The average age of ranchers is rising every year
Many cattlemen may attribute this to the next generation being “lazy.”
We agree that many people may not be suited to the work.
However, we argue that with what is being taught and which genetics are being promoted, those that are hard working and wish to succeed are destined for failure.
The fact that the average customer only last 4-5 years in the registered cattle business clearly shows that something is wrong.
Someone newer to the cattle business is ultimately going to be drawn to the “Grand Champion” show genetics, or will be drawn to the breeder breeding “profitable” genetics based off of EPD’s.
The way the data is traditionally looked at and used in the cattle business for decades is on a per head basis.
This may work in measuring profitability in a feedlot, but it is DESTROYING the cattleman.
The factor that determines the size of a cattle operation someone has is not the number of cattle they own, but the number of acres they have to run cattle on.
Profit should be measured on a per acre basis and not per head.
As Johann Zietsman points out, EPD’s are completely missing the stocking rate. And the stocking rate is a huge component of how profitable a cattle operation is.
We guess that the reason that the stocking rate is missing is because there is quite simply too many variables that influence it. Therefore, data analysts simply take it out of the indexes.
But, just because you can’t control all the variables that affect stocking the rate, doesn’t mean you are not supposed to breed for it.
A simple analogy is to look at how a farmer measures profit.
A farmer definitely studies individual plants and collects data.
But at the end of the year he doesn’t measure how much money he made per plant, he measures how much money he profited PER ACRE.
A Cattle Example
Rancher A.
50 Cows on 200 acres.
90% Calf Crop
45 calves to market
Average weight of 450 pounds.
20,250 pounds of live animals.
101.25 pounds per acre.
Rancher B.
40 Cows on 200 acres.
90% Calf Crop
36 calves to market
Average weight of 475 pounds.
17,100 pounds of live animals.
85.5 pounds per acre.
How the data is being used and how many mainstream breeders are “marketing” their cattle is promoting Rancher B. But Rancher A is raising 15% more pounds of beef on the same size of land.
For decades, universities and consultants have taught that genetic progress is finding and producing the “outliers” or “curve benders.”
DNA companies have identified genes that these “curve benders” have. Once these animals are identified, the rancher is then told that he needs to mass produce these animals using today’s newest technologies.
We believe the true key to breeding profitable animals is striving for extremely fertile and balanced animals.
The problem with a balanced animal is that it is hard to “market” balanced. Someone newer would never be drawn to the breeder of balanced animals, which leads to these type of breeders almost never getting the attention they deserve.
The genetics of registered animals are so out of balance, that the EPD’s of balanced animals even look “out of balance.”
EPD’s of Profit per Acre bred animal
EPD’s of Profit per Head bred animal
EPD’s also do not realize that different genetics will behave very differently in different environments. The “best” performing animals in a feedlot environment will most likely not be the “best” performing animals in a grass only environment.
Bull A
Bull B
In a feedlot scenario, progeny from Bull B will out grow the progeny from Bull A. However, in a grass only environment, Bull A’s progeny will outgrow Bull B’s progeny. Cattle that are bred like Bull B have an enormous daily requirement to maintain their body condition. In a grass only environment, these cattle will tend to suffer unless the rancher adopts a heavy feed supplementation program, which is simply not profitable nor even feasible in many areas in the world. However, animals that are bred like Bull A have the ability to thrive in a grass only environment, which makes them able to produce offspring on an annual basis.
EPD’s also do not realize that males and females are inherently different, and the two genders will perform very differently when they are out of the very same genetics. For example, if a 15 month old bull and a 15 month old heifer that are biologically out of the same fertile genetics were placed in a performance test with other generic animals, they would be placed very differently. The masculine young bull may look decent on growth, but his IMF would be hindered because of the testosterone he is producing. His feminine full sister would look below average on growth, but her IMF would be considerably much higher than her brother’s.