Page 18 - MWC 2-23-2023s

The Midwest Cattleman · February 23, 2023 · P18
The Efficiency Breed

Nearly 300 years ago, farmers in Herefordshire, England,
founded the Hereford breed in response to consumer beef Hereford Heterosis Pays More
demand created by Britain’s Industrial Revolution. Efficient Hereford genetics offer more crossbreeding power
production, high yields and sound reproduction were of ut- because they are the least related to other Bos Taurus
most importance. breeds, as documented by the U.S. Meat Animal Research
Hereford cattle arrived in the United States in 1817 to Center (USMARC).
serve a similar need — efficiently adding pounds to native Plus, Hereford’s unique, inherent genetic advantages
cattle grazing the nation’s rangelands, while also creating compared to other breeds offer added breed complemen-
reproductively efficient females. American Hereford breed- tarity, especially when crossed with Angus. Hereford ad-
ers founded the Hereford Cattle Breeders Association in vantages include:
1881, which was later renamed the American Hereford As- • Docility
sociation (AHA).
The Hereford breed and AHA maintain the original vi- • Fertility
sion — build more pounds of quality beef and more produc- • Feed efficiency in the pasture and feedlot
tion-efficient females with fewer resources than otherwise
possible, via the breed’s inherent genetic advantages, which • Longevity
include longevity, fertility, docility and feed efficiency in the • Production efficiency
feedlot and in the pasture.
Commercial cow-calf producers in the U.S. magnify Research consistently documents the advantage of
these advantages by utilizing Hereford genetics in strategic Hereford-sired F1 black baldy heifers and steers com-
complementary crossbreeding programs. Black Baldies, Red pared to straightbred black Angus peers in the same
Baldies and Tiger-Stripes built with Hereford genetics prove production setting. Science and experience suggest these
their advantages from border to border and coast to coast advantages would be similar in herds using Hereford
(see Hereford Heterosis Pay More). bulls with Red Angus cows to produce red baldies. Un-
less otherwise noted, the research results below are from
Heterosis Pays the multi-year Harris Ranch Heterosis Research Project
Decades of industry-wide research document the advan- completed in 2010.
tages of heterosis (hybrid vigor) in commercial crossbreed-
ing systems. Direct heterosis — increased performance of
the crossbred calf relative to the average of the straightbred
parental breeds.

Maternal heterosis — increased performance of the cross-
bred cow relative to the average of straightbred females of
the parental breeds.

Primary crossbreeding advantages are improvement of
lowly heritable traits, such as those associated with repro-
duction, which are difficult to impact through direct selec-
tion pressure. Small, net-positive effects in multiple traits
affecting commercial cow-calf profitability — pregnancy
rate, calf livability, calf health, etc. — yield significant re-
turns that are difficult to measure.
Crossbreeding value is most visible in the increased num-
ber of calves (lifetime), cow longevity and cumulative wean-
ing weight (lifetime).
Developing and maintaining a crossbreeding system that
captures maternal heterosis is critical to long-term profit-
ability in the commercial cow-calf business. Likewise, in-
creased production efficiency is crucial to maintaining social
license to operate.