With the U.S. beef herd at historic lows, rebuilding is no longer just about numbers. It is about keeping the right females. Today, every retained replacement heifer represents years of genetic influence, input costs and production risk. For the bovine practitioner, this is an opportunity to move beyond traditional “chute-side technician” roles and become a strategic data consultant. Selection is no longer just about phenotype; it is about mitigating biological and economic risks.
The following strategies for precision genomics are pulled from a deep-dive discussion with Dr. Kent Andersen and Dr. Tom Short on The Bovine Vet Podcast. By pairing clinical experience with genomic tools, practitioners can better navigate the current rebuilding phase.
Moving Beyond Visual Appraisal
Visual selection remains a cornerstone of cattle management. Structural soundness, disposition and obvious developmental concerns cannot be ignored. However, phenotype alone does not tell the whole story of an animal’s future productivity.
The Trap of Size: Selecting the largest heifers often inadvertently selects for higher maintenance requirements and increased feed intake.
“Traditionally, commercial cow-calf producers have selected their replacement heifers based on visual appraisal — and perhaps, the ones that are born earliest and just have the look of making a good cow,” says Andersen, director of global beef genetic technical services for Zoetis Animal Health. “Unfortunately, when you select based on looks and size, sometimes you’re picking the biggest ones. So, you’re picking the heifers that may turn out to be the bigger cows that have higher maintenance requirements.”
The Genomic Advantage: Genetic predictions provide insight into metabolic efficiency, fertility, and longevity before a single dollar is spent on development.
“There’s a lot of traits in the unseen world, such as cow fertility, intake, feed conversion, bovine respiratory disease health, that you really can’t gauge by just looking at them,” Andersen says. “The new tools allow the producer to pick heifers that are less risky of dropping out early and maybe not being very profitable.”
Clinical Genomics: Disease Risk and Wellness
One of the more significant recent advancements is the ability to generate genomic predictions related to disease risk, particularly bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Developing those metrics required assembling large populations of cattle with detailed health records and corresponding genotypes. Understanding the value of those predictions requires a clear understanding of heritability.
Heritability vs. Management: Genetics do not replace vaccinations, but they lower the baseline risk. Selecting for higher “Wellness” scores builds a more resilient herd that responds better to clinical protocols.
“Heritability is kind of a term a lot of people don’t understand in a way, but it’s basically just the amount of variation in a trait that we see that’s due to additive genetics, meaning that we can measure it, select for it and improve it,” says Short, associate director in outcomes research with Zoetis Animal Health.
The Data Gap: Historically, commercial heifers lacked the Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) available to seedstock. Genomic testing (e.g., Inherit Select) bridges this gap, providing EPD-level accuracy on unproven females.
“With this technology, we’re getting genetic predictions in commercial cattle that, if you think about it historically, have had very little, if any, information recorded on them,” Short says. “All the data recording and genetic selection and prediction and everything has really occurred at the seedstock level.”
By combining DNA information with national cattle evaluation systems, commercial heifers can now receive EPDs across a range of economically important traits, from fertility and growth to structural and health-related measures.
Managing Genetic Antagonisms
Selecting for a single trait, such as extreme growth, often comes at a cost to others, such as calving ease or fertility.
“Selecting to increase one trait may actually decrease another, but in an undesirable direction,” Short explains. “That’s where you have to weigh the two traits in an index appropriately, knowing that there’s antagonisms there.”
Economic Indices: Use weighted indices to manage these trade-offs. These tools balance production and maternal performance to ensure overall operation profitability rather than chasing outlier data points.
Precision Culling: Identifying “bottom-tier” genetics early allows producers to divert resources toward high-potential females, optimizing the client’s input costs and long-term sustainability.
The DVM as the “Trusted Adviser”
The veterinarian is often the most influential voice in a producer’s decision-making process, making them the ideal conduit for genomic integration.
“In our interactions with commercial cow-calf producers, it’s almost always the veterinarian that is the most trusted adviser,” Andersen says. “The veterinarian is helping them with their herd health program, so we think it’s a natural fit for the bovine practitioner to also assist with getting DNA collected and using the results.”
Short echoes that sentiment. “Most cow-calf herds that have a valid client-patient relationship with their veterinarian trust them as a resource, and especially when it comes to things like health and genetics, which are more technical aspects of what they have to do in their everyday jobs,” he says.
Workflow Integration: DNA collection via ear punch is easily integrated into routine pregnancy diagnosis, vaccination, or breeding soundness exams.
Consultative Value: By interpreting genomic results, veterinarians can guide mating strategies and marketing decisions—such as selling “value-added” replacements—strengthening the Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR).
The Economic Reality of Genomic Testing
Early adopters in the commercial space are capturing disproportionate value in a tight market.
“Early adopters are the ones that get the biggest reward,“ Short says. “Not only am I going to select the very best heifers I test for my own replacements, I’ve got a next group here that are pretty good. I’m going to sell them as value-added replacements to my neighbors.”
Genomic testing, often costing between $15 and $40 per head, can lead to significantly higher lifetime returns by ensuring only the most efficient, fertile, and healthy females enter the breeding herd. While visual appraisal and experience are still important, pairing intuition with genomic insight defines the next generation of decision-making.
Summary for the Practitioner
“I think the sail has been set to evolve from real group herd-based to more individual animal-based in our selections, in our matings, in our management protocols, in our days on feed and harvest time protocols,” Andersen concludes. “The individual animal information, I think, paves the way for that.”
As the industry shifts toward individual animal management, genomic data is the next essential “diagnostic tool.” It allows the practitioner to move from managing groups to optimizing individuals, ultimately building a more profitable operation for the client.
To hear more from Andersen and Short on how genomics is redefining the commercial cow-calf industry, including more information on Inherit Select and the newly introduced BRD selection indices, listen to the full conversation on the latest episode of The Bovine Vet Podcast.
