Maximizing ROI With Cattle DNA Testing

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

The United States is known as a world leader in beef production in terms of quality, volume, and efficiency. But, for many American ranchers, it took decades of trial and error to select and perfect these desired traits in their breeding program. Lee Leachman says DNA testing commercial herds can speed up this process, and is something more ranchers could be taking advantage of.

Leachman... "You have to be DNA testing your commercial replacement heifers today and using that genomic selection based on a good index to keep your cows right but to also maximize the value of those calves. And I don't really think it's hard to balance the maternal and the post-weaning traits, but you've got to measure it all and you’ve got to use indexes to balance them appropriately. So, you know, I think DNA is a great tool to do that in the beef cow segment. We’re a long way from a place where a rancher buys in his replacement heifers and terminal processes them. That may be where we end up. When you study the economics of it, there are huge financial incentives that can come out of that system but until then, because we're a decade or more often that, I think until then it's going to be genomically testing heifers within your commercial herd to make sure that you produced enough really good replacements and then make sure you're maximizing the calf value on the rest of your calves."

Leachman says DNA sampling of replacement heifers can result in 3 to 5 times increased ROI, depending on the sampling technique.