Cow Herd Efficiency

A Nationwide Survey of Beef Producers About Feed Efficiency: Motivating Factors for the Implementation of Selection Practices

Presented by Jason K. Ahola and Rod A. Hill, Department of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Idaho; Stephanie L. Kane and J.D. Wulfhorst, Social Science Research Unit, University of Idaho; and Larry D. Keenan, Red Angus Association of America

Abstract:
A major goal of beef cattle producers is to produce animals that maximize profit by improving quality while minimizing input costs. Residual feed intake (RFI), a measure of feed efficiency, is moderately heritable and believed to be unrelated with other performance traits. While it has the potential to generate economic benefits for a producer in the long run, RFI has not been widely adopted in the U.S. primarily because it is expensive to measure and can be complicated to explain to producers.

Therefore, the objectives of this research were to quantify the baseline level of feed efficiency and RFI knowledge held by American beef cattle producers, including producer views about the perceived benefits and/or costs associated with RFI, and to understand the factors that predict awareness and willingness to adopt the practice in their operation.

A 35-question mail survey was sent nationwide to a stratified random sample of beef cattle producers (total sample size = 1,888), which included three mailings with follow-up phone calls to a sample of non-respondents. The overall response rate was 50%. Among respondents, 13% were seedstock operators, 59% commercial cow-calf producers, and 28% a combination of both. Mean respondent age was 54 years, mean number of years operating the cattle operation was 28 years, and 46% had a college degree or higher. Respondents had 217 ± 14.8 beef cows, of which 78% used British breeds exclusively, 18% British and Continental, and 4% only Continental or a mix of British, Continental and Bos Indicus.

Data were used to test models including: 1) knowledge of the feed-to-gain (feed conversion) ratio, 2) awareness of RFI as technically defined, and 3) willingness to adopt RFI as a production practice. Results will be used to develop outreach materials for the beef industry to educate producers about feed efficiency and RFI.

Editor’s Note: The above material is provided by and posted with permission of the Beef Improvement Federation. Please direct reprint requests to BIF via the “Contact BIF” page at www.beefimprovement.org.