Life-cycle biological efficiency of Bos indicus x Bos taurus and Bos taurus crossbred cow-calf production to weaning.

Abstract

A deterministic model was developed that accounted for all biological inputs and outputs for a theoretical herd of F1 females at age equilibrium mated to produce three-way terminal-cross calves and for the required proportion of straightbred cows needed to produce replacements. Two Bos indicus x Bos taurus vs two Bos taurus x Bos taurus types of crossbred cows were compared in the production environment of south-central Nebraska. The four types of F1 females were from Hereford (H) or Angus (A) dams and by H or A (HA), Pinzgauer (Pz), Brahman (Bm), or Sahiwal (Sw) sires. The crossbred females were assumed mated to Red Poll (R) sires for their first calving and to Simmental (S) sires thereafter. Two evaluations of efficiency for each of the four breeding systems were total cow and calf feed energy input 1) per unit of only weaned calf weight output (CALFEFF, Mcal/kg) and 2) per unit of weaned calf plus .55 x cull cow weight output (TVALEFF, Mcal/kg). Results for a terminal age of 7 yr in systems using HA, Pz, Bm, and Sw crossbred cows, respectively, were 64.9, 64.5, 60.9, and 59.3 Mcal/kg for CALFEFF and 45.7, 46.4, 44.1, and 43.7 Mcal/kg for TVALEFF. Changing terminal age to 11 yr reduced CALFEFF about 6% but increased TVALEFF about 7%, because total inputs increased more than output value (10 vs 3%) from 7 to 11 yr terminal ages. These results suggest differences in efficiency among these breed crosses favoring the Bos indicus crossbred cows by over 4% in this particular environment.