Feature

 

 

New way to measure efficiency will benefit beef herd profitability
Nov. 18, 2005
Net Feed Efficiency (NFE) is a relatively new term for producers, but it’s all about identifying those animals that can achieve gains on less feed.
New feeding technology being used at Olds College, as well as a commercial bull test facility in southern Alberta, should assure Canadian beef producers they can now select breeding stock for improved feed efficiency.


Neil French and Connie Burton check
feed records at Olds College.

The technology, which makes it possible to precisely measure the feed intake of individual animals, supplies data needed to generate Expected Progeny Difference (EPD) ratings on bulls with improved feed efficiency.

What does that mean? As more data is collected, selecting breeding stock with genetic potential for improved feed efficiency could save cow/calf producers as well as cattle feeders hundreds of millions of dollars annually, say researchers. Simply put, the technology allows producers to select breeding stock and build herds with a genetic disposition to gain weight on less feed.

How much less feed? Feeding trials at Olds College over the past three years showed over a 120-day feeding period, as much as an $80 per head feed savings for cattle with the higher genetic potential for improved feed efficiency compared to other cattle.

“Along the production chain that potentially means cow/calf producers will see calves reach weaning weights either faster or on less feed,” says Neil French, college instructor specializing in feedlot management and animal breeding.

A batch of 59 bull calves is being tested this fall and winter at Olds College, and a privately-owned feedlot — Cattleland Feedyards — at Strathmore, east of Calgary is offering the first commercial bull test service in Canada collecting data on net feed efficiency. Cattleland will be evaluating about 190 head of bulls from 50 purebred breeders this fall.

EPDs developed

The concept of selecting cattle based on genetic potential for feed efficiency isn’t new. Researchers first identified a genetic potential for feed efficiency back in the 1960s, but little was done with that information. However, in the 1990s Australian researchers began working with the concept, and in the early 2000s Canadian beef researchers took a serious look at this heritable trait.

Technology makes NFE measurement possible

The new technology for measuring feed intake is a critical tool in developing the whole concept of net feed efficiency (NFE), says Connie Burton, an Olds College instructional assistant who has worked closely with instructor Neil French during the three-year NFE project.


GrowSafe's specially designed feeders weigh feed and record feed
consumption of each animal.

The new technology developed by Airdrie-based GrowSafe Systems involves computerized bunk-style feeders that can measure and record the feed intake of individual animals each time they come to the bunk to eat. A sensor on the edge of the feeder reads the electronic ear tag of each animal. The GrowSafe feeder weighs the total amount of ration placed in the bunk and then records the amount consumed during each visit by cattle.

Dr. John Basarab, a provincial research scientist, Olds College and their colleagues were the first in North America to integrate the concept of NFE with new advances in radio frequency identification, wireless communication and computer software integration (GrowSafe Stystems Ltd.).

“The technology produces a very accurate record of how much each animal eats over a 24 hour period,” says Burton. “The data collected over the 120-day feeding period is analyzed to determine each animal’s net feed efficiency.”

Being able to precisely measure feed intake of individual animals in a feedlot environment was difficult, if not impossible, before the GrowSafe system was developed, adds French.

This is the fourth year Olds College has conducted NFE bull test evaluations. The first three years, which involved nearly 300 head of bull calves from both British and Continental breeds provided the initial data base to determine EPDs. The feed efficiency of those bull calves was determined over a 112-day feeding period.
Dr. John Basarab, a research scientist with Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development based in Lacombe, working in a collaborative effort with a several researchers and agencies over the past few years, has developed an NFE process now available to commercial feedlots.

As feeding data is collected, other researchers such as Dr. Stephen Moore, genomics chair at the University of Alberta, leads a program to identify the genetic markers which one day will make it possible to rely on a blood test to identify cattle with the greatest potential for improved feed efficiency.

Data collected from three years of Olds College NFE feeding trials made it possible to generate EPDs for 221 bulls this year. Those EPDs were 59 percent accurate. “That’s very encouraging and the accuracy will improve with more testing of bulls for net feed efficiency and as their progeny are tested,” says French.

