  BeefTalk:
Sire Power is Important Part of Successful Beef Enterprises
By Kris Ringwall, Extension Beef Specialist,
NDSU Extension Service
Most producers understand, or at least appreciate, the importance of the sire
within the cow-calf operation. At the very least, cows pastured without a sire
never produce calves. Once a sire is placed with the cows, approximately 285
days later, the cow herd numbers expand.
Each calf contains half the genetic makeup of its mother, and half the
genetic makeup of the sire. Producers do not buy new cows every year, but rather
buy replacement sires, allowing for the input of new, and hopefully better,
genetics (or genes) each year. It’s difficult to overemphasize the importance
of the sire in this process of genetic improvement.
As producers retain those replacement cows, the influence of each new sire’s
genetics can have a significant influence. For example, a producer bought cow A
and sire B in 1995 and grazed them together that spring. In 1996, calf AB was
born with a genetic makeup that was 50 percent from dam A and 50 percent from
sire B. Calf AB is kept as a replacement heifer and is bred to sire D.
In the spring of 1998, calf AB (now cow AB) produces calf ABD that is 50
percent of dam AB and 50 percent of sire D. Put another way, calf ABD is really
25 percent of dam A, 25 percent of sire B and 50 percent of sire D.
Follow the genetics for one more generation. Calf ABD is kept as a
replacement, and becomes cow ABD and is bred to sire E. In the spring of 2000,
cow ABD gives birth to calf ABDE. Again, this calf is 50 percent of cow ABD and
50 percent of sire E. Following the same logic that Mendel did, the source of
the genetics of calf ABDE could be traced to 12.5 percent of cow A, 12.5 percent
of sire B, 25 percent of sire D and 50 percent of sire E, the most recent sire
purchased.
It is easy to see that the impact of sire selection within a cow herd is very
dramatic. In the scenario just outlined, a producer who purchased a cow herd and
three consecutive sires has a calf crop on the ground that would (on the
average) contain only 12.5 percent of the original cow herd. By contrast, 87.5
percent of the calves’ genetic makeup would trace to the last three sires
purchased. Selection within the cow herd could modify these numbers somewhat,
but the power of the sire still overwhelms the genetic flow within producing
cow-calf enterprises.
For producers, now is the time to start eyeballing the calves to see if they
possess the traits desired by the industry. The genetics of the sire, grandsire
and great grandsire should all be stacking up to produce the kind of cattle that
meet the benchmark values for an individual producer and the industry.
The next step will be to evaluate the production traits with the use of a
scale and frame chart to cross check and record data for further evaluation of
the true value of your calves and breeding program. Fundamentally, appreciating
the skill required to build a solid cow herd is paramount to appreciating the
need to name and trace every calf born.
May you find all your ear tags.
Your comments are always welcome at www.BeefTalk.com
For more information, contact the North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement
Association, 1133 State Avenue, Dickinson, ND 58601 or go to www.CHAPS2000.COM
on the Internet. In correspondence about this column, refer to BT0043.
###
Source: Kris Ringwall, (701) 483-2045, kringwal@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Click here for a printable PDF version of this graphic.
(5KB b&w graph)
Click here for a printable EPS version of this graphic.
(76KB b&w graph)
Click here for a EPS file of the BeefTalk logo suitable for
printing.
(100KB b&w logo)
|
