How genetics, reproduction, nutrition and economics came together to rethink replacement female selection
The U.S. beef cow herd has been getting smaller, and rebuilding it isn't as simple as deciding to keep more heifers. For many producers, the decision at weaning comes down to a familiar choice: Do I sell this heifer, or do I keep her as a replacement? But what if those aren't the only two choices?
That question was one of the drivers behind Retain with Intention: Building a Better Missouri Cow Herd, an MU Extension program developed to take a different look at replacement heifer selection and development.
When a heifer comes through the chute, we're often quick to think of her as either a replacement or a sale animal. But retaining a heifer is an investment. Once that decision is made, there are additional costs associated with developing her, getting her bred, carrying her through her first pregnancy and ultimately getting her into the mature cow herd. That means the decision deserves to be treated as more than simply another singular decision point. It deserves to be treated like its own business decision.
The goal of Retain with Intention is not to tell producers to retain more heifers. Instead, it's to encourage producers to be intentional about which heifers they retain, what they are trying to accomplish by retaining them, and what their options are along the way.
Unpopular opinion - An open heifer isn't necessarily a failure.
She may not be the right candidate for your cow herd, but that doesn't mean the investment made in her development has to end in a loss. Depending on the operation and cattle market, there may be several opportunities to market her along the way. A producer might sell a weaned heifer, develop her as a breeding prospect, market her as an open heifer (which by the way is essentially the same as a backgrounded steer), or make a different marketing decision based on how she develops.
Thinking about those marketing off-ramps changes the question. Instead of asking, “Do I keep this heifer or sell her?”, we can ask, “What is the most valuable use of this heifer based on what I know about her today?” That requires more information than simply looking at her across the sorting gate.
That's where the design of Retain with Intention comes in.
We held the program twice this year—first in May and then again in September—and each offering was designed to bring together the pieces that influence a replacement female decision. Genetics and genomics were part of the conversation, but so were breeding objectives, reproductive technologies, nutrition, economics, development, marketing and first-calf heifer management.
Just as importantly, the program wasn't designed to be a series of presentations where producers sit and listen all day.
We built in time for producers to talk with one another, work through decisions together and apply what they were learning, or had learned in the past. Participants developed a description of their ideal cow, worked through replacement economics, evaluated live heifers and used multiple sources of information—including phenotype, reproductive measurements and genomic information—to make selection decisions.
They also left with something they could take home and continue working on: a Cow Herd Playbook that helped translate the information from the program into a blueprint for their own operation.
That peer-to-peer component has been one of the things producers have enjoyed most about the program. They each brought different experiences, herd sizes, marketing strategies and management systems to the table, and those differences became part of the learning experience.
The feedback surveys reinforced that.
After the May program, 25 participants completed the evaluation, and every respondent rated the program as either very valuable or valuable. Producers particularly highlighted the discussions, genetics and reproductive technologies, economics, genomic tools and the practical activities.
The feedback also helped shape the September program. Producers asked for more time, more hands-on opportunities, more discussion and greater depth in areas such as economics, nutrition and genetics. One participant simply said, “Needs to be 2 full days.” Others asked for more peer discussion and additional opportunities to work through real-world decisions.
So we expanded it.
The September program was a two-day experience, and the response was strong. Of the 14 participants who completed the evaluation, 12 rated the overall program Excellent. Producers rated the individual components highly, with Breeding Better Heifers, Feed to Breed, Peel Back the Hide: Genomics for Replacement Heifer Development, the applied evaluation lab and Technology Choices that Change Outcomes among the highly valued portions of the program.
But the part I find most encouraging is what producers said they planned to do after they went home.
Their commitments included using genomic testing on potential replacement heifers, incorporating EPDs into selection decisions, conducting reproductive tract scoring and pelvic measurements, improving heifer nutrition, using reproductive technologies, developing better breeding objectives and making more deliberate culling and marketing decisions. One producer said they planned to “view heifer retention as multiple option marketing vs only Show Me Select Sale heifers or retained heifers.” Another planned to use genomic testing and reproductive measurements in evaluating replacements. Others talked about improving nutrition, using EPDs and making more deliberate culling decisions.
Those are the kinds of responses that tell me the program is doing what we hoped it would do.
We're not trying to give producers another checklist of things they should do. We're trying to give them a framework for making better decisions with the information and resources they already have—and perhaps incorporating a few new tools along the way.
Rebuilding the Missouri cow herd isn't simply about keeping more females. It's about building the right females, developing them intentionally and recognizing that there are multiple opportunities to create value along the way.
That's Retain with Intention.
And this is just the beginning. We've learned a lot from the producers who participated in the first two offerings, and we're already thinking about how to make the program even better.
Keep an eye out for the next opportunity to Retain with Intention.
