Beef x dairy cross – farmers have been interested in it for a few years now, and it’s only gaining momentum. Tom Earleywine, director of nutritional services with Purina Feed, says the industry is in a critical time right now. He says producers need to provide the best animals to secure a market before the beef herd comes back.
“It really has gone crazy in the last two or three years once people recognized that the beef cow calf herd was down because of recent droughts, and… beef supply goes down,” Earleywine explains. “So what can we do to provide more beef and better beef?”
Just over five years ago, Purina had started buying more crossbred calves. Now, almost everything they do research on is with beef x dairy crossbred animals.
“What we found… there were a number of things that these animals responded really well to,” Earleywine says.
They found that under the right conditions, beef x dairy calves had good muscle growth, larger ribeyes, and a healthier gut.
“If you fed them at least three quarts twice a day, for example, to start with, and if that at least had 27 percent protein… those animals will respond with a tremendous amount of muscle growth,” he says. “If you provide enough protein and energy, they really perform.”
Earleywine explains that the ability to influence the animal is the greatest in-utero. Ever day after its born, influence decreases. When the calf is born, claustrum management is key. Then, it’s about mirroring how a beef animal would be raised by its mom. For example, feeding the calf around 3 gallons a day instead of the typical 1.5 gallons. Or weeing a calf at 4-6 months of age instead of the typical 2 months.
“The longer you wait… we will never get that animal to the same level that it was before,” he says. “If we want to maintain our beef market of raising these crossbreds, we need to provide the best animal to that feed lot today, so they don’t lose that market when the beef herd comes back.”