Association Perspective

Utilizing maternal traits on herd regrowth.

As we look at cattle numbers today, it is easy to see we are short. If that doesn’t hold true in your state, look to neighboring states.

Growing up in the West and seeing the struggles of my family and producers across the state, I felt like we were the only ones dealing with the drought. However, after becoming a regional manager and talking to breeders and producers across the country, I now know how tough it has been for everyone.

We are down in cow numbers across the board. As we begin to rebuild cow numbers, it is important to keep one thing in mind: We are trying to make cows, not steers.

We strive so hard on carcass genetics when things are good, but we struggle to think about what happens to our cow herd if that focus is singular.

As we start into these years when moisture is more readily available and we expect to retain heifers to not only maintain numbers, but to grow the herd, we must look at choosing bulls that excel in the maternal traits we want our cow herd to have in the future.

As a cow-calf producer, it is easy to get tunnel vision on traits that make you money in the short term. However, in years like this, we need to look at the long term. We don’t just need steers to sell; we need quality heifers that will improve the genetics in our herd.

As producers, we have to think not only about the product we turn out, but about the product we keep. We can not expect buyers to keep paying for a product that is ever-changing without repercussion. To produce a consistent product, we have to keep our producers, our cows, similar if not better. To do that we need to change our mindset from terminal to maternal during our growing years.

In a year like this, calf prices are high across the board because of the shortage of numbers. That gives cow-calf producers the opportunity to focus on traits that benefit them at the cow-calf level and still keep the bottom line in the black.

Editor’s note: Austin Flynn serves as regional manager for Region 11, covering the staes of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. Click here to find the regional manager for your state.