Preliminary comparison of HolSim cattle vs. Angus x Holstein cattle
PI: Arquimides Reyes
Reyes is an assistant professor of animal and food science at UW–River Falls. He was born in El Salvador on a small dairy and beef farm and started his career in the meat industry through consulting, buying, and selling meat. Reyes’ research interests include: pre-harvest food safety, the impact of management strategies on cattle efficiency and product quality, and processed meat and product development.
UW–River Falls and the Holstein Association USA are working to provide dairy and beef farmers with research into dairy-beef feedlot performance and carcass composition that provide premiums. This information will allow farmers to increase margins by better planning genetic selection and nutrition management practices designed to increase profitability. Meanwhile, farmers who background dairy-beef calves will have the information to base buying decisions and production information to help determine optimal cattle that will produce high quality, red meat yield. The increased production of crossbred dairy-beef calves, the decline in dairy profitability, and the increase in requests for price information regarding the premiums or discounts received for dairy versus beef versus dairy-beef calves has sparked interest in the topic of selecting the correct breed to develop market ready animals that meet or exceed current beef cattle performance.