Angus influence strong, but crossbreeding popular too – La Junta Tribune Democrat - La Junta Tribune Democrat

By CANDACE KREBS Contributor

Market premiums for cattle that qualify for Certified Angus Beef hit a record $182 million last year. But while black-hided cattle hold considerable sway within the industry, other breeds and marketing programs give producers an opportunity to diversify breeding strategies.

Mike Anderson is department chair for the agriculture program at Northeastern Junior College at Sterling, where he teaches beef cattle reproduction.

"If you drive through the country you see a lot of black cows," he said. "Obviously one of the stories we tell in my classes is what a great branding and marketing concept Certified Angus Beef has been."

But another thing they talk about is the importance of crossbreeding, which first became popular in the 1950s, due to the natural performance-enhancing effect of heterosis.

"It's the only free thing we get in this business," he quipped.

While the American beef herd has become increasingly monochromatic, Anderson thinks the popularity of crossbreeding, combined with advanced genetic tools, could bring a shift.

"Reducing input costs and improving reproductive efficiencies are so vital to the profitability of cowcalf operations," he said. "The feedlots are the same way. If we can get cattle to grow using a little less feed, then there's more money to be made."

There's also pressure on the industry to reduce its environmental footprint, he added.

"For those who question the sustainability of beef, improving feed efficiency and reproductive efficiency and matching cattle to their environment makes us much more sustainable, because we use less feed and water and land to produce the same amount of product," he said.

Breeds that don't carry the coveted black hide, such as Charolais, are working on their own value-added marketing programs.

Ty Groshans is western field representative for the American International Charola is Association. He grew up at Otis, Colorado, and now runs cows near Akron.

Smoke-colored cattle, light red cattle or white hided cattle with Charolais breeding grade well with a better yield-grade than black-hided cattle in many cases, he said.

"The Angus Association has done a wonderful job of marketing. Now it's just our turn to step up as the Charolais breed and make sure there's a place at the table for us as well," he said. "We know the cattle are well received, and the cutability is excellent."

In collaboration with Colorado-based IMI Global, the association now offers a "Char advantage program," which includes options for age, source and GAP verification.

Blake Macy, of Lebanon, Nebraska, didn't need much convincing after a neighbor's Charolais bull got in with his Angus cows.

Macy backgrounds his feeder calves for about three months before selling them at the auction barn in Oberlin, Kansas.

Last year his smoky hided calves brought more than the black-hided calves at the sale, he said. He had been using Gelbvieh bulls but decided to switch.

"This is what I want to do now," he said at a recent sale.

Hop Vinton, owner of Vinton Land and Cattle at Mullen, Nebraska, likes the smoky-hided calves too.

"In my opinion they are the best feeder cattle there are," he said.

He grows them to around 750 pounds and from there they are sold on the Northern Livestock Video, based in Billings, or they go on to be finished at Poky Feeders at Scott City, Kansas, or Imperial Beef in Nebraska through a joint marketing arrangement with Conneally Angus.

The Conneally family is first cousins and neighbors, Vinton said. But regardless of that connection, he considers their integrated marketing program for bull customers the way of the future.

"I used to be kind of independent and didn't think that was smart, but any more that's where we've got to be," he said. "I think the really astute seedstock people are getting into that. They are helping their customers along, and that's the way you get people coming back and stimulate demand and everybody benefits."

"Once you are into one of those kinds of programs, stay with it, too," he added. "Maybe one year it doesn't work out as good, but stay with it and don't get to chomping (at the bit.) That's the worst thing you can do."

John Williams, of Boise City, Oklahoma, recognized the need for an alternative to cross with Angus cows early in his career.

"I was raised on registered Angus so that's what we started with," he recalled. But soon he switched to registered Charolais.

"If you can add 100 pounds of weaning weight — same cowherd, same management and just change the bulls — I don't know anybody who won't take another 100 pounds to sell," he explained.

Today's market has proven him out.

"According to Superior Livestock, the Charolais-Angus were the highest selling calves they sold last year," he said.

Charolais are such a powerful terminal cross they've also made it possible to convert cheaper types of cattle into viable beef producers.

Williams said he has customers in Colorado who run Charolais bulls on former Corriente roping calves.

"That's a big deal now," he said. "They raise them as heifers, lease them out to ropers — that's six or eight months of free feed while they are being roped — then they bring them back and breed them and have a cowherd."

Bred to a Charolais bull, those heifers wean calves weighing 500 to 600 pounds, which can make for a profitable enterprise, he said.

While the Angus breed has built a stellar reputation with beef customers over time, Williams believes Charolais beef has its own selling points.

"It's more healthy because it doesn't have all the fat in it" he said. "It's leaner beef so it's better for you."

Cliff Raile started raising purebred Charolais bulls decades ago, following graduation from college.

At his recent spring bull sale, held at the auction barn in St. Francis, Kansas, he conceded the lack of a black hide "did hurt the Charolais feeder calves years ago but that doesn't hold as true now as it once did. As a matter of fact, a lot of these gray or light red calves are now selling as good or better than the black cattle do."

Kristian Rennert is a sales consultant who grew up near Brighton, Colorado, and now raises registered Charolais bulls of his own near Elm Creek, Nebraska.

He's been in the marketing business for the past 22 years, helping customers from as far away as Canada find the right bulls and heifers for their herds.

"Today there's more marketing channels than we've ever seen before and more branded specialty programs, so I think there's a market for just about anything," he said.

Back at NJC, Mike Anderson predicts increasingly sophisticated DNA technology will make breeds less relevant in the future.

"I think what we'll find, as we take the data from the genomics, that's where we can really identify genes and what they do," he said. "Once we find all of the tenderness markers — when we get tenderness and marbling the way we want it — there will be less emphasis on any one particular breed, because we'll be able to identify the highest quality beef among all the breeds."