On Target: Ranch environment and beef demand
Date: May 01 2017
On TargetYou’ve heard about it often enough: Match the cow to your environment. The articles and presentations say optimize the use of land, labor and forage resources; monitor success by measuring pounds of beef per acre. That sounds simple enough, but individuals vary their interpretations. Those who love to put more labor into it
may select for twinning and double their output. Of course, that’s far-fetched and rejected by any who have experienced
the tradeoffs of trying to get twins born unassisted to a dam that will rouse them both to nurse and then raise them both
to weaning. You certainly get rapid feedback as to success or failure, and that serves as part of your environment: the
challenge of raising twins is greater than the increased production per acre