Mike Kasten
Our challenge in the beef industy is "how do we get a majority of beef producers to use information available."

There are many exciting changes in commercial beef production, the main one being the focus on the finished product when making genetic selections in commercial herds.
Something necessary for success in the future will be accepting the fact that there are tremendous value differences between individual animals. Understanding and correctly using the information obtained from measuring those differences is going to be essential to your success.
The following are some of the carcass data we have collected.



This chart is broken down into percentages based on the number of generations of positive carcass expected progeny differences (EPDs). This sire also would be positive for ribeye area (REA) and growth traits.



The question “Does it pay?” to select for finished product traits comes up often in conversation. Our data shows that it does.

Premiums over western Kansas average top
0 or minus generations $20.21
 1 generation $40.63
2 generations $52.86
3 generations $82.30
Average $48.56

"We chose Angus because, (1) we wanted to produce a higher quality product; (2) we wanted to make a profit; (3) we want cows that can produce on grass;and (4) we want a wide selection of high-quality genetics with which to work."

I have often heard people say that you have to sacrifice performance for quality. Our data would show that with the right bull selection you can have both high-grading and high-gaining traits in your cattle.



This chart shows the rate of gain based on positive marbling generations.

0 or minus generations 3.79
1 generation 3.81
2 generations 3.89
3 generations 4.33

I am a firm believer that good, accurate EPDs work!
I think the future is going to depend on how we apply the information we know to the entire commercial industry.

"Full-time commericial and seedstock producers of the future need to: Be part of a marketing alliance; work closely with seedstock producers to obtain profitable genetics; facilitate recreational producers to participate in breeding for desired end product."

If we as an industry are going to continue to increase demand for our product, we are going to need to increase quality and uniformity. That is our real challenge for several reasons, one being that full-time commercial cow-calf producers (producers who sell their calves at weaning to make their living) are a thing of the past. The calves of tomorrow and today are being and will continue to be produced by recreational producers (producers who are neither profit- nor quality-motivated). These are going to be the individuals who produce the genetics that need to fit branded products and meet the industry’s future demands. It is paramount for seedstock and serious commercial producers to bring the recreational producer into the quality-beef-production loop.
Following is the data on a group of cattle that I call my “maintain our focus pen.” These cattle were purchased from an individual because he wanted carcass data. He was very proud of these calves and was sure “they would do just great in the feedlot and packinghouse.” There were four Angus-sired calves, and the rest were of another breed.

15 head:
Avg. daily gain 2.92
Avg. marbling score Slight80
Choice 40%
Select 60%

Two of the six Choice steers were Yield Grade (YG) 4s.
The real challenge of the future is going to be getting producers to accept the facts about their cattle and to make genetic changes if needed.
The future of this industry depends on seedstock producers and commercial producers working together to produce the genetics needed to meet the consumers’ demands.