You Can Have Your Feed Efficiency and Eat it, Too
Genetics solutions exist to achieve superior feed efficiency and superior carcass quality.

By Burt Rutherford
 
Let’s talk feed efficiency. That is, after all, very relevant to profitability in the cattle business, especially given today’s high feed costs.

But relevance is one thing. Reality is entirely different. And the reality is that feed efficiency has not received the focus it deserves as a key profit driver for beef producers.

However, genetics and genetic tools exist to build cattle that are highly efficient while still meeting or exceeding the carcass quality targets that earn packer premiums and satisfy consumers.

While price is the biggest driver to potential profitability, you can’t necessarily control that, says Dr. Kee Jim, CEO of Feedlot Health Management Services. “So then, feed efficiency or feed conversion is by far the most important single attribute.”

“Just measuring gain alone does not tell you how well they’re converting,” says Jerry Wulf, a cattle feeder, cow-calf producer and seedstock genetics supplier from Morris, Minn. “Average gaining cattle with below average dry matter consumption that equates to good feed conversion and good feed efficiency have more value than the fastest gaining cattle that aren’t converting as well.”

Given the historic premiums for upper two-thirds Choice and Prime, it makes economic sense for feeders to maximize quality premiums by feeding cattle to heavier outweights. However, this can be expensive if animals are not genetically designed to convert nutrients to saleable red meat as they reach historically heavy live weights.

“Feed accounts for somewhere between two thirds and three-fourths of the input costs of the feeding phase,” says Dr. Bob Weaber, professor and director of the Kansas State University Eastern Kansas Research and Extension Centers. “So feed intake and the utilization of those feed resources really gets at the heart of profitability in our business.”

“The feed to gain number is directly corelated to cost of gain,” Wulf says. “And if you lower feed to gain, you lower cost of gain.”
What’s more, cost of gain increases the longer an animal is on feed. One way cattle feeders can roll back cost of gain is finding genetics that convert feed to saleable end product more efficiently, even at heavier outweights.

That’s best achieved by crossbreeding, Jim says. Using a Continental breed such as Limousin or Lim-Flex on a British-based cow herd gives you the best of both worlds—the maximum combination of a balance between gain, feed efficiency and carcass quality.

But by chasing grid premiums for upper two-thirds Choice and Prime, the industry has tended to sacrifice another key profit driver—feed efficiency.

As a result, Yield Grade (YG) 4 and 5 carcass have increased. “At this point, the percentage of cattle that are in Yield Grade 4 and 5, we’re not in single digits anymore,” Weaber says.

Can you have feeder cattle that convert feed at better-than-average gain and still produce a Choice or better YG 2 or 3 carcass? The short answer is yes.

U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) data and data from Europe, where researchers have been collecting individual animal feeding data for years, show that Continental breeds generally have better carcass-adjusted feed conversion than British breeds, Jim says. “And amongst the Continentals, Limousin consistently show better feed efficiency, mainly because the dressing percentage is higher.”

In other words, while two breeds may be similar in terms of feed intake to live weight gain, those differences become wider when you analyze feed intake to carcass weight gain—and carcass weight is what most feeders get paid for on value-based grids.

“So we’ve taken a breed that as a whole is inherently more efficient, and we’re making even more improvements there,” Wulf says. “And we’re doing it in balance with paying attention to the carcass traits that drive value, and that’s quality grade. So we have cattle now that convert pretty efficiently and they hang up a desirable carcass.”

“As market signals have been passed through the pricing system for commercial cattle, seedstock producers have focused on improving marbling and accelerated that trait improvement over the past five years,” says Dan Hunt of Oxford, Neb., a cattle feeder, seedstock producer and president of the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF).

Genomic marker panel updates by International Genetic Solutions (IGS), a multi-breed genetics effort which Limousin is a part, along with updated USMARC data, document the significant improvement in marbling characteristics for both Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle, Hunt adds.

“The marbling EPD value reflects an improvement of 0.25 to 0.35 for both Limousin and Lim-Flex, making them very comparable to other Continental breeds.”

What’s more, Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle have achieved this improvement while still maintaining a significant lead on ribeye and backfat EPDs. “That gives us actual retail and cutability advantages,” Hunt says.

So yes, Wulf says, the genetics exist to produce high grading carcasses and do it efficiently. And that’s a win-win, he says, because it lowers cost of production while meeting consumer expectations.
 
Feed Efficiency and the Commercial Beef Producer
Here’s how cow-calf producers can benefit by selecting for feed efficiency.

Up to now, there has been little incentive for cow-calf producers to select for feed efficiency because there hasn’t been a good way to monetize it.

That’s certainly true if you sell your calves into a commodity market. But just like proper health management on the ranch, there are potential premiums for cattle with a genetic ability to convert feed to gain more efficiently while still producing high-grading carcasses.

According to Dr. Bob Weaber, professor and head of the Eastern Kansas Research and Extension Centers with Kansas State University, the heritability of feed efficiency is around 0.3 to 0.4. That makes it moderately heritable, much the same as the production traits of weaning weight, yearling weight and carcass characteristics.

Given the remarkable improvements the beef business has made in increasing upper two-thirds Choice and Prime carcasses, it’s clear the same genetic strides can be made in feed efficiency. But you can’t capture that value if you sell your calves at weaning.

Fortunately, there are value-added programs that allow cow-calf producers to capture the carcass value they’ve bred into their herd. Likewise, those programs can allow commercial beef producers to benefit from feed efficiency.

That’s because, in today’s marketing environment for cattle feeders, feed efficiency is the number one driver for potential profitability, says Jerry Wulf, a Morris, Minn., cattle feeder, cow-calf producer and seedstock genetics supplier.

So how can a cow-calf producer make money by selecting for feed efficiency? One way, according to Wulf, is to become part of a value-added program that rewards more efficient cattle that also produce the upper two-thirds Choice and Prime beef that consumers demand.

The other is to work with feedyards in producing the type of cattle they demand and will pay up for. “Work with a genetics supplier who is measuring individual feed intake and producing bulls with the genetic potential to increase the feed efficiency of your calves,” he says.

“And if you aren’t owning the cattle all the way to harvest, work with a feedyard and start building a history on your calves and how they perform. Track improvements from year to year so that you’re able to capture that value.”

That can be best achieved with crossbreeding, says Dr. Kee Jim, CEO of Feedlot Health Management Services. There’s no question the genetics exist to produce Yield 1 and 2 cattle that grade well. “Generally, that’s most easily achieved through crossbreeding (a Continental breed such as Limousin or Lim-Flex on British-based cows) to get the maximum combination of a balance between gain, feed efficiency and carcass.”

According to the North American Limousin Foundation, the Limousin and Lim-Flex marbling EPD value has improved 0.25 to 0.35 over the past five years. What’s more, Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle have achieved this improvement while still maintaining a significant lead on ribeye and backfat EPDs. That gives Limousin and Lim-Flex actual retail and cutability advantages. And that’s a win-win all around.