Farmers Have Stake In Producing Quality Beef for Market

A few years ago, I participated in a webinar offered by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association that provided an overview of the US Beef industry.  One of the key points was that the US beef market is driven by ground beef sales.  In short, we are a country of hamburger eaters.  As dairy producers, you have played a key role in supplying product to this market.  With the continued decline in the size of the US beef herd, and greater adoption of beef-on-dairy from the dairy sector, more of your product is making its way onto the retail shelf as a product other than ground beef.  The cattle industry has worked hard to educate producers on how to improve the quality and consistency of their product.  You may always think of yourself as a dairy producer, but to continue to capture maximum value for your product you will also need provide some attention to the crossbred calves you are producing.

There are two key metrics in deciding if a beef carcass is worthy to become a steak or a hamburger - marbling and ribeye area.  Purebred dairy steers are known to excel in their ability to marble.  Their shortcomings have been that it can be difficult to achieve the minimum ribeye area that restaurants desire, and the amount of time it takes to feed those steers to finish.

Successful calf marketing: About beef X crosses

  Also, the carcass weights of purebred dairy steers often exceed the equipment capabilities of most packing plants relegating their processing to a few facilities across the county.  Multiple research studies have shown that beef X dairy calves finish quicker, have less harvest fat trim, average a larger ribeye area, all with a more desirable carcass size than straight Holstein steers.  In fact, some research has shown that beef X dairy crosses have shown better marbling and yield grade scores, on average, than straight beef steers.

Although I can’t say with 100% confidence, I am going to guess that the decision about which specific beef bull to use has been driven by the price for a straw of semen.  At some point cattle prices will decline and there may be a need to be more focused on the bulls you chose for your crossbreeding program.  Successful feeder calf marketing is as much about reputation as it is the exact bull used to produce the calf.  It may be to your advantage to target your bull selection criteria for generating these crosses now, to begin developing a reputation of providing high performance calves when the market begins dictating that need.

Get a handle on EPD's and indexes

As I have stated, the dairy part of the cross brings several positives to the paring.  You need to select a beef bull that overcomes the known shortcoming to produce the most desirable carcass for the consumer.  I know you are very familiar with EPD’s and indexes.  Indexes condense multiple EPD’s values into a single ranking to simplify bull selection.  While these are of great value, it is important for the producer to know exactly what EPD’s are combined to create the index.  For example, the Angus Association’s Angus-On-Holstein combines the EPD’s for calving ease, growth from birth through the feeding phase, feed intake, dressing percent, yield grade, quality grade, muscling, and height to provide a “dollar” value representing the bull’s potential contribution to the cross.  The American International Charolais Association has a terminal sire index that combines birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, ribeye area, carcass weight, marbling, and fat thickness to produce a similar dollar index reflective of the potential profitability of a sire’s calf in fed cattle situation.

In summary, beef-on-dairy crosses have benefited both dairy producers and the US beef industry.  The crosses increase the quality of the final product over their purebred dairy counterparts and will continue to demand a premium at market.  When cattle markets do retreat it will be important for dairy producers to be more selective of the beef bulls utilized in these crosses.  Producers should look for bulls that provide calving ease, moderate carcass size and acceptable marbling potential, while maximizing muscling and growth characteristics.  The choice to choose a specific breed of beef bull will also be influenced by marketing programs, and the premiums they offered, but will ultimately be dependent on your ability to consistently produce a productive calf that achieves the desired endpoint targets of a hot carcass weight between 600 and 900 pounds, a yield grade of 3 or less, ribeye area of 11 to 15 square inches, and a quality grade of upper two thirds choice or higher.

Clinics scheduled for small ruminant and cattle producers

I have two dystocia clinics scheduled later this fall.  The first is on November 19^th and will be geared toward small ruminant producers and the second is on December 3^rd for cattle producers.  Both programs will run from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at Fisher Auditorium on the OSU CFAES Wooster Campus.  The programs will discuss: the normal birthing process, potential causes of birthing complications, correcting mispresented fetuses, and how to deal with post-birthing complications.  In addition to the presentations, you will get a chance to practice providing assistance with our dystocia simulators.  The programs are free and we ask that you make a courtesy reservation by calling the OSU Extension office.  As always, I hope that you have a safe and prosperous harvest season.  If you have any questions or would like to register for one of our programs, please contact me at 330-264-8722 or yost.77@osu.edu