Cow Efficiency Pre- and Postweaning

Total energy intake of the cow for a year is not indicative of her efficiency at weaning or her net return to the enterprise. What is important is how she uses the energy she consumes. Likewise, cow size is not indicative of efficiency or net return. Breed differences probably exist , but they are not as important as individual differences in cow efficiency. Breed differences in postweaning efficiency were found only when efficiency was calculated on a cow basis and the cow\u27s annual intake was included. Remember this is a cow efficiency study and the effect of different sires or different breeds of sire was not evaluated. Carcass trait differences between breeds primarily reflect weaning weight differences or dressing percentage proportion of this difference. When fed to a physiological end point (point where gain and efficiency of gain start to decline), no differences due to breed group in cutability or quality grade were found