I would have described the average commercial cow down there as ½ blood tiger stripes or even ¾ blood Brahman. By 2001, those herds were slowly becoming black hided and could be described as 25%-50% Brahman appearance. Now in 2014, those same herds are significantly more British in their appearance, many could be described as showing less than 25% ear influence.

Perhaps the most notable difference I seen this trip was the amount of Charolais crossbred commercial females that ranchers have been keeping back. I mention this only to point out that many ranchers turned to Continental breeds to add performance, pounds and marketability to their program. Now that these ranches are trying to add replacement females, they realize the need for superior maternal genetics that Beefmasters are uniquely qualified to offer. I will give you a free marketing tip…white hided commercial cows are easy to spot and their owners would benefit from Beefmaster bulls.

Although these ranchers have changed their cowherds to please their buyers, they have slowly lost production and productivity in their herds. Many ranchers down there are now turning to Beefmaster bulls to add hybrid vigor back into those black hided commercial females. From a planned crossbreeding standpoint, Beefmaster genetics on high percentage British cattle will rapidly address adaptability and add superior maternal heterosis better than any other breed.

While the demand for Beefmaster bulls is good, it is imperative to understand that these cattlemen are really savvy about performance. Our competition has trained these bull buyers to utilize performance data in bull selection. If we are to earn and keep these buyers, we must provide them with high quality bulls backed by serious performance and ultrasound data.

Perhaps the biggest challenge we face in the emerging bull market is volume. Simply put we need more good Beefmaster bulls. If a large operator commits to buying Beefmaster bulls, he wants to make sure there are enough bulls out there to pick from to meet his needs. Bull buyers are like any other consumer, they want quality and selection in volume. If a large rancher needs to buy 30 of our bulls, he wants to pick through 90 to end up with his required number. Volume attracts volume. The more good Beefmaster bulls we have available, the more buyers we will attract, the more they will spend on bulls. It is time we start to think big. Now is the time to expand your herd. We need you to add females and increase your quality to meet this coming bull demand. We also need you to collect performance and ultrasound data and turn it into to BBU so we can help you add value to your program.