Cows Without Legs, Part 1: Choosing Genetics and Management for Pastured Beef Production

Reader Contribution by Meg Grzeskiewicz
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Genetics: Breed for Small, Stocky Cattle with Short Legs

For optimum grass efficiency, you should be breeding for a small-framed animal. Your specific farm environment will naturally sort out your ideal mature animal weight. You will end up culling animals that are too big because they will be poor performers. Over time, a dominant genetic type will emerge, bloodlines that your farm has selected specially for performance in your exact micro-climate and under your management program. However, efficiency always increases as mature weight decreases. If a 1,000-pound cow and a 1,400-pound cow both eat “X” amount of grass in one day, the big cow will use a larger portion of that grass just to keep herself alive. The small cow will be able to fulfill her maintenance energy requirements with less of that grass, so she can put a larger amount of it into milk, body condition and gestation.

Small cattle are capable of weaning a larger percentage of their body weight than large cows for this reason. Commodity cattle producers are often too preoccupied with calf weaning weight to focus on what percentage of cow weight their mama cows are weaning. Of course this is bound to happen in an industry where calves are sold by the pound. However, you can carry more cattle on the same amount of land if they are smaller. Would you rather have one six-weight calf to sell or two four-weights? The small cow strategy pays off!

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