Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 321: We’re Selecting the Wrong Traits — And It’s Hurting Cow Efficiency with Travis Mulliniks

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321: We’re Selecting the Wrong Traits — And It’s Hurting Cow Efficiency with Travis Mulliniks · CattleUSA Daily

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Today we are joined by Travis Mullanex and he is here to talk
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about cow efficiency, specifically efficiency on our
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cow calf operations when it comes to milk production,
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overall efficiency in the entire beef chain and some really
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astounding research that he has been doing across his career as
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far as milk production goes. And truly what we need to be
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focusing on it for the next 10 to 15 years to make us continue
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to be profitable and continue to win as cow calf producers within
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the beef industry. Before we hop into today's
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podcast episode of Travis, if you're watching on YouTube, make
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sure you take a second to hit that subscribe button.
0:37
And like this episode. If you're watching on any of our
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If you enjoyed today's episode, without further ado, let's go
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ahead and hear from Travis Molnick.
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Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
0:57
the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
1:00
updates shaping agriculture today.
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I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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agriculture here to keep you informed and connected.
1:08
Now let's dive into today's episode.
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Travis, welcome to the podcast. We are so excited to welcome you
1:19
on today. If you could just take it away
1:21
and share a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you
1:24
do, and all the things with our audience.
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Thanks for having me, Lauren. Yes, I'm Travis Moleniks.
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I'm the Glenn and Mildred Harvey Beef Professor at Oregon State
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University, also the associate department head.
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I am a trained ruminant nutritionist or arranged cow
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nutritionist. Actually do a lot of research on
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efficiency of the calcas systems from conception to slaughter.
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In the last I guess last 10 years been really focusing on on
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milk production and the influence milk production has on
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the system. So we've milked, I think I've
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milked more beef cows than probably anyone else in the
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United States at this point. And so it's always fun and
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getting new students out and teaching them how to milk a beef
2:10
cow. Absolutely.
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I think that that is such a interesting thing, especially
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when we look at beef cows, like that is not something that you
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get to see every single day, especially in the research
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world. No, no, it's not.
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And you know, the first time we milk cows when I was just on
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faculty at University of Tennessee, it was such a big
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event that all the field true came out and watched.
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And, you know, they were expecting some big show and XY
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and Z and they thought the worst was going to happened and, you
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know, went very smoothly. You know, people don't you know,
2:41
that they expect, you know, just this big event, the cows blowing
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up and big issues. And it's it's really not that
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bad. So when we look at the research
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that you've been doing recently, kind of tell us a little bit
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more about your findings and really what you're focusing on
2:56
within that. Yeah, if you look at genetic
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selection for the last only 30 years, you'll see this steep
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incline and selection of output traits.
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So winning weight, yearling weight and milk production.
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And we've got cows today milking more than that.
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Holstein's did the 1970s. We're running into semi arid,
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arid environments even in and really humid conditions in the
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eastern part of the United States.
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And so we're got cows milking over 3040 lbs of milk at peak
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lactation. And so we've got a lack of think
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about selecting cows for our environment.
3:32
So, but we've got the so far out of whack at chasing these outfit
3:36
traits, chasing higher weaning wage, chasing increased urinal
3:40
weights, chasing increased carcass weights because there's
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not a discount on large carcasses.
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And so, you know, we promote this efficiency of, you know,
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increasing outputs of how much meat we're producing today
3:55
versus what we did 50 years ago. But that doesn't take into
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account what that is doing to the cow herd.
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And so whether or not it's milk production, it's cow size.
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Our cows are as large as they've ever been of probably averaging
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fourteen 1500 LB cows in the United States, and we should be
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somewhere around 1100 lbs. And so we're chasing all these
4:16
traits for increased output and it's really having a negative
4:21
impact on the cow herd. So, but yeah, so a lot of my
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research has been focused more on the milk production side of
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that. And So what we've have found is
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it really started off when I was on faculty at Tennessee and
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there was a lot of promotion of, you know, how much a calf we are
4:38
cow weaned of, you know, this cows weaned £700 cats.
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And so, so we started milking cows to see where we're at and
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we were getting some very large milk productions.
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And what we've really found was that in that really high quality
4:53
environment, that milk production did not influence
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calf weaning weight. And you would have a little bit
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on that lower end of low milk production, but once you got to
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over 20 lbs of milk, it didn't matter.
