I was reading a blog post by Doug Ferguson of Beef Magazine recently when I stumbled upon a statement that will likely offend some friends of mine.
Ferguson wrote, “seed stock are cattle the industry needs; registered cattle chase the fads and show banners.”
This brings me to my question: are you investing in a seed stock operation and adding value to the cattle industry? Or are you investing in a registered cattle operation? We often get wrapped up in the fads created and desired in the show ring, but we are hurting the overall well-being of the industry by continuing to breed traits that either have no added benefit to our businesses’ annual profit or severely hinder that profit — not to mention if profit is even present in the business.
I will be the first one to admit that I love the look of those fancy cattle in the pasture, and I think as cattle producers we can all agree that we like to have those types of cattle in the front paddock for all the neighbours to see as they drive to coffee in the morning. The truth of the matter is that often the profitable animal is in the back paddock. It’s not fancy, it doesn’t have the fat cover to hide the flaws. She’s a cow that is working for you and not the other way around.
Many of you can likely remember back to the show ring fads that have graced the industry in the past. I may be too young to have experienced belt-buckle Herefords or Simmentals that scratched their backs on the rafters, but those too were fads chased by the industry.
Now we say that we are chasing females that are easy fleshing and low maintenance. This is a step in the right direction, yet we are too often looking to fulfil this target through the registered cattle business and not the seed stock business. You can’t tell me an animal that is fed for the show ring is either easy fleshing or low maintenance until I see the feed bill.
The issue is that we are aiming at the wrong target. It’s not traits that we should aim at but rather profitability. If we shoot for profitability, the desirable traits will always reveal themselves.
Furthermore, easy fleshing cattle are unlikely to come from cow families that have consistently been fed a ration. It is no secret that yearlings that have been backgrounded on grass and forage sell at a premium. They flesh out and finish stronger than their dry lot backgrounded counterparts. Not to mention the added margin of minimizing feed costs in the backgrounding stage. Effective management is just another way of capturing that added margin at the sale barn.
There will always be a special place in my heart for the fancy show cattle, but I think it’s time we start managing for the profitable female and not the neighbour impressers that we seem to greatly overvalue. As cattle producers, we care too much about others’ opinions. If it looks good in our financials, then who cares what anybody else thinks? Nobody accomplished great things by staying in their comfort zone.
Wyatt Millar is a Saskatoon area cattle producer.
