FRANKLIN - Cattle raisers interested in improving the bottom line gathered recently at Camp Cooley Ranch to learn about commercially available cutting-edge genome technology.
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"There is a value out there to be recouped," said Calvin Gunter, director of corporate development for Bovigen, a genomics company based in Harahan, La.
The GeneSTAR Feed Efficiency genome test offered by Bovigene identifies DNA markers in cattle that exhibit the trait of efficiently converting feed. It is based on Net Feed Intake (NFI), also known as residual feed intake (RFI), which is the difference between what an animal should eat and what that animal actually eats based on its weight, composition and growth rate.
Gunter explained that cattle that eat less than expected have a negative NFI number, which means superior efficiency. In turn, a positive NFI means inferior feed efficiency.
The cost of the Bovigen NFI test is $65 for one animal, with a discount for volume. That cost also includes gene testing for quality grade and tenderness, Gunter said.
Traditional feed efficiency values are based on feed conversion ratios obtained by comparing the pounds of gain to pounds fed to an animal.
Nutritionists and researchers already know how much an animal needs to eat to gain muscle, fat and bone. They also know how much energy is needed to maintain that.
"NFI is moderately heritable," said Gordon Carstens, beef cattle nutritionist at Texas A&M University in College Station.
He told the crowd it's important to realize that the RFI trait is not genetically linked to traits such as average daily gain or mature cow size.
The trait is also not easily influenced by age or a rancher's herd management practices, he added.
"The value of NFI is that producers can select for improved efficiency independent of growth traits," Carstens said.
Carstens is currently in the last year of a four-year feed efficiency research trial using Camp Cooley heifers. The key objective is to characterize feed efficiency traits in the heifers out of 28 sires, while assessing the longterm impact of NFI on reproductive efficiency, he said.
The Texas A&M research trial is utilizing the Calan gate feed intake system to feed, control and document feed intake on animals fed a high-roughage ration on a free-choice basis.
Seedstock producers such as Camp Cooley are using this technology to identify progeny from herd sires that have DNA markers for feed efficiency. This data can then be provided to prospective buyers as another tool when choosing breeding bulls.
Carstens recommended that producers who wish to select for improved RFI should also consider a bull's phenotype in the selection process.
A panel of industry representatives ranging from the feedyard segment to the seedstock producer gave their viewpoints on the impact of feed efficiency on the bottom line.
Mark Cowan, president of Camp Cooley, poised the question: "What would one pound feed efficiency in your operation mean to you?"
"I think whenever you look at the supply chain standpoint, anything we can do today to cut cost out of the system is a plus. With feed costs the way they are today and the likelihood that we're going to be competing with energy for that feedstuff in the future, I think its very important that we begin to look at that," said James Henderson of Bradley 3 Ranch in Memphis. "We've been blessed for a very long time in this country of having cheap feed. Those days may be gone. So this becomes extremely important as we move forward."
Doug Husfeld, general manager of Hondo Creek Cattle Co., said "take a 600 pound steer that will be on feed 180 days and with current commodity prices where they're at and if we reduce his feed conversion from 6.2 pounds of feed on a dry matter basis to 5.2 on a dry matter basis' that would equate to almost $60 a head in savings due to feed efficiency alone."
Henderson cautioned that new technology should be kept simple and meaningful as a tool.
"If you understand the way to get more money in the business is to put together programs that create more value, then we have the opportunity to make more money. And if we can cut costs out of the system with the feed efficiency markers, do that in the process, that expands that margin opportunity."
• E-mail Beverly Moseley at beverly.moseley@theeagle.com.
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