Location: Livestock, Forage and Pasture Management Research Unit
Project Number: 3070-31630-008-007-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2024
End Date: May 31, 2027
Objective:
1. Evaluate the impacts of beef sires for dairy cows to produce calves that are of higher value and yield more beef than calves sired by dairy bulls.
2. Evaluate the carcass yield and quality compared to beef calves of the sire breed.
Approach:
Fifty-two preconditioned Holstein x Angus sired calves (26 steers; 26 heifers; average body weight [BW] = 500 pounds) plus 12 preconditioned Angus calves (6 steers; 6 heifers; average BW = 800 pounds) will be obtained from the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and finished in the ARS feedlot at El Reno, Oklahoma. All calves will arrive in mid-May 2024, allowed to rest, and consume long-stemmed hay for 2 days. Then, calves will be weighted, implanted with growth promoting implants meeting industry convention, and then randomly assigned to pen by sex. Calves will be started on a 30% roughage diets made from rolled corn, corn gluten feed, and chopped alfalfa hay. Diets will be stepped up to a 90-concentrate diet over a 4-week period by replacing hay with corn. Calves will continue to be fed until they are deemed finished at 0.6 inches of fat cover determined by sonography (approximately 180 days for beef calves, and 270 for days calves). On day 100 of finishing, all calves will be re-implanted a final time. When calves are deemed finished, they will be harvested at a commercial arbitrator and carcass data collected. All data will then be interpreted for performance, sustainability, and economic returns.