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And so increasing milk production was not influencing
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calf weaning weight. And then we followed those
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calves through for a preconditioning phase for about
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90 days and found that the cows from high milk production were
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least efficient. They gained less, they ate more
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and they were least efficient. And you would associate that
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with they have increased in in organ size, they have increased
5:27
requirements. And so we're decreasing
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efficiency from that side. And on the reproduction side,
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the cows are high milking cows in the herd had the lowest
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reproductive performance and we're talking about a high
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quality environment of feeding corn silage after calving
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etcetera and not what you expect in like a rangeland based
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situation. And so we're seeing a decreased
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in efficiency of the system by trying to achieve increased
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weaning weights through milk production.
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And we've done some research past that when I was at factory
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University of Nebraska that found the same thing is that
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that calves from high milking animals are least efficient in a
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feed lot. It's so body weight was not
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different, but feed efficiency is decreased.
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So they eat more, they don't gain more and so they're less
6:13
efficient and it goes back to the requirements are more.
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I think that we've heard the conversation talked about in the
6:20
US cattle herd for a really long time of we're the most efficient
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that we have ever been and like we are weaning calves that are
6:27
really heavy and they're producing great and we're
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slaughtering at numbers that we don't like.
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All of those conversations are being had, but this is a really
6:35
interesting conversation, kind of saying, yeah, we're being
6:38
efficient in one area, but in another sense we're hurting
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ourselves in another. Can you kind of expand on that a
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little bit? Yeah.
6:47
So what's interesting in that is, so when we look at weaning
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weight data in the United States, for most regions in the
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United States, we are not increasing weaning weight.
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That weaning weight has stayed the same for the last 20 plus
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years. So if you think about all that
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genetic potential for growth that we're selecting for
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increased growth, whether or not it's just through increased EPD
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for weaning weight or yearling weight or through the milk EPD,
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your Cal cap producers are not getting that because we're not
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changing weaning weight. But guess who gets that all that
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tremendous amount of growth, the feedlots are gaining all that
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potential or that post weaning match what whatever it is, if it
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goes to stock or yearling operation at grounding
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operations or feedlet, they're capturing tremendous amount of
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growth, but our Cal Cal producers are not.
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And so, but I'm feeding that cow to that level of requirement.
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I'm feeding her to that higher requirement and it's costing me
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more, but I'm getting not getting that out of calf weaning
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weights if I'm selling it weaning.
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And so, so that that is one side of that is yes, we are
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increasing carcass weights, but our calf calf producers are not
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capturing that added value is because they're weaning weights
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are not necessarily increasing because there's only so much
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nutrients in our environment. So it's not like we're changing
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our environment, right, but we're changing our genetic
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potential that does not meet the lower or what our environments
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provide. And so we're not getting all
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that genetic growth. And so yes, we are increasing
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efficiency of the entire system at the cost of the cow cap
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producer. And so the future is scary for a
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cow cap producer. Yeah, we have great profits
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right now. You know, price of calves are
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great, but we're we're everything is increasing for
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efficiency outside of their efficiency.
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And so we're getting that cowherd way out of whack or
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where we need to be for their efficiency because we're chasing
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a post weaning efficiency. And so that's that's the
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struggle is of looking at from that system of it's just not the
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whole system of how much meat are we producing?
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It has to go back to each segment of from a calf, calf
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standpoint, are we truly increasing efficiency and we're
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an early knot. So when you're having that
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efficiency conversation with a cow calf producer, what are you
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really focusing on with that efficiency?
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You're obviously focusing on milk production, but what other
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conversational pieces are you really trying to look in AT and
9:14
hone in on so that we can hopefully turn that back around
9:19
and change the next chapter? Yeah.
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So, so we're looking at some metrics and So what, what is
9:24
your breed up? When are your cows getting bred?
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Because what we found is I get so many calls of, of guys
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calling is they get cow's bred early or they can't get cow's
9:35
bred at all. And it's really driven by milk
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production. And so that, that's one of the
9:39
challenges is, is they're, they're getting these expanded
9:43
days of calving. You know, I'm shooting for about
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8085% of cows calving within 21 days, but we're getting that to
9:50
be expanded out that you're getting a lot more cows calving
9:53
in that last part of that calving season.
