In a 100-head cow herd, a 14% edge in first-calf weaning rate works out to 14 more calves. At $2,000 a head, that’s $28,000 — or $280 per cow. That’s the kind of math University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) researcher Dan Shike is putting behind an idea cattlemen have leaned on for generations — crossbreeding pays.
Shike, UIUC animal sciences department head, has served as lead researcher the past several years for an ongoing cooperative study with the American Hereford Association (AHA) built to quantify exactly what maternal heterosis is worth in a commercial Angus herd. The project started with 600 commercial Angus cows — half bred to Hereford bulls, half to Angus bulls, all sires representing the top 15% of their breed for maternal and terminal indexes.
The results are hard to argue with. Hereford-sired, black baldie females posted a 90% first-calf weaning rate at two years of age, compared to 76% for their straight Angus-sired counterparts — a 14-point gap. Rebreed numbers told a similar story: 93% of the Hereford-sired females were pregnant for their second calf, versus 75% of the Angus-sired group, an 18% advantage.
“I’m not looking for the cow that wins in one year,” Shike stresses. “I’m looking for the cow that wins over her lifetime and stays in the herd, stays in production, because she has some built-in fertility, some resilience, which leads to longevity. They wean more calves, and more of them breed back. That’s Hereford genetics; that’s maternal heterosis.”
Capturing the Maternal Advantage
In an era of rising input costs — when feed, fertilizer, labor and fuel constantly pressure the bottom line — commercial cow-calf producers must look for every available management and genetic tool to maintain profitability. While chasing singular terminal traits like growth and carcass weight has dominated industry headlines for decades, a growing body of research suggests that the true driver of long-term ranch survival lies in cow efficiency, fertility and longevity.
To capture these compounding maternal benefits, producers are revisiting the time-tested genetic strategy: crossbreeding. Specifically, the mating of Hereford bulls to commercial Angus cows to produce the iconic “black baldie” female is proving to be an unmatched economic engine.
Shane Bedwell, AHA chief operations officer and director of breed improvement, distinguishes between direct heterosis — the improved performance of the calf itself — and maternal heterosis — the improved productivity of the cow herself over her lifetime.
Landmark AHA studies conducted at Circle A Ranch in Missouri and Harris Ranch in California previously valued the maternal heterosis advantage at $51 more per cow per year in 2007 to 2008 dollars, alongside a $30-per-head feedlot advantage. Updated for 2023 input costs, Bedwell says that same advantage now pencils out to roughly $90 more per cow per year — and $305 more per calf in total net worth.
For producers with commercial cows, the data reflects everyday pasture reality. At Groendyke Ranch, a 2,000-cow, three-county operation in Oklahoma, manager Paul Koffskey has his replacement-female program around Hereford genetics. The ranch’s cows are roughly 75% Angus and 25% Red Angus and Hereford bulls sire about 80% of the calf crop.
“The baldie female, in my opinion, is second to none as a replacement female, from the milking ability we get from the Hereford and the carcass merit to sustainability,” Koffskey says. “If you’re not using that to your advantage, I think you’re leaving money on the table.”
Named AHA’s 2025 Commercial Producer of the Year, Groendyke Ranch has documented its own version of the UIUC numbers. A group of black baldie heifers weaned their second calves at 215 days of age, with steer calves averaging 665 lb. and heifer calves 655 lb. — on a 97% breed-back rate across a 45-day breeding season. From the first year the ranch incorporated Hereford bulls to the third, Koffskey says weaning weights climbed 62 lb.
“Whether you put a Hereford bull on the black cows, red cows, Charolais cows or whatever, I don’t think you get that sort of hybrid vigor explosion with any other genetic cross,” Koffskey says.
Doing More with Less: Unmatched Feed Efficiency
Fertility is only half of the profitability equation; the other half is the cost to maintain the cow. According to Shike, roughly 70% of feed in the beef industry goes to the cow herd and 70% of that goes to cow maintenance so approximately 50% of all feed goes to cow maintenance.
