General Session I

Size, Efficiency and Complementarity

by Troy Smith for Angus Productions Inc.

 

HOUSTON, Texas (April 19, 2012) — Asked to speak about how size, efficiency and complementarity affect the way cattle fit their environment, Texas A&M University Professor Emeritus Stephen Hammack claimed he had nothing new to say. “It’s all been talked about before — repeated over the years,” Hammack told an audience gathered for the 2012 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Symposium in Houston.

 

According to Hammack, repeated warnings have been voiced for more than 40 years about the need to place constraints on weaning weight and yearling weight.  The industry continued to make cattle bigger. The push continued for increased rate of gain, improved feed-to-gain ratio and other improvements to biological efficiency. But none of the methods used to measure the improvements considered the cost.

 

Hammack cited numerous statements made by various animal scientists throughout the years warning that a focus on growth traits could be detrimental to the cow herd. They urged the industry to remember that the average cow herd must operate on a fixed resource base. Cows became bigger, they produced more milk and raised bigger calves, but fewer of those bigger cows could be maintained on that fixed resource base.

 

“There is no inherent advantage in efficiency, from increasing the size of cattle,” Hammack stated.

 

And many beef breeds became so similar that Hammack sees less opportunity to use different types to achieve complementarity — combine or cross breeds to exploit their strong points and minimize their weaknesses. Also important is how combinations are made. Today, however, Hammack said, maximum complementarity almost requires a terminal breeding system.

 

In his closing comments, Hammack recommended less emphasis on individual performance and greater attention to herd output, with consideration of the cost.

 

“It has been estimated that the cow-calf segment requires two-thirds of the total nutrients consumed from conception to product. Economics dictate these nutrients must come primarily from relatively low-cost forages. The U.S. beef industry will not be sustainable if this is ignored,” Hammack stated. “Market preferences are important, but size of cattle will ultimately rest on what is feasible in the nation’s cow herd.”

 

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