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And some of that's driven by your Cal size or milk production
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is out of whack increase requirements and so they're not
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cycling on time, not getting pregnant on time and they're
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calving later or not getting pregnant.
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So we talked about that standpoint.
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We're talking about what EPD's are we using for our replacement
10:14
heifers. So what kind of bulls are we
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using or do they truly fit the environment that we're wanting
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to manage at? And where are we getting those
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bulls because how are they developed?
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And looking at it from that standpoint and also looking at
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as my feed cost increasing or am I feeding more hay now than I
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ever have? And not due to, you know,
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environmental stress of drought or whatever, but in the last 10
10:37
years, do I need to feed more hay because my cows are heavier
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or my cows bigger? Do I have more milk production?
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And so, you know, milk production is a tough one
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because it's the only EPD we don't measure right?
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And most people associate it as the milk EPD and it's really
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not. It's a maternal EPD that
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associates with milk. And so they're highly
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correlated, but it's, it's the only EPD that's not measured.
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And so when we talk about milk for a producer is they don't
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know where their milk is. And so I have the luxury, I
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don't know if it's a luxury of milking beef cows, but I, I have
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that data and I know where we're at.
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But from a, you know, producer standpoint, it's very tough to
11:15
get after milk production because it's not a easy metric.
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You know, unlike the dairy industry that gets data every
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day, it's hard to get data on a cow calf standpoint.
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And milk production is, is a large challenge of that.
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So we have to go back to that Milky PD, even though we know
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there's some issues with it of, of where we're truly at of how
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do we manage it and how do we select for it.
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But we really need to pull that back down though I do not need,
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if we use Angus EPDI really in my environment, I want to EPD
11:45
around 2022 Max and some of our arid environments, my arid
11:51
environments. And so we really need a focus on
11:54
the best option of selecting for lower milk production with our
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environment. If you look at a lot of
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benchmarking data sets, they show that weaning weight
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influences profitability by 510%.
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Guess what has the largest influence on profitability?
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It's my Cal cost, it's my nutrition, it's grazing, it's
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feed. And so I'm chasing weaning
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weight through a trait that increases cost.
12:23
And so you know that, but that's the struggle with Cal calf
12:27
producers is that they only see that weight when I sell.
12:31
They don't always attribute the cost to get there sometimes.
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And so that's the struggle of getting back to the basics of
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what is my true cost for that waiting weight?
12:40
What is my true cost for that reproduction response?
12:43
I want to talk a little bit about nutrition.
12:45
You hit on it a couple times. Can you just share a little bit
12:49
more about your thoughts on grazing management, nutrition,
12:52
how all of that is really playing a role in this as well?
12:55
The grazing management is your key to anything.
12:57
If you're a great grazer, your nutrition cost can tremendously
13:01
decrease. And so grazing is our key to
13:04
nutrition. And not to give too much credit
13:06
to range scientists or agronomist out there, but that's
13:10
the key to nutrition is this grazing management.
13:13
And so that is the foundation of everything we do from nutrition
13:17
is grazing. And so we have to understand our
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grazing management has to be one of the most important things
13:24
that we decide as a cow calf producer is how I'm grazing my
13:27
stocking rate is, is one of the most important decisions.
13:31
And so after you make that decision is understanding the
13:34
time points that influence a productivity performance.
13:38
And so I only want to feed something that increases
13:41
performance. And so a lot of our scenarios
13:43
that we manage cows is we've got dormant forage for nine months
13:47
of the a year, but I can't afford to feed for nine months
13:50
out of a year. And So what time points are
13:53
important that I can give a little bit in terms of maybe
13:56
letting her lose somebody weight.
13:58
Men use fat as a supplement. Sometimes that fat on her body
14:01
weight can be a supplement. And then what times do I really
14:04
need to focus on my nutrition that I'm not overfeeding, but
14:08
meeting her needs that will increase performance.
14:11
And so that's a struggle sometimes of understanding that
14:14
because you know, bee production is so complex and from 1 ranch
14:18
to the next, it's going to be totally different and what needs
14:21
to be fed and when due to difference in calving, timing of
14:25
calving, forge resources, etcetera.
14:28
And so there's not a silver bullet to anything.
14:31
And just because it works for my neighbor doesn't mean it's going
14:33
to work for me. Yeah.