Not feed conversion

In looking at this research it is important to distinguish between traditional and the new beef herd performance measurements. For years the industry has looked at feed conversion ratio and average daily gain as important indicators of performance. However, net feed efficiency is regarded as a more accurate performance measurement.

Feed conversion is the amount of feed consumed by an animal divided by its live weight gain. In a feedlot, the ratio is often about six pounds of feed for one pound of gain. In backgrounding operations it could be as high as 10 pounds of feed to one pound of gain. The feed conversion ratio is related mostly to growth, body size, composition of gain and appetite, rather than the energy required by the animal for maintenance.

Net feed efficiency — also known as residual feed intake — is the difference between an animal’s actual feed intake and its expected feed requirements for maintenance and growth. “With feed costs second only to fixed costs in importance to the profitability of a commercial beef operations, any steps that can be taken to reduce feed costs — improve feed efficiency — is a benefit to the bottom line,” says Basarab.


Environmental benefits

Identifying cattle with improved feed efficiency has several benefits for all sectors of the beef industry. “At the bull test level, purebred breeders can put bulls on test and identify those that have the genetic potential for improved feed efficiency,” explains French.

“As commercial cow/calf producers become more aware of the trait, they can select breeding stock with an EPD for improved feed efficiency. It’s a moderately heritable trait similar to weaning weight and birth weight. By using bulls with improved net feed efficiency, their offspring should also have improved feed efficiency. That trait will be a benefit to cattle feeders as well.”

Along with being a tool for selecting more efficient cattle, the technology also benefits the environment. Cattle eating less and making more efficient use of rations helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Research at the University of Alberta, for example, shows improved feed efficiency can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nine to 15 percent. Methane, in particular, can be reduced by up to 28 percent in more efficient cattle.

While more feed efficient cattle produce less methane, reduced feed consumption also means less fossil fuels are needed to produce and supply that feed to the cattle. And more feed efficient cattle produce less manure, which again reduces greenhouse gas emissions, associated with manure storage, handling and application.

The net feed efficiency bull test currently being run at Olds College is supported in part by the beef sector of the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture. The federal program, launched in 2003, was designed to support dozens of projects across the country that demonstrate practices that not only improve production but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural industry. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association administers the demonstration component of this program for AAFC.

Not a breed issue

The college this year has 59 head that will be on the NFE feeding trials for 85 days. Participating purebred beef producers each supplied four half-sibling bull calves (four sons of the same sire) for the feeding trial. Breeds represented in the trials include polled and horned Hereford, Red and Black Angus, Welsh Black, Charolais and Simmental.

“Evaluating bulls for net feed efficiency does not pit one breed against another,” says French. “All breeds can have animals with improved feed efficiency. That’s why we are looking at four half-siblings in this project. There can be a wide range of feed efficiency among those siblings. So breed has nothing to do with it.”

Results of the net feed efficiency feeding trials rank all bulls on test regardless of breed. Figures from the early 2005 bull test results, for example, show a Simmental bull had the highest net feed efficiency among more than 40 other bull calves representing three continental breeds. However, another Simmental bull calf, a half brother to the leader came in about 35th in the efficiency ranking.

Similarly among the British breeds, a Welsh Black bull came in with top feed efficiency while a sibling placed 16 in a field of 28 head.

“The point is you can’t say one breed is better than another, but within a breed you can have some animals that have improved feed efficiency over others,” says French. “If a producer selects breeding stock with improved feed efficiency which has a moderate heritability factor, there is a good likelihood the trait will be passed on.”

As more bulls are evaluated under the NFE system, the EPD accuracy will increase. “The genetic benefits of net feed efficiency are cumulative,” says Basarab. “We can identify breeding stock now with improved potential for feed efficiency. But, with each generation the genetics will be passed along. Ten years from now the potential for improved feed efficiency will be that much greater.”
-30-
 

© Canadian Cattlemen's Association, 2005.
 

© Canadian Cattlemen's Association, 2005
CCA Calgary - #310, 6715 - 8th St. NE, Calgary, AB T2E 7H7, (403) 275-8558 Fax: (403) 274-5686
CCA Ottawa - #1403, 150 Metcalfe St., Ottawa, ON K2P 1P1, (613) 233-9375 Fax: (613) 233-2860