(This well -written and thought-provoking article was from a lecture given by Roy Beeby at a Parley for Progress Seminar in Cloves, New Mexico in 1994. Mr. Beeby was a respected Red Angus breeder in Oklahoma who gave lectures and wrote articles on a variety of cattle breeding topics. This article and the photos of Shorthorn cattle were shared with HSS by Ralph Larson of Y Lazy Y Shorthorns in Montana.)
The textbook, History of Cattle Breeding In the United States, reveals that the commercial industry has intermittently turned to breeds of cattle or herds within breeds that could solve periodic economic problems. Problems that surface in the beef industry stimulate change. Another change in cattle breeding priorities may be close at hand.
Let me tell you a story about an attitude that was changed. There was this mining town and on main street in front of the saloon a young Gunfighter was bullying people around. He was shooting at people's feet and making them dance. The young Gunfighter looked up on the mountain road above the town and saw an Old Miner leading a pack donkey coming into town. When the Miner tied his donkey in front of the saloon the young Gunfighter said, "Old Man dance!" and he shot at the Miner's feet. The Old Miner did a little jig. Every time the young Gunfighter fired at his feet, the Old Miner danced, but he was counting the shots. When the Gunfighter had fired his last shot, the Miner pulled his double barrel shotgun from his pack and pointed it at the Gunfighter's temple and said, "Young man have you ever kissed the rear end of a donkey?" The young Gunfighter said, "No!, but I've always wanted to!" He had a change of attitude.
Purebred Breeders may need to change some of their attitudes and breeding priorities to meet the needs of the commercial cowman in the near future. When a trend develops for a certain trait among cattle breeders a race often begins. Purebred Cattlemen chase traits in popularity trends like Fox Hunters pursue their prey. With disregard to where they are going, they follow the lead dog and no one is guarding the HEN HOUSE. The cow herd's production often suffers. Extremes are not good for the cow and calf producer.
An example of this happening is after World War II. It was perceived that the House Wife wanted smaller cuts of beef. So it became popular in the Show Ring to select smaller cattle. Short legged compressed cattle started to win the shows. The classes were lined up from the smallest to the largest. As compressed bulls were used in Purebred Herds, dwarfs began to be born in Registered Herds. This caused breeders to swing the other direction. As Breeding stock approached the optimum in conformation, the continental breeds were introduced in America. This further accelerated the British Breeds to strive for size and height, so they could compete in the show ring. As purebred cattle became bigger and taller, heifers became slower maturing sexually. Calving trouble was more frequent. Cows required more feed for maintenance and maternal traits suffered again.
Selection for extremes, whether it be extreme frame, extreme weight, extreme muscling or extreme milk production is fairly easy, and rapid progress can be made by selecting these traits. Remember, however, that nature selects against extremes and unless rapid change is needed, extremes in type really aren't necessary. The only time you should select for maximums in maternal selection is for maximum reproduction.
In Animal Breeding, procedures to improve traits is a gift of science. Combining the traits harmoniously into an animal is a work of art. It should not be surprising that a change in one trait can cause changes in other traits.
Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion states: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." This law of physics may not be completely applicable to animal breeding. However, it can remind us that a change in your breeding program should be evaluated for the total effect of all traits of economic importance.
A quotation by Emerson can be applied to Maternal Selection ... "In many Endeavors, the line between success and failure is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it...So fine we can be right on the line and not know it."
The title of my talk COW EFFICIENCY, THE ASPECTS OF MATERNAL SELECTION was assigned to me. So I looked up the meaning of ASPECTS and saw that it is an idea or problem regarded from a specific viewpoint.
I'm not a Professional Animal Scientist or a Meats Expert nor am I a Show Judge. I have never been able to out show Steer Jockeys. I am not a stocker operator or a commercial feeder. I am a Cowman and what I have to say is from one Cowman's point of view.
My remarks about Maternal Selection are more applicable to cow herds that produce their own heifer replacements or sell replacements and bulls that sire maternal heifers.
Purebred breeders have more tools for selection than anytime in the history of Beef Production, but let me caution you about the use of some of the newest tools we have with a quotation from Dr. Rick Bourdon Animal Scientist of Colorado State University.
"Beef cattle breeding would be a lot easier if we could assume that the highest EPDs are the best. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. When we increase one trait, growth for example, we often pay a price somewhere else, perhaps in supplemental feed costs or reproductive performance. A delicate balance of levels of traits is required, and the balance differs with varying climatic, nutritional and economic environments. "One of the most enduring challenges in beef cattle breeding is to determine the best balance of trait levels (and associated EPD's) for a given environment or clientele."
EPDs can be used to select for optimums as well as maximums. They can be used to down size females or reduce milk in the herd. Stacking the highest EPD's for weaning and yearling weights may have a negative affect on the maternal traits in a herd. The Total Maternal EPD is a misnomer. It consists of gain and milk only. There is much more to maternal selection than these two traits.
The past quarter of a century of performance testing has given Breeders the tools to successfully increase growth and mature size in their cattle. Unfortunately these increases in growth have been unfavorable for some of the maternal traits; such as increased birth weights, slower sexual maturity, decreased calving ease, and bigger cows to maintain. In addition, selection has been made for maximum milk production. This combination of selection for more size and more milk have made some of the cow's nutritional requirements exceed their environment. This has resulted in fertility problems in some cases. When excess supplementation has to be used, it makes the cows less cost effective.
The selection for gain and size has been antagonistic for the maternal traits. The good news is that the two most important things in the immediate future will be Carcass Quality and the Maternal Traits which are not antagonistic to each other. Selecting for early maturity is also selecting for carcass quality.
