by K. G. Odde, Professor and Department Head Emeritus, Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Kansas State University
Introduction Sexed or gender sorted semen has now been commercially available for beef and dairy cattle in the US for several years. Most of the sexed semen sold in the U.S. is “heifer” semen used for the purpose of producing genetically superior females. USDA reported that all heifers over 500 lbs. on January 1, 2022 totaled 19.8 million head. Beef replacement heifer numbers as of January 1, 2021 totaled 5.61 million head. Since steers are more feedlot efficient and have heavier carcass weights, industry efficiency could certainly be improved by skewing the number of “commercial” heifers produced in the direction of producing more steers. The industry has been trending in the direction of higher value for steers compared to commercial heifers for several years. Two sources of data support this statement. The trend for increasing value of steer calves compared to commercial heifers has been happening for several years (Superior Livestock Database--Table 1). Note that the price advantage for steers compared to commercial heifers was $6.83/cwt in 1995, was $10.68/cwt in 2010, and was $18.47/cwt in 2021. Another data source for this question is the Focus on Feedlots program at Kansas State University. For this program, data is collected monthly from commercial feedlots in western Kansas. In Table 2, feedlot performance information is shown for the closeouts on August 2022 and August 2017. Note that for August of 2022, the average cost of gain was $12.77/cwt
higher for heifers than for steers, while the August of 2017 closeouts showed that the average cost of gain was $5.66 higher for heifers than for steers. This is largely due to the higher price of corn ($8.69/ bushel for August 2022 and $3.91/bushel for August 2017). Another factor is increasing final weight. Steers can be fed to heavier final weights, have higher average daily gain, better feed efficiency and lower death loss. The increasing value of steer calves relative to heifers provides a potential opportunity to add value to the calf crop by increasing the percentage of steer calves produced. Table 1. Value of Heifer Calves Relative to Steer Calves, Superior Livestock Data, 1995-2021 Year
Mean Base Weight (lbs.)
Mean Price Per 100 lbs. ($)
Price Spread Between Steer and Heifer Lots ($/100lbs.)
1995
527
67.55
6.83
2000
540
100.06
8.00
2005
575
121.43
9.04
2010
567
118.77
10.68
2015
578
248.39
20.94
2020
580
154.22
15.81
2021
572
172.50
18.47
Table 2. Gender Performance Differences in Feeder Cattle, Focus on Feedlots, Kansas State University Closeout Date
No. of Head
In Weight (lbs.)
Final Weight (lbs.)
Average Days on Feed
Average Daily Gain (lbs./day)
Feed to Gain (dry basis)
Death Loss (%)
Average Cost of Gain/CWT
August 2022 (steers)
38,069
766
1,439
180
3.61
6.02
2.06
129.41
August 2022 (heifers)
25,912
736
1,296
169
3.14
6.52
2.72
142.18
August 2017 (steers)
34,951
793
1,379
169
3.62
6.05
1.27
73.88
August 2017 (heifers)
22,764
711
1,231
165
3.11
6.61
1.69
79.54
August 2022 corn price=$8.69/bushel and August 2017 corn price=$3.91/bushel
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