The penny is starting to drop. Thankfully!
Angus breeders urged not to overlook maternal traits
Keynote speaker at the recent Angus conference held in Albury, Angus through the Ages, Dr Dorrian Garrick stated that ” Angus breeders had made “tremendous improvements” in terminal sire traits (high weaning/carcase weights) over the past 30 years.
This was not a pat on the back necessarily to us as angus breeders as he went on to explain that it has led to a demise of maternal traits and efficiency. Do we want to lose this from our breed?
Dr Garrick says:
“With bigger cattle has come increased feed costs. The cost of feeding the average Angus daughter in 2017 was $57/head more than the average Angus daughter in 1980.”
“And all of those costs are carried by the cow calf operator.”
“So collectively I would say the cow calf operator, the genetic change that has occurred since 1980 has not been what I would consider to be improvement,” Dr Garrick said.
“The cloud has moved, it has moved hugely, but it has moved more in a terminal sire direction and not enough in a maternal cow direction.”
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE by James Nason, May 30, 2019