If the cattle judges had been selecting for thickness rather than hip height, it would have been more positive for Maternal Selection and Carcass Quality. Thicker more moderately framed cattle will often gain more per day in the feedlot and reach optimum slaughter weight and grade quicker. In addition, the mature size of their daughters would have been more moderate.
I am going to talk to you about some of the Maternal Traits that are generally not included in EPDs or in our present Performance Testing Programs. There are not EPD's for a number of the Maternal Traits. Our present national performance testing program has been used to select for maximum growth and milk. At present there isn't a program for optimum maternal selection. Among the maternal traits that are being neglected in conventional performance testing are: Soundness, Disposition, Early Sexual Maturity, Prompt Conception, Calving Ease, Mothering Ability, Regularity of Calving, Optimum Milk Production, Foraging Ability, Cow Efficiency, and Longevity.
SOUNDNESS - The first priority in Maternal Selection is to get rid of the junk in your cow herd. Cull cows with bad dispositions, undesirable udders, irregular breeders, cows with poor mothering ability, and unsound cows with bad feet or legs. Eliminate lines of cattle that have harmful genes. In other words get rid of your excuses. You don't want to propagate faults in your cow herd. When you get your herd cleaned up it is possible to "Breed the Best to the Best" regardless of relationship. You can then linebreed to fix the desirable traits and your cows will have more potency for the traits you are selecting for.
DISPOSITION - Life is too short to fool around with wild cattle. It takes more time to manage them. I like Time Efficient cattle: cattle that can be handled and calved with a minimum amount of labor.
CALVING EASE - Heifers and Cows should calve without special attention or assistance. The Record of calving ease should be a part of the Performance Record.
MOTHERING ABILITY - Sound udders are essential. Heifers and cows should be rated on how they nurture and attend to the calf after it is born and how they protect it to weaning.
OPTIMUM MILK - Heifers and cows should give enough milk to wean a heavy calf. They should not be bred for maximum milk. For example, Dairy cows give too much milk and their maintenance requirements are too high for regular reproduction and sound udders in a beef cattle environment. Work at USDA found that any breed whose selection has been for milk production is less efficient in either the breeding herd or the feed lot. Heifer calves can get too fat while nursing their dams and it may retard their own milk production. You may have heard of females that skip a generation. A heifer with a heavy milking dam may not milk well, but her daughters do. She got too fat to express her true milk genetics.
COW EFFICIENCY - Heifers and cows should wean a calf that is close to or exceeds 50% of her body weight at 7 months. The Beef Improvement Federation dropped cow weights at weaning a number of years ago. It should be a part of any Maternal Selection Program. You cannot measure Cow Efficiency without weighing the Dams of the calves.
On the same amount of grass, you can run 100 cows weighing 1030# compared to 79 weighing 1320#. If you had these cows on the same amount of grass, the 1320# cows would have to wean calves weighing 136# more at weaning to produce the same number of pounds of beef as the 1030# cows.
FORAGING ABILITY - Some cows are better foragers than others. There are breeds of cattle and cattle within breeds that are better at foraging. It may be associated with appetite. Some cattle will eat less palatable grass, weeds, and browse that others do not utilize.
Most of the cattle available in the United States today were developed for feedlot beef production. As a result many are genetically poorly adapted for grass based beef production.
The majority of agricultural land in the United States can not produce crops. It is too dry, too high, too wet, too steep or too rocky; but it can produce grass. This is the cow and calf niche: Converting grass that humans don't eat into a palatable nutritious food. Grass is one of our raw material resources that we don't ship to Japan. We produce a value added product thru our cows here in the USA. I feel that heifers that are developed on concentrates never are as good at foraging as those that have to forage for a living while they develop into a cow.
LONGEVITY - Cows that give enough milk, but not too much milk, cows that are big enough, but not too big have a better chance for a long productive life with less stress. Soundness and regular reproduction keeps cows from being culled. Many of the traits that contribute to Longevity are heritable and so are the traits that cause cattle to be culled.
In summary, Dr. Bob Long, Texas Tech Animal Scientist, describes Reproduction Efficiency in Superior Females: "Superior females must mature sexually, cycle, conceive and calve without assistance as a two year old and every 12 months there after. They must provide that calf with milk and protection and bring it home at 7 or 8 months of age at a heavy weight." The reproduction efficiency should be a part of performance information.
I believe it was Victor Hugo who said; "There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come."
I don't believe the commercial industry will tolerate wild cattle, slow maturing heifers, pulling calves, mothers that walk away from their new born calf, big cows that wean small calves and eat the owner out of house and home, or cows that have to be culled in their prime.
I feel that the breed of cattle or herds within breeds that can supply the commercial cowman with maternal cows that are easy to handle, conceive early and continue to breed on time every year and do it on grass without a lot of supplemental feeding will be in demand. They will fit into the future of beef production in the United states.
Maternal selection will solve many of the cowman's problems. MATERNAL SELECTION IS AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME.
As you are striving to find that perfect bull, as all of us do, remember this story: A preacher was giving a powerful sermon. He said to his congregation, "All of you that are perfect, hold up you hand." No one raised their hand. "Have any of you ever seen a perfect man?", he asked. No response. "Well then", he continued, "have any of you ever heard of a perfect man?" One little man sitting on the back row with his wife raised his hand and said, "Yes, I have heard of a perfect man." The preacher, ready to drive his point home said, "Who was he?" "My wife's first husband," the man replied.
Like the man on the back pew, you may hear of a perfect bull, but you may never see one. But it shouldn't keep you from trying to buy one or breed one.
