Research on Days to Finish

The beef industry really doesn’t need more expected progeny differences (EPDs), Dorian Garrick of Colorado State University told attendees of the Live Animal, Carcass and End Point Committee roundtable discussion May 30, 2003, at the 35th Annual Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Meeting. The industry does need EPDs to measure all economic traits, and the current list doesn’t address all traits that need to be measured.

“Preferably, EPDs will be used to allow for the assessment of economic implications of using alternative animals without needing to know or having access to advanced biology or nutrition,” Garrick said. In other words, the average producer will be able to understand and easily use these EPDs.

Animals generally are weighed at birth, at weaning (205 days) and as yearlings (365 days). Using the days-to-finish EPD, producers should be able to pinpoint a weight at any age. This can also be used for fat and marbling predictions. Garrick said that feedlots have a goal of finishing an animal to a certain weight, fat or marbling end point.

Work is still being done to create prototype EPDs. Research will be starting through the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium (NBCEC), with research being done at Iowa State University and Montana State University.

Garricks comments to the committee expounded upon a presentation he gave during the program’s morning session, the proceedings of which can be found under the topic “How to achieve genetic change.” He explained more in-depth how to use an expected progeny difference (EPD) to calculate the desired days to finish.

— by Stephanie Veldman