The biggest factor impacting the quality of beef-on-dairy calves in the feedyard is genetic selection.
For the past five years, Hy Plains Feedyard in Montezuma, Kan., has worked with experts to greatly improve their dairy-influenced calves. What might have begun as a trend has only grown and become more popular in filling pens at feedyards.
“We started about 2012 on dairy-cross cattle, and it has taken us up until about this last year with our quality grades,” Tom Jones of Hy Plains says. “Now, these cattle are running about 90% to 100% Choice and 20% to 30% Prime.”
Working with select dairies in Kansas and Nebraska, Jones says genetic selection was the key to improving both quality grades and red meat yield. While they still are not as feed efficient as beef calves, they are still fed the same rations.
Jones says working with Dan Dorn with ABS Global to help navigate genetics was the turning point.
“We were failing miserably until we brought in Dan to help us do this genetic selection. That kind of opened the door for us, and we got better really fast,” Jones explains.
Working with Hy Plains helped ABS gather progeny data in the feedyard to make better sire selections when crossing beef-on-dairy cows.
“We focus on three profit drivers first, and the No. 1 profit driver in the feedyard is feed conversion,” Dorn says. “No. 2 is carcass traits and No. 3 is carcass weight. At ABS, we have been using Sim-Angus genetics from the beginning.”
Working with Dorn on the front end of genetic selection started making a difference in the carcass quality. Next, they consulted with Dale Woerner, Texas Tech University Cargill endowed professor.
“Things really accelerated when we brought in Dale Woerner, and we started looking and measuring red meat yield, quality grade of the cattle and muscling,” Jones explains.
The collected data from all three — Hy Plains, ABS and Texas Tech — were shared and evaluated.
“It really accelerated us into moving these cattle to all Choice and a large percentage of Prime,” Jones says. “It wouldn’t have been near as successful if I hadn’t stuck with those guys.”
Jones works with two dairies that have consistently had 100% Choice cattle and 20% to 30% Prime.
“Nobody thought we’d ever get to that level,” he says.
Dr. Miles Theurer, DVM and research director for Veterinary Research and Consulting Services, works closely with Jones at the Hy Plains research facility and echoes how genetic selection made the biggest improvement in the beef-on-dairy calves.
“The feedyard relied on ABS to figure out how we improve this more rapidly and by really tracing that animal all the way back to that straw of semen,” Theurer says. “We figured out which of those sires worked well and which of them did not perform up to expectations and then how to incorporate that into the selection criteria.”
While more success has been found with beef-on-dairy calves and they continue filling pens at feedyards, one major concern has come to light — liver abscesses.
“Liver abscesses are very challenging on these beef-on-dairy crosses,” Theurer says. “So it varies by location, but also by origin and practices. These can be anywhere from 30% to 40% all the way up to 80% to 90%. Quite a wide range of variation in the amount of liver abscesses.”
Beef calves in comparison in the Midwest are closer to 25% with liver abscesses. This factor has also been taken into consideration with genetic selection, but hasn’t proven to be the answer.
“We need to have more knowledge where these liver abscesses are actually occurring in the production phases for us to develop more appropriate intervention strategies,” Theurer adds. “Right now everyone wants to kind of point the finger at each other, but I think more of that supply communication up and down the supply chain can help find more of the root cause so we can develop effective mitigation strategies.”
Looking ahead, Dorn says beef-on-dairy calves in the feedyard are here to stay and have helped cattle numbers.
“I think as we look at this from the genetic selection, not only on the quality grade but also at some of the red meat yield potential, can help separate these beef-on-dairy crosses for the future,” Theurer summarizes.