14:34
And I mean, when we look at the whole conversation of this just
14:38
overall efficiency, it's genetics, it's nutrition, it's
14:42
supplementation, it's just protocols that you take on your
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ranch, it's location of your ranch, it's breed, it's so many
14:50
different factors. So how are you really having
14:53
that conversation of balance with these producers of we do
14:57
want to continue to maintain a really high carcass rate and a
15:02
like we want that efficiency to maintain, but we also need to
15:05
bring that efficiency that we've been doing in the feed lots in
15:08
our stalker operations back to our cow calf producers without
15:12
damaging what we've already built.
15:15
So how are we kind of balancing the two?
15:17
That's very true because you know, I can be a very low input
15:20
cow calf producer and have very poor performing calves and
15:24
that's a detriment to the system, right Is it could be so
15:28
focused on my system and have a negative impact on the entire
15:32
system. It's like not preconditioning.
15:34
Preconditioning is one of those things that to me it's an animal
15:37
welfare issue that we should be preconditioning calves no matter
15:41
if you think you'd get a benefit or not.
15:44
It sets up calf up to the next segment.
15:47
And so that's big part of understanding the system that we
15:50
put play within the, you know, we're one cog in the will and
15:54
that's really important. But in terms of understanding
15:57
the system is you really got to sit down and ask a lot of
16:01
questions. And it's a lot of producers
16:02
don't know the question that they're truly asking in their
16:05
problem. And so you just sit down and
16:07
have these honest conversations about, you know, their holes,
16:11
their gaps in their system and try to fine tune those areas
16:15
that can increase their efficiency.
16:17
And you're right, because as a, as a nutritionist, you know, the
16:20
world does not rotate or a cow calf producers don't rotate
16:23
around nutrition. They rotate around the system
16:26
that they work in. And so it's, it's having those
16:29
honest conversations about the system and sometimes it's
16:32
bringing others on board that have a better experience in
16:36
whatever it is. It's a veterinarian or you know,
16:40
somewhere along that lines that can help, that has more
16:43
experience than I do in certain, certain fields outside of
16:46
nutrition, grazing, etcetera. But it's really just getting
16:49
down to, you know, where are those challenges at?
16:52
You know, what would they like to achieve?
16:54
And sometimes that's very tough in our systems is I'd like to
16:57
achieve this. I'm in the Great Basin and we
17:00
can only see those cows once per year because we're managing such
17:03
a large environment. And so it's in those
17:06
environments, it's hard to supplement.
17:08
It's it's hard to vaccinate, it's hard to wean it.
17:12
So there's challenges across the system.
17:14
And so when I know where those challenges are, that's where we
17:17
can be very strategic and sometimes very creative of how
17:21
do we deliver what they need to be delivered to make it work.
17:24
And so and that that's a major challenge with nutrition is that
17:29
unlike a feed lot that I have XY and ZA lot of Cal Cal producers
17:33
have very little feed stuffs that we can feed that they can
17:37
get their hands on. So how can we be creative what's
17:40
available with the equipment they have to make it work?
17:44
And sometimes you have to give up things because we don't have,
17:48
you know, we don't have the labor, we don't have the the
17:52
correct feedstuffs. So we're going to give up a
17:54
little performance in that. So those are, those are the
17:58
tough conversations of, you know, we'll never achieve 90%
18:02
prog rates in your system that add a very cost effective way we
18:05
can get to 8588. And they can do that very well.
18:09
And it's not worth their money and their cost to get to 90%
18:13
because they're so extensive or, you know, whatever it is that's
18:17
driving that lack of. Yeah.
18:20
So back on like the milk portion of this and just like the
18:25
genetics and your research, when we're looking at milk production
18:31
and you're having those conversations with producers and
18:33
you're saying this is a major missing piece that we see on our
18:36
cow calf operations, let's fix it.
18:38
How are you going about having that conversation?
18:41
And you said earlier, it's really difficult to diagnose
18:44
that this is an issue, but how are we diagnosing it and how are
18:48
you having those conversations with producers of this is how
18:51
you figure out where your holes are in milk efficiency and how
18:54
we can make that better? Yeah, it's sometimes those are
18:57
very tough conversations because, you know, unlike a lot
19:00
of businesses, we get very biased and Cal calf producers as
19:04
you know, I like this breed, you know, I like these breeders.
19:08
This is the seed stock I use. So we get very biased because we
19:13
you know, we have these biased opinions of what's best.
