To remain competitive in today’s beef industry, commercial producers must identify and implement technologies that have favorable impacts on their beef cattle enterprises, and crossbreeding is one such technology.

The usual suspects (expected progeny differences [EPDs], genomic testing, heterosis) were covered, as were some issues (beef-on-dairy, methane emissions, cardiac health) that may have been a bit more of a surprise to the uninitiated at an event ostensibly dedicated to beef cattle genetics.

As the genetics business becomes increasingly competitive, commercial cattlemen and seedstock producers are ramping up their efforts to market the most desired traits as efficiently as possible. Among the ways they have accomplished this is developing composite herd sires.