Beef and Dairy Crossbred Cattle Boosting Beef Supply Chain

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service released new data showing the impact of beef and dairy crossbred cattle on the beef supply chain. While limited in scope, the data collected to date suggests the growing number of beef-on-dairy animals is contributing to higher cattle prices for producers and delivering added value to feedlots and processors. The practice of using beef genetics in dairy reproductive programs, commonly referred to as “beef on dairy” within the industry, has steadily increased as the U.S. beef cow herd has contracted. According to an analysis outlined in a new CoBank Knowledge Exchange report, the slaughter auction prices for beef-on-dairy cattle were slightly higher than for beef cattle and significantly higher than for dairy cattle. The weight of beef-on-dairy animals fell between the ends of the beef and dairy cattle spectrums. Beef-on-dairy cattle maintained the largest portion of their value from feeder cattle price to slaughter cattle auction price.

Source: NAFB