Cow-Calf Commentary for Iowa Cattleman Magazine
By Randie Culbertson, extension cow-calf specialist
July 2024
Happy 4th of July: An appreciation of the U.S. beef industry
When I travel to other countries I always appreciate returning home to the United States, regardless of how positive the trip was. Although we face problems here in the U.S., compared to what some other countries are contending with, I’ll take our problems any day. To be clear, I have no intentions of going down a political rabbit hole in this column but rather to draw a contrast.
I was recently invited to speak at a meeting in Bled, Slovenia, in Europe. My travels to Slovenia were an adventure all on its own but I'll save that for another time. The meeting is an annual meeting that discusses the standardization of reporting phenotypes for genetic evaluations and new developments in genetic evaluations. I viewed the meeting as the dairy and European beef industries’ version of the Beef Improvement Federation or BIF. I was invited to speak about beef on dairy crosses and provide a U.S. beef industry perspective. It was interesting to hear other perspectives on beef on dairy, especially from European countries. In Europe, the dairy industry has traditionally provided a significant percentage of animals to the beef industry. It is not uncommon to find operations maintaining dual-purpose breeds that provide both milk and meat, whereas dual-purpose breeds here in the U.S. are a rarity at best. In some countries, such as the U.K. and Ireland, for example, close to 50% of their beef comes from a dairy origin. However, because of significant differences in their production systems and carcass quality compared to the U.S., a direct comparison is hard to make.
Although the conversations about beef on dairy were interesting, I found other presentations and conversations equally fascinating. As with most meetings I attend, the "hallway conversations" can be as enlightening as the presentations themselves. I had a delightful conversation with a researcher from the U.K. while standing in line for lunch. She was currently working on estimating genetic parameters for mature cow weights for cattle in the U.K. using cull cow data. In the U.K., any animals to be slaughtered must be traced back to the farm of origin. This system was first introduced in 1998 as a response to the BSE outbreak. I found this to be an interesting contrast to the U.S. system.
One presentation I found particularly interesting was on sustainability and the European Green Deal (EGD) from the perspective of animal agriculture in Nordic countries. The EU has implemented measures to reduce methane emissions, which may lead to a 10 to 15 percent reduction in livestock production. The presenters discussed the flaws in the reports used to develop the EGD and current EU policies. Many of these reports ignore the contribution of grazing cattle to the carbon cycle, their role in carbon sequestration, and their ability to convert non-edible resources into nutritious food. The self-reliance of Nordic countries is roughly 74%, which is the amount of food they generate within their borders to support their population (equating to 26% of food needing to be imported). This includes animal agriculture and ruminants that can upcycle forages into an edible product for human consumption. Without animal agriculture, this self-reliance drops from 74% to approximately 35% due to the inability to grow edible plant-based food in the Nordic countries. The presenters also brought up something we don’t consider here in the U.S.: the reality of Nordic countries being cut and isolated from the rest of Europe and the world - something that occurred during World War II and a concern given the current war with Ukraine and Russia. The presenters argued if animal agriculture was removed from the EU, and if the Nordic countries were invaded or cutoff, there would be a severe food shortage. This presentation gave me a lot to think about. I don’t envy what cattle producers a faced with in the EU, and it made me value being in the U.S.
Everything said and done, I was glad to be home. Most of all, I’m glad to have U.S. beef again. The food in Europe was good, but their beef doesn't compare to what we produce here in the United States. Happy grilling this Fourth of July.
2024 Archives
2023 Archives
