Analysis of Innovations: Dairy and Exotic Crossbreeds for Beef Production

Crossing of breeds traditionally has been viewed skeptically by cattle producers. Although there has been some crossbreeding between traditional beef breeds, little use of dairy-beef crosses in commercial beef herds has been made. Often such calves have been inferior in quality and have yielded a lower return than the standard beef breeds.Recently, however, considerable research attention has focused on crossbreeds – crossing standard beef breeds, dairy and beef, and standard and exotic (or new) beef breeds. When all three genetic types are crossed, several positive features have been identified: (1) quality is good – few animals grade prime but most finish at satisfactory weights as high good or choice; (2) greater milking capacity of the part-dairy cow increases the potential for rapid gains, thus permitting more beef to be raised per cow, and (3) genetic growth capability of some exotic breeds is greater so such crosses can take advantage of additional milk.