How to Use Crossbreeding to Improve Cattle Performance

Not many things in the livestock business are free, but heterosis — the bump in performance from crossbreeding — is one of them.

Then, why don’t we take full advantage of it in our commercial beef cattle herds?

It’s unfair to paint everyone with that same broad brush, but it is true that the cattle industry significantly lags its biggest competitors, pork and poultry, in capitalizing on heterosis. One industry survey revealed that only about half of beef producers have planned crossbreeding program.

You get confirmation as you drive around many farm neighborhoods and count herds by color. Over 80% are black. Many are straight Angus.

And, if you think you’re getting a level of heterosis by diversifying your sources of bulls within a particular breed, think again. There is no such thing as within-breed heterosis.

The biggest downside to straightbred cattle may be in the mama cows. They don’t milk as well, breed back as well, or thrive in adversity as well. They aren’t as hardy.

Troy Rowan, a cattle genetics specialist at the University of Tennessee, said one of the more telling statistics comes from the Meat Animal Research Center in Nebraska. “Crossbred cows will stay in a herd about a year longer, on average, and produce an extra 600 pounds of calf weaning weight in their lifetime, compared to purebreds,” he said in summary of that research.

Traits such as milk production, reproductive efficiency, and herd longevity are all considered lowly heritable, but they respond greatly to crossbreeding, he added.

Part of the straightbred trend may be a side effect of the success of Certified Angus Beef (CAB). Black calves often earn a premium on sale day for their perceived carcass desirability. But Rowan reminds that you can have CAB premiums and the heterosis kick. “There’s wiggle room in CAB,” he said. “They just have to be black-hided. Those crossbred baldy calves are eligible.”