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“RIGHT” COW SIZE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

high-quality forage) to cow weight gain is low. Consequently, the increased cull cow income will be substantially offset by the economic cost (although nearly impossible to measure) of developing or growing the added cow weight. What will the future bring? In digesting all of the data and research about cow size, efficiency as a whole is complicated. Reproduction along with management, biological and economic factors will continue to be studied and applied from both the research and produc- tion side of beef cattle. Sorting out the value of benefits in one stage of production and weighing those against the potential drawbacks in another state is a real challenge, Lalman said. Nevertheless, it is appar- ent that mature cow size is one trait that should not be ignored in the production process. “I believe cattle will continue to trend larger from a seed- stock perspective,” Johns says. “Ranchers will need to apply constant pressure to moderate cow size.” Radakovich believes that cow size will not change radically in the future, but the quality of the animal will increase. “In the future, the quality of animal that we have will prob- ably increase, which might be longevity or meat quality or efficiency, but it’s going to be very selective with enhanced breeding technologies,” Radakovich says. “Whether that’s using CRISPR [clustered regularly interspaced short palin- dromic repeats] technology to eliminate some problems we might have in the nation’s cowherd or something similar. It’s going to be much more selective on an individual animal basis in the future, regardless of breed.”

Crimson Classic Sale

Jimmy & Ginger Montgomery Union Springs, Ala. (334) 703-1314 Farm Manager: Antonio Soto Running M Ranch From left, Ginger Montgomery, Barry Powell, Graves Creek Farm, Columbia, Miss.; Arlin Taylor and Retha Tinney, Tinney Farms, Hanceville, Ala. and Jimmy Montgomery.

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JUNE 2018 • WWW.SANTAGERTRUDIS.COM