Working Ranch April/May 2025

A GLANCE AT THE TRENDS The first and perhaps the most important trend in the beef business is that cow size is getting bigger. Has been for a while, by about 10 pounds a year. By extension, so have fed steer live weights at harvest. “As weight goes up in steers, the same thing is going up with cows,” Scott said. “The belief in the U.S. is that cows weigh approximately the same as feedlot outweight.” That means the average cow in the U.S. weighs 1,400 to 1,500 pounds. The other trend of note is that weaning weights have stayed the same for 20 years or more. There are many reasons for the flat trend in weaning weights, but it’s not

Wyoming. “And as a business leader, I want to make sure we understand the relationship between adequate nutrition and what it’s costing us to provide adequate nutrition,” he said during a Cattlemen’s College talk at the 2025 Cattle Industry Convention. That’s where the downside comes in. And, like many things in the beef busi ness, it presents a puzzling conundrum. “We’re incentivized to sell pounds,” according to Dr. Ron Scott, director of beef cattle technical innovation with Purina Animal Nutrition. “But there’s a cost to this increased production and there are a lot of hidden costs that a lot of us are not aware of,” he told Cattlemen’s College attendees during the session on cow and calf size.

ow big is too big?” That’s likely the top question and conversa tion happening more and more often as fed cattle live and carcass weights get heavier and heavier. There’s been speculation that some of the younger folks in the beef business may well see 1,500-pound fed cattle carcasses in their lifetimes. Regardless of whether or not that actually happens, the trend is clear. However, there’s a downside for the cow calf producer, according to research and on-the-ranch data presented at the 2025 Cattle Industry Convention. “We’re getting more and more pressure from a cost standpoint,” according to Dr. Trey Patterson, CEO of the Padlock Ranch, Ranchester,

The Boon and the Bain of Bigger Cattle

Cow size is increasing, but does everyone benefit?

AMERICAN SIMMENTAL ASSOCIATION

BY BURT RUTHERFORD

28 I APRIL / MAY 2025 WORKING RANCH audited readers run 21 million head of beef cattle.