The UIUC study evaluated lactating 2-year-old cow-calf pairs in a dry-matter intake (DMI) facility. The Hereford-sired baldie cows were more moderate in size, weighing an average of 963 lb. compared to the 1,014-lb. Angus-sired cows. Consequently, the Hereford-sired cows consumed 3.3 lb. less dry matter per day — 27.8 lb. vs. 31.1 lb.
This superior feed efficiency translates directly into feed cost savings of $90 per head per year (with hay priced at $150 per ton).
This is backed by additional research from Oklahoma State University, where baldie cows consumed 2 lb. less voluntary feed per day than straight black cows while maintaining a body condition score (BCS) half a point higher.
“With the rising input costs, whether it be feed, fertilizer, labor or whatever, the cow has to be as efficient as she possibly can,” Koffskey says. “Maintaining a BCS of 6 or better with no inputs other than during the winter time. That’s what you’re after.”
Longevity and Lifetime Dividends
A cow that drops out of the herd as a 3- or 4-year-old rarely pays for her development costs. Lifetime profitability requires longevity.
Historically, data from MARC shows that an F1 crossbred female enjoys an average of 1.4 more years of productive life, leading to a 16% increase in lifetime production. The UIUC study closely tracked this trend, showing that 13% more of the Hereford-sired females remained in the herd as 4-year-olds compared to the straight black group — 80% vs. 67%.
A separate lifecycle assessment, conducted by Greg Thoma, AgNext director for agricultural modeling and lifecycle assessment at Colorado State University, modeled a 1,000-cow commercial Angus herd more than 10 years under two scenarios: breeding to Hereford bulls versus Angus bulls, retaining replacement heifers either way. While Angus-sired calves weaned heavier individually, the Hereford-sired scenario’s advantages in fertility, breed-back and longevity produced 45,728 more pounds of steers and open heifers to sell over the decade.
Compounding Equity: 10-Year Economic Returns
To evaluate how these production efficiencies impact a producer’s bank account, agricultural economists at the University of Tennessee (UT) modeled the economic differences between using Hereford or Angus bulls on commercial Angus cows for 10 years.
Led by UT Extension livestock economist Charley Martinez, the researchers evaluated both small (30-cow) and large (500-cow) operations using real-world market economics. The economic advantage of retaining black baldie females was compounding and clear:
- In a 500-cow herd: Breeding to Hereford bulls returned an average of $90 more per cow per year in net farm income, and $305 more per cow per year in net worth.
- In a 30-cow herd: Breeding to Hereford bulls returned an average of $76 more per cow per year in net farm income, and an incredible $1,326 more per cow per year in net worth. Note: The higher net worth per cow in the smaller herd is because each individual head contributes a higher relative asset value to the operation.
“As a producer retains more black baldie females over time, the net impact of maternal heterosis is magnified,” Martinez notes. “That’s what is driving the significant economic advantage over time.”
The Genetic Explosion
Why do Hereford genetics blend so exceptionally well with Angus-based herds? Bedwell points to genetic distance. MARC genetic mapping confirms Herefords are among the most genetically distinct of the major Bos taurus breeds. This wider genetic separation maximizes hybrid vigor across lowly heritable maternal traits like fertility, health and longevity.
“Heterosis and hybrid vigor on the black-hided cow or the red-hided cow, in my opinion, is a genetic explosion, whether it’s a steer or a heifer, whether they’re going to the feedlot or they’re being retained as bred female,” Koffskey summarizes.
The bottom line, echoed by researchers and producers alike — the cow that stays in the herd longer, breeds back on time and needs fewer inputs to do it is worth more than the one that simply weans the heaviest calf in year one.
By utilizing Hereford bulls to capture the “baldie advantage,” commercial producers are building cows designed for long-term survival, high reproductive success and ultimate profitability. In today’s volatile economic climate, leaving that kind of money on the table is simply a luxury no cattle producer can afford.
To watch Shike’s and Bedwell’s presentation about the research at the World Hereford Conference forward to 4:48 in the video below:
