Feed efficiency gets talked about plenty in the cattle business.
But when you're looking through a sale catalog and see Feed Conversion, DMI, RADG, Conversion Ratio and Cost of Gain, what do those numbers actually tell you?
More importantly, how should you use them when comparing bulls?
At Byergo Angus, we believe feed-efficiency data is most valuable when cattlemen can understand it and use it alongside the rest of the information available on an animal.
Because the goal isn't to find the bull with the most impressive single number.
It's to understand what he did with the feed he consumed — and whether his genetics fit what you're trying to accomplish.
Start With the Basic Question
At the heart of feed-efficiency testing is something pretty simple:
How much did the animal consume, and what did he produce from it?
Imagine two bulls both gain 300 pounds during a development period.
From a growth standpoint, they may appear similar.
But what if one required substantially more feed to produce those 300 pounds?
That's information you can't see by looking at the bulls.
Individual feed-intake testing gives us another layer of data to distinguish between cattle that may otherwise appear very similar.
Feed Conversion: How Much Feed Did It Take?
Feed Conversion measures the amount of feed consumed relative to weight gained.
If an animal records a 4.5:1 feed conversion, that means it took approximately 4.5 pounds of feed to produce one pound of gain during the testing period.
If another converts at 6.5:1, approximately 6.5 pounds were required to produce that pound.
In this measurement:
Lower is generally better.
The important part isn't simply that one animal ate less.
It's that he required less feed to produce the same unit of gain.
That's a very different thing.
Conversion Ratio: Comparing Performance
A Conversion Ratio provides another way to compare an individual animal's feed conversion with the group or benchmark being used.
Ratios can make it easier to identify cattle performing above or below the comparison point without having to evaluate every raw number independently.
But as with every feed-efficiency measurement, context matters.
A ratio shouldn't be considered in isolation from the animal's gain, intake, performance and other economically relevant traits.
Dry Matter Intake (DMI): How Much Are They Eating?
Dry Matter Intake, or DMI, describes feed consumption after accounting for the water contained in the feed.
The Angus DMI EPD predicts differences in the amount of dry matter an animal's progeny are expected to consume per day.
Generally, a lower DMI EPD indicates genetics expected to consume less feed.
But here's where it gets important:
Eating less isn't automatically better.
If an animal eats less because he also grows less, you haven't necessarily improved profitability.
What we're interested in is the relationship between intake and output.
How much went in?
And what did the animal do with it?
RADG: Gain With Intake Accounted For
RADG stands for Residual Average Daily Gain.
It predicts genetic differences in post-weaning gain while accounting for differences in feed intake.
In practical terms, RADG helps identify genetics with the potential to produce more gain for a given amount of feed.
For RADG:
Higher is generally better.
This makes RADG particularly useful when we're trying to identify cattle that don't simply consume less, but are capable of translating their intake into performance.
That's an important distinction.
At Byergo, the goal isn't cattle that eat less.
It's cattle that do more with what they eat.
Cost of Gain: Where Biology Meets the Checkbook
Feed conversion is biologically interesting.
Cost of gain makes it economic.
Cost of gain looks at what it actually cost to produce each pound added during the feeding period.
If two animals produce similar gains but one requires more feed to do it, the difference eventually shows up in dollars.
And that's why relatively small differences in efficiency can become meaningful.
A few cents per pound may not sound dramatic when you're looking at one pound on one animal.
Multiply it across hundreds of pounds.
Then across an entire calf crop.
Then across multiple years.
The economics become much harder to ignore.
Here's Where Cattlemen Can Get Feed Efficiency Wrong
The temptation with any new piece of data is to find the "best" number and select for it as hard as possible.
We don't believe that's the right approach.
The bull with the lowest intake isn't automatically the best bull.
The bull with the best feed conversion isn't automatically the best bull.
And the bull with the highest RADG isn't automatically the right bull for your cows.
Why?
Because you're breeding cattle, not feed-conversion ratios.
A bull still needs to bring the traits your operation needs.
Growth.
Fertility.
Sound feet and structure.
Maternal strength.
Carcass merit.
Disposition.
Longevity.
The efficiency data gives us another powerful tool for making that decision.
It doesn't replace everything else.
Look at the Numbers Together
When evaluating feed-efficiency data, don't ask:
"Which bull has the lowest number?"
Ask:
"What is the complete efficiency picture?"
How did he convert?
How much did he consume?
How did he gain?
What was his cost of gain?
How do his RADG and DMI figures compare?
Then look beyond efficiency.
What are his growth numbers?
What's his carcass profile?
What's behind him maternally?
What does the bull himself look like?
What are his feet like?
What are you trying to change in your own cowherd?
That's when the data becomes useful.
Phenotype Can't Tell You Everything
There's another reason we put so much emphasis on collecting actual feed data.
You can't reliably eyeball efficiency.
Two bulls can stand side by side with similar weights, similar condition and similar phenotype.
One may have required substantially fewer resources to get there.
Without individual intake data, that difference can remain hidden.
And if efficiency has a genetic component, that's information we want before deciding which cattle move the program forward.
Measure first. Select second.
What Does This Mean When You're Buying a Byergo Bull?
When you see feed-efficiency information published on a Byergo bull, don't treat it as another set of numbers to skim past.
Use it.
Start with the animal's feed conversion.
Look at intake and gain.
Consider RADG and DMI.
Look at cost of gain when available.
Then put that information beside his EPDs, pedigree, maternal background, structure and phenotype.
Finally, consider your own operation.
If you're retaining ownership, efficiency can directly influence feeding economics.
If you're developing calves, cost of gain matters.
If you're retaining replacement females, the long-term efficiency of the cowherd matters.
Different operations will put different weight on each piece of information.
That's exactly why we publish it.
Data Doesn't Make the Decision. It Makes the Decision Better.
No spreadsheet can tell you everything you need to know about a bull.
And no single feed-efficiency measurement can tell you whether he's right for your herd.
But good data lets us see things our eyes can't.
It helps us identify differences between cattle.
It helps us make more informed breeding decisions.
And over generations, it gives us another way to apply selection pressure toward cattle capable of producing more efficiently.
At Byergo Angus, we're not interested in calling cattle feed efficient because it sounds good.
We want the data behind the claim.
Because when every pound of feed has a cost, knowing what cattle do with it matters.
Efficiency Genetics. Measured, Not Claimed.
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