Speckle Park cattle may get attention for their colourful appearance, but it is their ability to thrive in a variety of climates and feeding regimens that really make them popular.

Composite breeds of cattle are built on the concept of breed complementarity – combining the desirable characteristics of two or more breeds of cattle in a way that simultaneously masks or lessens each breed’s weaknesses.

Fertility is the number one trait linked to profitability for cow-calf herds. It’s also of low heritability and sometimes difficult to assess, depending on your record-keeping system.

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.

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.