Genes Behind the Scenes

The cattle you raise and the beef they produce are the result of two factors – their genetic potential, and the environment they’re raised in (climate, feed, health management, handling practices and everything else you do). The beef industry adopts genetics more slowly than poultry, swine or dairy. Several things make genetic advancement trickier in beef cattle. Comparing beef to other industries is like comparing apples to oak trees – our production systems are very different. Pigs, poultry and dairy cows are usually raised in intensive confinement systems that tightly control the physical environment and diet. This means production practices (and productivity) can be reasonably similar across the entire country. When a barn largely eliminates the environmental factors, even the most demanding genetics can be accommodated. In contrast, cow-calf production takes place in the natural environment. Beef cows need all the genetic flexibility they can get to cope with blizzards, drought,