Several breeding philosophies address type and kind in the commercial cow-calf industry. All can be applied in multi-sire or single-sire mating.
Crossbreeding with complementarity can optimize heterosis and performance, but it reduces predictability. Gains in weight, milk, and muscle often come with higher birth weights and temperament problems.
Purebred breeding – especially like-to-like mating or strategic linebreeding – builds consistency and uniformity. The trade-off is lost heterosis and, with it, some performance. Linebreeding outliers for performance can work against fertility.
Corrective mating is used to fix faults or add or remove specific traits. It can work well in the first generation, but later generations often become inconsistent.
Fire and ice mating pairs opposite extremes to produce a more balanced animal. Results are inconsistent. A very large cow bred to a moderate-framed bull will yield some middle-of-the-road calves, but just as many that are too big or too small. That inconsistency carries into later generations.
Breeding like to like is the approach I endorse. It produces consistency: cattle with enough of everything and not too much of anything. That uniformity compounds generation after generation, giving customers a uniform calf crop and giving the producer a more reliable pool of replacement heifers.
Conclusion:
Much of the U.S. cowherd is out of balance. Females tend to be larger, leaner, and later-maturing, which makes corrective mating an important tool for introducing profit-driving traits. Pharo Cattle Company® offers a consistent, low-maintenance, high-fertility genetic option that can produce more sustainable cattle in the first generation.
If a producer already has a low-maintenance, highly fertile cowherd, PCC® bulls will allow like-to-like mating that compounds those traits and builds a consistently profitable product.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“Once we rid ourselves of traditional thinking, we can get on with creating the future.” ~ James Bertrand
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