Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 262: Why Moderate Cows Outperform Big Cows Long-Term

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262: Why Moderate Cows Outperform Big Cows Long-Term · CattleUSA Daily

• 0:03
  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
• 0:06
  Your go to source for. The latest livestock markets,
• 0:08
  industry insights and the update shaping agriculture today.
• 0:12
  I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
• 0:18
  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  I want to talk about cow size today, but not from an opinion
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  standpoint, not from the sale barn, not from the show ring,
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  not from what looks impressive driving by the pasture, but from
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  a biological efficiency standpoint.
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  Because the true ranch efficiency isn't about how big a
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  cow is, it's about how efficiently she converts forage
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  into pounds of calf consistently, economically and
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  sustainably. And when you run the numbers,
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  moderate cows that are high performers will outperform big
• 1:01
  cows long term every time. In beef production, efficiency
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  usually is measured in one of two ways.
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  Pounds of calf weaned per pound of cow maintained or return, per
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  acre or per unit of forage. Notice what's not in that
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  definition? Cow size.
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  Efficiency isn't about how heavy the cow is.
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  It's about how much she produces relative to what she consumes.
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  Now let's get into the biology of it.
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  Maintenance energy requirements increase as body weight
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  increases. A 1600 LB cow requires
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  significantly more digestible nutrients per day than a 1250 LB
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  cow, and that difference compounds over 365 days.
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  Research across multiple land grant universities consistently
• 2:00
  shows that larger cows have higher dry matter intake
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  requirements. Maintenance energy is the
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  largest portion of a cow's total animal annual nutritional
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  demand, and as cow size increases, feed requirements for
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  maintenance increases disproportionately compared to
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  calf weight gained. That means the bigger cow must
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  wean A significantly heavier calf just to break even on the
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  additional feed she consumes. And most of the time, she
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  doesn't. There's a benchmark that gets
• 2:37
  overlooked in conversations about size.
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  A cow should ideally wean a calf that is at least 45 to 50% of
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  her body weight. So let's compare.
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  A 1600 LB cow would need to wean a 720 to 800 LB calf to hit that
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  45 to 50%. A 1200 and 50 LB cow needs to
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  wean a 560 to 625 LB calf. And many commercial environments
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  that moderate cow is hitting or exceeding 50% efficiency.
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  And here's the key. When you stand in a pasture and
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  see a moderate cow with a catheter size that's nearly half
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  her size, or almost her size at weaning, that is true efficiency
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  in motion. She's converting forage into
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  calf weight without excess maintenance.
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  Drag, Where big cows often fall short, isn't just feed, it's
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  reproduction under stress. Larger cows lose body condition
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  score during drought or poor forage periods, require higher
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  quality feeds to maintain reproductive performance, and
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  are more sensitive to energy deficits.
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  Postpartum reproduction is incredibly energy dependent.
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  If a cow struggles to maintain body condition, she struggles to
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  re breed on time, and one open cow erases any advantage gained
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  from heavier weaning weights. Moderate cows tend to maintain
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  condition better on variable forage, re breed more
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  consistently in moderate input systems, and stay in the herd
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  longer. Longevity compounds
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  profitability more than frame score ever will.
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  Here's another place science shifts the conversation.
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  Most ranchers are limited by forage, not by cow numbers on
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  paper. If your pasture supports 100
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  moderate cows or 80 larger cows, and both groups wean calves at
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  similar percentages of body weight, the moderate cow will
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  produce more total pounds per acre overtime.
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  And more importantly, they do it with lower risk during drought,
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  lower winter feed costs, and greater stocking flexibility.
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  True ranch efficiency is measured per acre and per unit
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  of forage, not per head. Now let's be clear, this is not
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  anti big cattle. In high input systems with
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  abundant feed resources big cows can absolutely work and I have
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  seen it work time and time again.
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  But most commercial ranches are forage limited systems, and in
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  forage limited systems, moderate, highly productive cows
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  outperform large cows long term because they match the
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  environment, they maintain themselves efficiently, they
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  reproduce consistently, and they produce competitive calves
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  relative to their size. When you run the numbers, not
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  just look at the scale, weight moderation wins.
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  True efficiency on a ranch looks like this.
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  You walk out into the pasture and you see a moderate cow in
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  good condition, calf out her side, calf nearly half of her
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  weight, if not larger at weaning, with no extra feed
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  required, no drama, no excessive intervention.
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  That, that is biological efficiency.
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  That is economic efficiency. That is sustainable efficiency.
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  It's not flashy, but damn if it works.
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  If you're selecting for size alone, you're selecting for
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  maintenance cost. If you're selecting for
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  efficiency, reproductive for performance, forage,
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  adaptability, pounds weaned relative to body weight, you're
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  building a system that works Long term.
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  Moderate cows that are high performers will outperform big
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  cows and most real world ranching environments, not
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  because they're smaller, but because they are simply more
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  efficient. This is the CATTLE USA daily
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  podcast. My name is Lauren Moylan.
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  Thanks for listening to another episode and we will see you all
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  on another one next time. Have a good rest of your day
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  y'all.