FERTILITY AND LONGEVITY: THE ONE-TWO PROFIT PUNCH

摘要

No matter how you do the math, fertility and longevity of cows add up to the difference between profit and loss in most cow-calf operations. Thousands of opinion articles and scientific research papers have been written on this subject. I have not read a single one that makes a compelling case elevating any other trait over these. It's fun to brag about % Choice or % Prime on the grading rail at a packing plant, or the average daily gain in a feedlot, but I have not seen a solid economic argument convincing me that anything trumps fertility and longevity when it comes to rancher profitability. There is no debate that these are critical measures of profit performance for every producer.