HARDINESS
“We have determined that the three most important factors in making a profit in ranching are cow fertility, cow longevity and not feeding hay.”
Gregg Simonds Ensign Ranches Stockman GrassFarmer February 2003
Hardiness is a genetic trait that can only be measured through performance, that is by putting cattle into the environment in which they are expected to produce and then retaining those that are able to meet the production requirements of the breeder. Those that fall short are culled. According to Rick Bourdon and Bruce Golden of Colorado State University in an article entitled EPDs and Economics: Determining the Relative Importance of Traits, the traits in beef cattle production affecting profitability by categories were ranked as follows: 1. Survival; 2. Fertility/longevity; 3. Feed consumption; 4. Product; 5. Non-feed costs.
The first two categories of primary economic importance to cow-calf producers, survival and fertility/longevity, are a major part of all the traits that combine to define hardiness. Additional characteristics of hardiness include an animal’s ability to cover rough country, readily convert limited or poor quality forage into beef and effectively handle environmental stress such as pests, disease, drought, heat, cold and blizzards. In a minimum input range environment these traits are critical to profitability in commercial cow-calf operations. Even though this is true, these traits are often overlooked or ignored by many seed stock producers who give cows second chances or pamper their cattle to the point that they are able to reproduce. I would expect if you were to take many of the current show ring winners of any breed and put them into harsh environments such as the short grass prairie of New Mexico, Florida swamps or Nevada desert without significant and costly supplementation, the cattle would not reproduce at economically acceptable levels. Since hardiness is not easily measured, how can one select for it? In the early 1940’s, Tom Lasater included hardiness on his short list of necessary characteristics that any beef animal must posses. He called them the Six Essentials. Tom Lasater defined hardiness as an animal’s ability to carry on its production assignment year after year in a range environment with minimal assistance. Beginning in 1948, every female on this ranch has been required to reach puberty and conceive in a short breeding season at 14-15 months of age, wean an acceptable calf and re-bred on schedule each year to remain in production. This means hardiness has been bred into the cattle through natural selection.
| Hardiness is not as easily measured or quantified as growth traits or carcass traits, but to a rancher seeking to make a profit in a range environment it is economically essential and therefore needs to be focused on in a cattle-breeding program. We invite you to come by the ranch and see for yourself a cowherd that has been selected in a range environment for hardiness since the 1940’s. |
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WHAT DID THAT PREMIUM COST YOU?
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If you spend any time at a cattleman’s meeting or at the auction barn you will hear cattle producers talking about premiums. These conversations include premium specifications as well as the dollars granted above a general market price. Premiums are given for everything from vaccination programs and hide color to breed and carcass traits. The question many producers are asking is, “How can I capture that premium?” Unfortunately, a topic rarely discussed is the question, “What does that premium cost?” Premiums are paid only by meeting a specific set of criteria. Meeting the criteria always costs something. Therefore, producers should be asking, “What additional net income will this premium pay me?” This is a difficult question because it requires an understanding of all the costs and variables involved with qualifying for the premium. Someone once said, “It isn’t how much you make, it is how much you keep.” Just because a premium was paid doesn’t mean it resulted in an increase in overall profit. When the producer calculates all of the obvious and hidden costs involved in meeting the premium specifications, he may find that it actually cost him money. The following questions are important to ask when evaluating whether or not a premium will increase overall profits. |
For example, (see below) Rancher X and Rancher Y are neighbors running cow-calf operations. They retain replacement heifers and sell calves at weaning. Who captures the market premium? Who is more profitable? Rancher X does receive more per pound for his calves, but Rancher Y, because of lower annual cow costs and a higher percent calf crop weaned per cow exposed, is more profitable. Receiving premium prices is potentially one way to increase profits. However, the overall effects of managing for a premium must be evaluated against all the costs. Only through accurate evaluation will one be able to know if the additional dollars paid by the premium are resulting in a greater profit or a loss. |