19:16
And so so it gets very touchy sometimes is saying I would not
19:21
use that bull when, you know, whatever reason they're they're
19:24
really sold on, you know, maybe the Breeders he stock breeder or
19:28
whatever it is. But we we start focuses on, you
19:32
know, the metrics that maybe showing us that you have high
19:36
milk because we don't always know it because we can't measure
19:38
it. So are you having a lot of late
19:40
breeding cows? They're getting bred late?
19:43
Are your cows thinner today than they historically have?
19:46
Are you feeding more now than you historically have?
19:50
And those are in patients that yeah, I probably have too much
19:53
milk in in my herd. So what EPD is are you using or
19:59
that's what you're using to purchase those bulls?
20:02
And so are you putting a limitation on where that milk
20:05
is? And so because that takes
20:06
forever to make that changes. You've got that, that herd that,
20:11
you know, if I breed today, it's two years before I have a calf
20:16
out of that cow. So it takes so long to make
20:19
those generational changes. And so it's sometimes it's the
20:22
slow process of yeah, well, we need really need to focus on
20:25
buying bulls with this CPD of of milk and move forward some of.
20:29
One of is we need to start calling very heavily.
20:32
We've got cows that are getting bred late, Let's sell them as
20:37
bred cows that fall into another breeding season.
20:40
Let's sell them now before they fall out of the herd and not get
20:44
pregnant that I have to now sell a open cow and let's put more
20:48
pressure on milk quicker. And so that's your two options.
20:51
It could be a slow process to make that change, or it can be a
20:54
fast process of really identifying cows that don't fit.
20:58
They're getting bred headlight selling Elm and keeping cows
21:02
that really fit that that system.
21:04
But those are very sometimes tough to figure out because
21:07
you'll have high milk cows that work very well in limited
21:11
environments. And so it's it's a challenge
21:13
because we can't measure that. It's not the trait we measure.
21:16
It's not what we see because so many times I've heard guy says,
21:20
oh, she's a great milker. That cow didn't milk anything
21:23
when we actually milked her. And so she had a big fatty utter
21:27
and there was very little milk there.
21:28
Or the vice versa is that cow had a smaller odor, but it took
21:31
forever to milk her because she produced a lot of milk.
21:35
And so those are challenges because you never see it and you
21:38
can't measure it. But we have to start with that
21:40
EPD of milk and start working backwards of let's start
21:44
selecting bulls with this EPD, nothing greater than this.
21:47
Or start calling cows that have issues of getting bred late year
21:52
after year and, and start defining what really fits this
21:56
environment. And I always go off of can I get
21:59
cows bred within the first, you know, 80% of cows getting bred
22:02
within the first, you know, 21 days.
22:05
Anything past that, start identifying cows that are
22:09
getting bred late and can I get rid of those cows and start
22:12
selecting for cows that can get bred very early?
22:14
If you had just a really harsh truth that you maybe needed to
22:21
wish that all producers would either do or start implementing
22:26
or just you had a magic wand and all of a sudden every producer
22:30
in the United States was doing this thing.
22:32
When it came to just overall efficiency on our Cal calf
22:36
operations, what is that? Implant, implant, our number one
22:40
cost effective technology we have today as implants.
22:45
You talk about increasing weaning weights.
22:46
I can increase weaning weights by 3040 lbs by implanting, you
22:51
know, somewhere between 20 and 40 lbs depending on your
22:53
situation by implanting calf food.
22:56
Implants are not utilized at a high enough rate and so many
23:00
producers don't realize it is that return on that implant is
23:03
so efficient. And I'm bringing those calves up
23:06
anyways. If I'm branding them, I could be
23:08
dehorning. I'm castrating put an implant in
23:11
those staircase. You know, you could select your
23:13
heifers by calving date and implant the ones that you didn't
23:16
want and increase the winning weight of the calves you're not
23:20
selecting for replacements. The implant is the most
23:23
underutilized technology in the beef industry.
23:27
You know, as we go up the change from you know from from the Calc
23:31
A side to the urline to the feed lot that increases in use, but
23:34
it's less than 20% of calves that I get implanted.
23:37
And then you know, up to the urine, I think it increases like
23:40
4044% and then you know high 90% of the feed lot.
23:44
And but that's probably the biggest impact that we have is
23:48
to implant those calves that I can increase weaning weight at a
23:52
very cost effective way without having a negative impact on the
23:56
cow herd as selecting for milk, increase body weight etcetera.
