Fact Sheet Written by:
C.P. Mathis, Extension Livestock Specialist, Range Improvement Task Force
J.E. Sawyer, Extension Livestock Specialist
And Provided by:
New Mexico State University http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs
In general, efficiency is the optimum use of resources
toward a sustainable level of production. In
beef production, production efficiency can be expressed
as the ratio of pounds of calf weaned per unit
of forage consumed. However, rainfall and forage
production can be highly variable in the Southwest, so
cows generally are required to be highly productive
on a limited forage supply. Therefore, it is more practical
to measure production efficiency as total pounds
of calf weaned per pound of female exposed to a bull
(or, if scales are not available, simply per female exposed
to a bull). This measure combines both the reproductive
performance of the cow herd and the
growth characteristics of the calf relative to the total
weight (or number) of cows in the breeding herd.
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