The use of growth implants among cow-calf producers in the United States is not as widespread as some may perceive. Data from the National Animal Health Monitoring System (1997) indicate that only 14% of cow-calf operations nationwide implant suckling calves, but 55% of operations with more than 300 cows use this technology. An Oklahoma State University scientist compiled research findings from 58 trials comparing the impact of implanting suckling steer or heifer calves to non-implanted controls. From this summary, it was concluded that the usage of growth-promoting implants in suckling beef calves increases average daily gain by 0.10 lb/day in steers and about 0.13 lb/day in heifers from implanting to weaning. A three-year demonstration project in New Mexico has compared weaning weights of steer calves that were implanted at branding to non-implanted steer calves. For calves born in the 2003, 2004, and 2005 calf crops, implanted steers weighed, respectively, 30, 9, and 11 lb/head more at weaning than non-implanted steer calves. When the weight advantage of implanted calves is averaged across years, the impact of a calfhood implant was 16.7 lb, a 0.11 lb/day improvement in average daily gain. This advantage observed among calves grazing extensive rangelands is very close to the average improvement noted in trials across the country. Considering that a calfhood implant costs less than $1, and even though it may require an additional person to insert the ear implant at branding, implanting conventionally marketed calves at branding is a cost-effective input. Using recent calf prices, this gain advantage is equivalent to about $20/steer. Producers who sell calves into niche markets that disallow implants are encouraged to compare the premiums they will receive for not implanting to the expected additional gain they would achieve by implanting at branding. For example, a non-implanted 550-lb calf would need to garner a premium of about $3.50/cwt to generate the income the same calf would receive had it been implanted at branding and gained an extra 17 lb.

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