Are you disciplined and strategic in the way you manage your beef-on-dairy calves these days? With dairy replacement heifers in short supply and expected to remain that way until 2027, your management expertise matters more than ever.

Part of the beef-on-dairy challenge is to take heifers out of your replacement pipeline in exchange for beef-cross calves while also breeding enough of the right cows back to dairy bulls to maintain or grow your herd with quality genetics. In essence, the challenge is to:

• Calculate replacement needs accurately
• Identify which cows should be bred to dairy versus beef
• Maximize the genetic potential of every dairy heifer born
• Avoid coming up short on replacements

When you decide which heifers are best for helping you capitalize on beef-cross prices, you’re in essence producing fewer replacements and therefore magnifying breeding decisions. It can be stressful. The last thing you want to do is find yourself milking lower producers or having to buy expensive replacements.

Sure, today you can get a great price for beef-cross calves. The drought that contributed to low U.S. cattle inventory – the lowest level in 73 years – has contributed to higher prices for those calves. And there’s no indication that prices will soften in the next two to three years. Everyone wants a nutritional, tasty steak or burger, right?

At the same time, the replacement heifer supply is at a 20-year low. Tight supply means you might have to pay as much as $4,000 for a springer dairy heifer. So as a producer right now, you’re looking at all sides of the equation when crunching the numbers for your herd.

Strategic considerations

After you’ve identified which high-producing dairy cows will receive sexed semen and which you’ll breed conventionally, consider using beef semen for your remaining heifers. Work with a genetics company that has done its homework and knows which sires are most compatible with dairy cows. Industry historically has raised every dairy calf, but today we need to focus on what you need to replace cull cows and/or grow your cow numbers.

Once you determine your needs, you can then look at the beef sires and select what fits best with your current operation. Looking at expected progeny differences (EPDs) for calving ease (CE) and fertility is a good starting point to determine your sire selection.

Beef-on-dairy calves, when using the correct genetics, tend to feed out earlier than dairy breeds with greater feed efficiency and provide larger ribeye area, a prime cut. They also tend to grade better and be more uniform. According to Texas Tech researchers, the percentage of crossbreds that grade Choice or higher is roughly equal to, if not better than, conventional beef animals. They appear to inherit the superior marbling capability of their Holstein ancestors but at a faster finishing pace.

Michigan State researchers conducted studies to examine the feedlot performance, carcass traits and economics of beef-Holstein crosses and Holstein steers. The results from these studies indicate that breeding dairy dams to beef sires can result in steers capable of having a lower cost of gain, a greater carcass value and a greater breakeven feeder calf cost when compared to Holstein steers.

I know of a herd genetics company that, while breeding for beef-on-dairy, says that most of its breeding decisions are made on genomics and creating future bulls to enter into stud.

Regardless of which route you choose, the care you provide your newborn calves is what sets them up for success. Do you have a Vet Client Patient Relationship (VCPR) and a written protocol for successful calf raising? It definitely helps, yet industry research suggests that only 13% of farms have these protocols in writing.

Include in your protocols: colostrum collection, scours prevention, handling and feeding, how much and how often to feed colostrum, use of a Brix refractometer and use of a thermometer for proper temperature, just to name a few.

Keep it simple. As they say, complexity is the enemy of execution. We know that early-life calf management significantly boosts lifetime milk production and reproductive performance. Keep in mind there are differences in feeding and raising dairy calves, dairy bull calves and beef-on-dairy calves, so be sure to work with a nutritionist as well.

Beef-on-dairy is a hot topic today because of the price these calves fetch. Don’t let that drive your decisions. The best way to see the most return on your money is to stay strategic. Simply put, breed to your needs.

References omitted but are available upon request by sending an email to the editor.