Beefmaster Succeeds with Heterosis Advantage

By: Bill Pendergrass, Executive Vice President

As beef producers we all know that our market is experiencing all time highs. This is being caused by good old fashioned supply and demand. We have the smallest cow herd our nation has seen since the mid 1940’s and now we have a rapidly expanding human population to feed. The result is that all proteins, especially beef is really short supply. While we as producers are enjoying the high markets there is an underlying theme we should begin to address. That is creating upmost efficiency in our beef supply chain to keep beef competitive in the market place.

The most proven way to create efficiency in beef production is utilizing heterosis. It is obvious that we as Beefmaster breeders need to develop a story line about using Beefmaster genetics in commercial herds will significantly add to the bottom line. You may not be familiar with the term heterosis but simply put it means hybrid vigor. When we crossbeed; the calf that results from mating (for example) an Angus to a Beefmaster will have several advantages over a straight bred calf from either parent breed. These advantages are heterosis or hybrid vigor.

With crossbreeding almost every trait is improved. New born calves are more vigorous at birth resulting in more live calves. Weaning weights on F1 crossbred calves, on the average are 6% higher than straight breds. Six percent higher weaning weights in a herd of 100 cows that normally wean 600 pounds calves is an extra 36 pounds per calf. Added to the 100 calves is an extra 3,600 pounds of calf weight to sell in today’s market that adds an additional $7200 if the calves are sold at weaning. This example only covers direct calf heterosis, it doesn’t add the HUGE advantages of maternal heterosis or using crossbred cows.

Maternal heterosis adds more to the bottom line that any other single management practice a commercial cattleman can perform. Crossbred females that result from a planned mating system where heterosis is optimized, add big impacts. Calf survivability is higher, new borns are more vigorous, have stronger immune systems and also capture growth advantages. Obviously more and heavier calves to sell add profit.

Crossbred females produce more calves over their lifetime and are in production much longer because they have an average lifespan of 1.5 years longer. Studies by the USDA Meat Animal Research Center prove that over their productive lifetime, planned mating crossbred cows result in a 25% increase in efficiency over straightbred cows. That is impressive but that 1.5 year longevity figure was on British genetics. Factor in the longevity of Beefmaster genetics and I would suggest that those cows would be productive for even more years and that would increase efficiency even more.

Simply put, Beefmaster genetics add the perfect amount of hybrid vigor to the black hided cow herd our country has produced. True, there are premiums for black hided cattle out there. However the effects of hybrid vigor will far outweigh black hided premiums. I have advocated using Beefmaster bulls on Angus cows for some time now but recently I have seen several large, progressive commercial herds using Beefmaster bulls on Brangus cows to great effect. Now is the time to fine tune our message, get organized and present a unified message to commercial cattlemen everywhere. Beefmaster SIRED females are the most productive, profitable commercial cows in the industry.

Now that we have the product…Beefmaster bulls…and the message…maternal heterosis…we need to effectively market our bulls. We as a breed need to be UNIFIED in this effort. BBU is a large organization with different philosophies represented but we all have one thing in common, we produce Beefmaster cattle.

While we may compete with each other for market share, it is vital to remember we also compete with other breeds. If you can’t supply enough bulls to fill an order, send that bull buyer to another Beefmaster breeder. You may think that you are losing a customer but in fact, you are providing vital customer service that your buyer will appreciate and chances are, it will make him even more loyal to your program.

Over the years, I have seen very successful programs gladly send customers to other herds when they did not have the cattle their buyer wanted. Almost without exception, this act of “keeping the buyer in the family” resulted in strengthening the relationship and in many cases created strong relationships between the two purebred breeders. Our commercial customers need to understand that the entire BBU membership wants them to be successful. Our competition understands this and we need to adapt this customer service philosophy as well.

The remaining summer months are packed with great Beefmaster activities The International Committee has the BIG (Beefmaster International Group) Event in Ft. Worth August 18-21 2014. Cattlemen from eight different Central and South American countries will be attending the Beefmaster workshop. The educational program will focus on utilizing Beefmaster genetics to increase performance and productivity in the cowherds in these emerging countries. This issue of the Beefmaster Cowman has informational article about the BIG event. All BBU members can attend and I encourage you take advantage of this opportunity to network with International customers and other BBU members.

The 2014 JBBA National Convention and Show will be held July 28-August 3, 2014 in Shawnee, OK. This is the feature event of the year of outstanding JBBA members who have been hard at work preparing for this annual event. Make plans to be with us in Shawnee to meet and support these outstanding JBBA members. Many breeders don’t realize that this event is not just a cow show. The educational competitions these members compete in give them the life skills to go out into the real world and be prepared to contribute and be great ambassadors for the Beefmaster breed and agriculture in general.