Join Progressive Cattle Podcast co-host Tyrell Marchant as he visits with West Texas A&M's Trent Schwartz to discuss how the meat packing, retail and food service sectors are adjusting to handling and marketing larger carcasses than ever before.

Recent research suggests that beef-on-dairy steers fed a low-starch total mixed ration at a younger age will continue to increase in feed intake and growth longer than those receiving different diets. 

The long-term trend in the feedlot industry is that cattle are on feed more and more days every year. Feedlot data shows that the 12-month moving average of days on feed has increased approximately 30% just in the last two decades.

Few times in history has the cattle industry offered more opportunity for profit to conscientious producers than right now. That was the primary message of CattleFax CEO Randy Blach’s executive summary at CattleFax’s Industry Outlook Seminar on Feb. 2. 

Creating beef from dairy supply chains is not a new concept. For the past seven years, Penn State research programs have emphasized dairy progeny as part of the beef supply chain.

Demand for high-quality beef has been increasing at a rapid pace for the last decade, with no decline in sight. Prior to that, the percentage of cattle grading USDA Prime averaged about 2% to 4% nationally. Today, USDA Prime is often seen in 10% to 15% or more of cattle.