With all the concern of increasing mature size in the cow herd, I am curious: how many heifers do you cull at weaning for being too large? Most will not hesitate to cull the small end, but my discussions suggest few sort off the larger heifers. You could start with cow records and docility notes early on, then cull heifers at weaning that don’t make the obvious phenotypic and docility cuts. Genomic testing can identify sires in multi-bull pastures while indexing heifer genetic potential and sorting outliers for adaptability and docility. So now, let’s examine the strategies and tools available, and the unintended consequences of ignoring them.Ĭommercial breeders can draw on more selection tools than ever before to improve the next generation of cows to match the market and ranch environments. We’ve written about mature size, but not much about how to use the relevant tools to change it.

You hear more about mature cow size and growth potential of calves, now that profit ebbs and flows with the cycle.

– Justin Sexten, Ph.D., Director, CAB Supply Development

Osu match results 2018