the
BEEFMASTER Pay Weight
a publication dedicated to serving commercial cattlemen and produced by Beefmaster Breeders United SPRING 2016
Vol. 2, No. 1
www.beefmasters.org
Better Performance Through Genetic Selection - Breed Differences on Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue
Tall fescue is the most commonly used grass in the U.S. used to graze and feed cattle. Widespread throughout a majority of the country, fescue grass provides multiple benefits for pasture performance due to its persistence, long growing season, and nutritional quality as well as drought, insect and disease resistance. However, producers have a love-hate relationship with this seemingly desirable plant. The same fungal endophyte that makes the grass so hardy also contains some alkaloids that studies have shown are detrimental to the performance of grazing livestock. Common side effects of toxicosis include heat stress, suppressed appetite, poor growth or reduced calving rates, ultimately costing the beef industry approximately $500 million to $1 billion annually in losses due to
decreased reproductive and growth rates, according to an abstract from Richard Browning, Ph.D., Tennessee State University. Researchers have determined the endophyte can be alleviated using several forage management practices including replacing endophyte-infected tall fescue with low-endophyte strands, diluting endophyte-infected fescue with other grasses or legumes, ammoniating fescue hay, or increasing stocking rates to prevent plant maturation since the endophyte is highly concentrated in the seed head. However, due to high costs, vast amount of acreage covered in endophyte-infected tall fescue, along with reluctance to eradicate long-standing pastures, forage management for eradication purposes does not seem likely or advantageous.
By Brittni Drennan
A more practical, effective solution for alleviating
Recently, the University of Kentucky (UKY) conducted
the negative effects caused by high-endophyte fescue is with animal management practices by genetic selection. Browning pointed out heat stress is a known symptom of fescue toxicosis, causing increased panting, respiration rates, and time spent in the shade, which means cattle spend less time grazing and gaining.
a trial using 120 spring-born calves out of cows with varying degrees of Brahman-influenced genetics bred to Hereford bulls. Roy Burris, Ph.D., Extension Beef Specialist at UKY was the lead researcher on the study. “There’s five million acres in Kentucky and most of it is Continued on page 23
Beefmaster Value Added Feeder Cattle By Bill Pendergrass Requested in-home February 15-19, 2016
Profitability comes in different packages. Beefmaster has long been noted for their maternal excellence. On the cow side, Beefmaster females set the industry standard for fertility, longevity, functionality and efficiency. What many ranchers don’t realize is that Beefmasters also excel in the feedyard and on the rail. In the past 15 years there has been a strong tendency for the U.S., beef industry to focus strictly on one trait, and that is marbling. Admittedly, we had a lot of carcass
improvements to make in order to meet the consumer’s demand for high quality beef. Thank goodness the entire beef industry has been working to improve carcass quality over the past several years. Our reward is the re-emergence of beef as the consumer’s first choice in protein. As the beef industry has focused on marbling, other traits that impact profitability have not had the same attention and selection pressure applied to them at the same extent as carcass traits. Beef-
masters are rapidly gaining attention from cattle feeders and buyers for their ability to hit these often overlooked, but very valuable production targets. Several Beefmaster breeders have quietly began to retain ownership on their straight and crossbred Beefmaster steers to discover exactly how Beefmasters perform in the yard and in the plant. The data collected over the years is eye opening. Continued on page 10