When we look back at the evolution of genetic improvement in the beef industry, almost all of our major improvements have come relatively recently. Each of the steps in this evolution improved the accuracy with which we make selection decisions.

The bull purchase is unlike any other decision that gets made by a cow-calf operation. It carries enormous importance to the success of a herd. The average bull will have a far larger genetic footprint than even the most productive cows, siring well over 100 calves over the course of his time in a herd.

In high school biology, we were introduced to the fact that a phenotype is a function of genetics and environment. As cattle producers, we are constantly trying to optimize these two pieces.

Genomics has become one of the most powerful tools in the cattle industry over the last decade, but the technology is often misunderstood. The goal here is to help dispel some myths and confusion around the use of genomics.

Crossbreeding isn’t a new technology. We’ve known about it and have been doing it for ages. Yet, crossbreeding remains a severely underutilized tool industrywide, with less than 50% of commercial operations using it meaningfully.

Purchasing a bull is one of the most consequential decisions a cow-calf operation can make. Bulls play an outsized role in the long-term genetic progress of our herds, especially when females are retained.