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.

As we near the feedlot fall run and cow-calf producers market their calves at the highest prices received to date, every additional pound of gain has greater profit potential.

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.

Maternal traits have been the core consideration for cow-calf producers when making breeding decisions and for good reason. The cow is the engine of productivity at the producer level.

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.

In America’s cattle regions, a revolutionary change is happening that might transform the feedlot industry. It’s centered around a special kind of probiotic, a tiny hero in the world of biology.

The number of straws of beef semen sold to the dairy industry has more than doubled in the last five years, although dairy cow numbers have been relatively stagnant. So what has changed?

In the ever-evolving world of sustainable agriculture, one crop stands tall for its exceptional benefits to both ruminant animals and your farm’s bottom line: alfalfa. 

In recent years, the dairy industry has witnessed a significant rise in the number of beef cross calves being born. This emerging trend of crossbreeding dairy cows with beef bulls at a large scale has not been a linear process.

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.