With drought and production costs pushing the native beef population to a record low, beef-on-dairy has a huge opportunity to keep the feedlots and processors at full capacity.
Just because we have easy access to the thousands of beef-on-dairy cross calves eventually headed for feedyards doesn't mean we should be vaccinating them every week, according to Dan Thomson.
While dairy producers are rapidly embracing the concept of using beef semen to freshen their cows, the resulting crossbred calves are proving both a valuable opportunity and a challenge for the U.S. beef industry.
The increased cost associated with raising heifers has made producers retool their thinking. Earlier management decisions are happening on dairies, with a more dialed-in, strategic breeding philosophy being adapted.
With the cost of inflation impacting every corner of a dairy, the producer’s breeding strategy has been forced to become finetuned. More and more producers are keeping just enough replacements to fill the pipeline,.
