Economically Relevant Traits

World food production will have to increase 50% by 2030. Yet the North American cowherd continues to decline.

Certainly, beef production has become more challenging with the cost of raising a calf going up 56% in just the past three years.

Dr. Mark Enns, Colorado State University, posed the question, how can we become more profitable? Through changes in management practices, changes in marketing and genetic improvement.

From a genetic standpoint, the easy stuff is done. The industry has EPDs to select for all the traits that are easy to measure. Now the focus needs to shift to Economically Relevant Traits.

ERTs are traits directly related to income and/or cost of production. One example of an ERT that is already being measured is calving ease. Calving ease has a direct impact on income as it relates to the number of live calves, as well as labor costs. Birth weight on the other hand is an indicator trait – it has the ability to influence calving ease, but is not the entire equation.

ERT traits for immediate focus are:
• Feed intake
• Health and survival traits
• Consumer acceptance traits, such as eating quality and nutritional content
• Regionalized adaptability, and
• Male fertility traits

Remember that genetic improvement is long term and the decisions you make today will be most apparent 20 years from now.