Crossbreeding in Beef Cattle

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Crossbreeding in Beef Cattle

• Susan Keene
• A portion of these slides work of
• Matthew I. Miller
• Extension Agent Animal Science
• This presentation is from Virginia Tech and has
  not been edited by the Georgia Curriculum Office.

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What is the best beef breed?

• Angus
• Simmental
• Charolais
• Gelbvieh
• Santa Gertrudis

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Answer.

• There is no best breed
• Breed combinations will vary from producer to
  producer and from environment to environment
• This is where crossbreeding comes in.

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What is crossbreeding anyway?

• Simply put- the mating of animals of different
  breeds

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How can crossbreeding help?

• It can increase production levels!
• 2 ways
• 1. Crossbreeding allows the breeder to combine
  desirable characteristics of 2 or more breeds to
  achieve a more desirable animal
• Complementarity- strong points of 1 breed
  complementing or covering up the weak points of
  another

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It really can help

• 2. Increased levels of performance for different
  traits due to heterosis (hybrid vigor)
• Heterosis (hybrid vigor)- phenomenon that
  causes crossbred individuals to have increased
  levels of performance for certain traits above
  the average performance of their straightbred
  parents

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How heterosis is measured..

• The difference between the average performance of
  crossbred animals and average performance of the
  straightbred animals of the breeds involved in
  the cross
• heterosis X-bred avg. Sb avg. X 100
• Sb avg.

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Cow/Calf Profitis determined by

• 1. Reproductive Efficiency
• 2. Early Growth
• 3. Maternal Ability
• 4. End Product Merit

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Economically Important Traits

• Reproductive efficiency
• Calving rate
• Calf survival
• Weaning Wt.
• Post-weaning growth
• Cow longevity
• Cow lifetime production

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Production Increase Due to Crossbreeding
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Heterosis (Hybrid Vigor)

• Advantage of a Sb cow producing a 2-breed X calf
  vs. a Sb cow producing a Sb calf
• 1. Calving weaned/cow bred 5-10 or 23-45
  lbs
• 2. Heavier calves due to hybrid vigor
  4-5 or 20lbs
• 3. Total Advantage 9-15 or 68 lbs.

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Maternal HeterosisAdvantage of the Crossbred Cow

• Advantage of crossbred cow vs. straightbred
• Reproductive efficiency
• Calf weaning weight
• Increase pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed

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Heterosis (Hybrid Vigor) cont.

• F1 X-bred cow vs. a Sb cow- both producing X-bred
  calves
• 1. Calving weaned/ cow bred 0-5
• 2. Heavier calves due to hybrid vigor 4-5
  or 20 lbs.
• 3. Total advantage (min) 4-9 or 20-30
  lbs.

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Heterosis (Hybrid Vigor) cont.

• F1 cow producing a 3-way X calf vs. Sb cow
  producing a Sb calf
• 1. Total Advantage 13-20 or 59-100 lbs.

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And now a review.
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Movement Time

• A little participation please.

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Factors to consider in planning a Crossbreeding
program..

• 1. You MUST have a plan- lack of planning will
  get you nothing but a mess!!
• 2. Think about your production objectives..
• A. Terminal- all calves sold- growth and
  carcass traits are priority
• B. Keeping Replacements- maternal traits
  become an issue

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The Systems..
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What did we just say?
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What about the little guy?

• 1 bull herd- purchase females to mate to a
  terminal sire-change breed of the bull every 3
  years
• 2 bull herds
• 2 pastures 1 for terminal, 1 for replacements
• High heterosis and complementarity

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Special Applications

• 1. Replacement Females some producers specialize
  in producing X-bred females for use in terminal
  crosses
• 2. Minimizing Calving Difficulty use sires of
  smaller mature size on heifers to reduce
  problems- often a different breed
• 3. Crossbred Bulls easy to produce combinations
  of 2 or 3 breed calves with this type of bull-max
  heterosis

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Example Scenario

• Farmer Tom has 60 cows that are Sb Angus- he
  wants to maintain his herd at this size, raise
  his own replacements, and sell all other calves
  at weaning. He is interested in maximizing
  profit. What system should he use?

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Your Assignment

• You have no choice but to accept it!!!

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Scenario 1

• Dr. Camp is rich man with a large farm in
  Virginia. He has approximately 500 head of
  cattle (you can pick the breed on his cows too).
  Dr. Camp has been attending Extension seminars in
  the area and has taken a large interest in the
  idea of crossbreeding to increase his profits.
  He approaches you and asks you to design a
  crossbreeding system for his herd. Labor and
  management resources are not an issue. Select
  the system and breeds and be prepared to justify
  your choices in your oral presentation. You may
  use the poster paper to draw your program.

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Scenario 2

• Mrs. Smith has a moderate size farm in Southwest
  Virginia. She has only been in the cattle
  business for a few years and is eager to find a
  way to increase her productivity and
  profitability with her herd of 50 cows. She
  comes to you, a respected producer for advice.
  She mentions mixing up the breeds she has.
  Mrs. Smith works for Virginia Tech and has a few
  college students that work for her and take care
  of her cattle. Select the system and breeds and
  be prepared to justify your choices in your oral
  presentation. You may use the poster paper to
  draw your program.

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Scenario 3

• Brad and Jessie are two good old country boys
  that recently inherited a moderate size farm from
  a friend who passed away. The farm has
  approximately 500 acres and currently has about
  250 head of cattle on it. Unfortunately for Brad
  and Jessie, they napped through most of the
  classes on crossbreeding and now need some help.
  They are interested in making the most money
  possible. Select the system and breeds and be
  prepared to justify your choices in your oral
  presentation. You may use the poster paper to
  draw your program.

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Rewind

• What is crossbreeding?
• What is heterosis?
• How can crossbreeding help you as a producer?

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In Conclusion

• Crossbreeding allows producers to benefit from
  the best of 2 or more breeds. By doing this,
  producers can increase their weaning weights
  through heterosis in the calves and increase
  maternal abilities through maternal heterosis.
  These factors combine to increase productivity
  and profitability.