OPINION “Time to Implement Single Trait Selection” by Chip Kemp, Director, ASA & IGS Commercial and Industry Operations, American Simmental Association
Sometimes the obvious hides in plain sight. It is obvious that our beloved bovine is often at the core of plain truths. Meat, of which we are confident beef is the most appealing version, has clearly impacted the development of the human brain, physical well-being, psychological health, and the economic stability of various societies. You don’t need to take my word for these things. Do your own homework. I’d encourage you to explore voices who operate in other arenas and may not be fully in philosophical alignment with us on every issue. But we can find commonality on this topic. Explore the works of anthropologist Dr. Leslie Aiello to consider the relationship between animal protein consumption and brain size and function. Or consider Dr. Drew Ramsey’s article “Do Happy, Healthy Brains Need Meat?”. Parts of this short essay will enrage you, but those can’t take away from the fact that he still states with certainty that people need to consume meat. Or check out the meat consumption vs. Gross Domestic Product chart at ourworldindata. org. All confirm what you and I know. Beef is overwhelmingly a positive for individuals and societies. Another example of the cow’s influence on modern society is in a word we hear all too 8
often today — “vaccine”. The rise and fal of personalities, policies, parties, and people seem to hinge on this simple little word. Vaccine is derived from the Latin “vacca”or “vacci”. Meaning cow. Vaccination translates roughly to “pertaining to the cow”. All this derives from the work of Dr. Edward Jenner who, in the 18th century, used exposure to cowpox to provide immunity for smallpox. Or maybe we should discuss the most plain of truths. You and I need the cow to be profitable. To generate more revenue than she costs to acquire, raise, and maintain. Again, this is obvious and in plain sight. But is it really? Efficient growth performance is crucial to a profitable beef complex. Cost-effective feedlot gain is a major decider of a terminal animal’s profitability. I can recall, as an undergrad, having a certain professor drive home the reality that was quite evident in the beef business in the early 90s. Single trait selection was dangerous. He could back this up with facts, charts, and various glimpses of profit and loss within beef operations. American Beef Producer
He could drive this home with basic visual appraisal as we studied the physical implications of solely focusing on a leaner, larger animal. Or he could take us to a feedlot and listen to the “colorful” commentary by yard leadership and their local cattle buyer. This professor, you’ve probably heard of him — Dr. Jerry Lipsey, essentially had the full arsenal of tools to highlight to his students why this model of animal agriculture simply couldn’t sustain itself. The long and short of it – it was not profitable. You probably even remember ads from the day. I bet a printed pachyderm still resides in the memory bank of some. And yet . . . We all know the story. Carcass weights have increased aggressively for many years. Packers have incentivized this progression as they continue to move the heavy weight and yield grade discounts to allow for this trend to garner higher and higher grading percentages. Neither good nor bad. Just an observation of what is. As the genetics have been developed to allow for this shift, one would then assume with confidence we’ve also seen May/June 2021