24:00
Yes, that that would be my number one recommendation to
24:03
anyone is implant. Awesome.
24:05
When we're looking at just overall best practices for our
24:11
cow calf producers as we move forward in the next 10 to 15
24:14
years, I think that we're kind of on the cusp of a lot of
24:17
change in our industry. And there is going to be the
24:22
winners and there's going to be the losers coming out in the
24:24
next 10 to 15 years. And that's going to be really
24:26
apparent. Yeah.
24:27
What are you kind of outside of implants and just everything
24:31
else that you're focusing on as far as efficiency goes?
24:33
I think it's truly our biggest, like our best chess piece that
24:38
we can move around the board. And what are you really looking
24:42
for in the next 10 to 15 years that producers are going to
24:44
continue to be doing and implementing?
24:46
Yeah. You know, things are not, you
24:48
know, we've got really high prices today, but sooner or
24:50
later it's going to be tight. You know, our margins will be
24:53
extremely tight after this. And so especially from the
24:56
Calcas standpoint, as our cost of production has increased,
24:59
it's hard to find labor, labor cost increase, you know, and
25:02
technology comes in and plays a big role in that.
25:04
There's a lot of cool technologies today that we
25:07
didn't have in the last 1020 years that can help with some of
25:10
those issues. But, but I think bottom line is
25:13
really look at and this is a great time to do it because your
25:16
calf prices are high is what do I need to change in my cowherd
25:20
today that will benefit me in the next 5 to 10 years?
25:24
Because I can afford to do it today.
25:26
I cannot afford to do it when things are tight.
25:28
And so today is the time to make those big changes in your cow
25:32
herd because I can afford to make it long term.
25:35
You know, bee production is a long term game.
25:37
It is not a short term game. And so if I can make those
25:41
changes, are my cows too big? Do I have the right size cows?
25:45
Do I have the right milk production?
25:47
Those are things I would be eyeing today of making those
25:50
large changes because I I can afford to make them.
25:53
When things get tight again, I can't afford to make those
25:55
changes and you're just barely getting by.
25:57
Make those changes when prices are good because you can afford
26:01
to do it. Absolutely.
26:02
I couldn't agree more. Well, Travis, this has been such
26:04
a fun conversation. I think I could just hear you
26:07
talk about all of this stuff all day and it is really been
26:10
insightful and I feel like I have learned a lot, especially
26:14
on a topic that I didn't I don't feel like I knew a ton about
26:17
previously as far as milking goes on our cow calf herds and
26:20
on the beef production side. As we round out this podcast, is
26:23
there anything else that you would like to say or leave with
26:26
our audience members today? No, I mean, we've got a big
26:29
chance to make a change. Our cowherd, where it needs to
26:33
go, the direction has been bad and it's barely driven by the
26:36
packing side. It's been driven by performance
26:39
post weaning. And, and it's kind of scarier
26:41
where we're headed with the size of cows, the level of milk
26:45
production and what that's going to do with the future of a cow
26:49
cap producer. Because it's so hard to make
26:51
those corrections down the road because it takes so long to make
26:55
corrections like that. But we've always did that in
26:57
the, IT was belt buckle size cows.
27:00
In the 1980s, it was hat brim size cows.
27:03
So we've been focused on single trait selection for so long, but
27:07
we're getting out of whack again of cows are way too big, too
27:11
much milk production. And so really sit down and think
27:14
about what do you want your cows to look like in the future, but
27:17
what's your optimal goals from a reproduction standpoint, from a
27:21
Costa production standpoint? And what do I need to change in
27:25
my cow herd to get there? Well, Travis, this has been such
27:28
an amazing conversation and I know I learned a lot, and I'm
27:31
sure audience members did, to thank you so much for taking the
27:34
time out of your very busy schedule to come on today to
27:38
share your findings with us. And just a little bit more about
27:41
cow efficiency. To all of our audience members,
27:43
I'm going to have Travis's information linked down below
27:46
and some of his research as well.
27:48
So if you want to look into any of that or dive deeper into any
27:52
of the topics that we talked about today, make sure you check
27:55
out the show notes down below. And Travis, as always, thank you
27:57
so much for joining us. And to all of our audience
27:59
members, we will see you all next time on another episode.
28:02
Have a good one y'all.