81 Creating a More Efficient Production System (Feed Efficiency in the Real World)

Abstract

Abstract Modern food production is the subject of much scrutiny, especially with regard to potential environmental impact and sustainability. To accurately assess impact, both costs and benefits should be evaluated, and inputs and outputs should be standardized. Emphasis is commonly placed on efficiency when comparing production of various animal proteins. Efficiency of a process can be described as a ratio. This ratio is simply: 1) input to output or 2) output to input. The relationship of input to output such as feed input to gain (i.e., body weight, carcass weight, or retail cut weight) output is termed feed to gain (F:G) and the relationship of output to input is termed gain to feed (G:F). Production efficiency is optimal when animals are depositing lean tissue and poorest when the animal fattens and approaches chemical maturity. Because of the energy density of tissues deposited, energetic (calorie:calorie) efficiency can look very different than production (feed) efficiency. Factors related to animal health are also important as a reduction in death loss can offer a substantial boost to efficiency. Feed efficiency should be expressed on a dry matter basis. Failure to account for moisture content in a feedstuff can make feed efficiency appear poorer, especially when cattle are compared with non-ruminants, which typically consume drier diets. Should the environmental impact of beef production be lifetime or feedyard only? Much, if not all, of what a cow eats has no other value to mankind. The authors believe that the creation of human available calories from cellulose must be accounted for. For a more just comparison, efficiency could be measured using inputs that could have been used for human consumption, when making across species comparisons. With this in mind, non-ruminants are not nearly as attractive for large-scale protein production. There would also be value in evaluating efficiency of input to ideal protein output, rather than just weight gain or pounds of food produced. In that scenario plant-based foods would fare poorly. How best can cattle be used to supply the bioavailable nutrients for a growing population? Modern cattle eat large amounts of feed, get very large and have the ability to fatten and still be very efficient. Continual improvement and advancement is critical; but more meaningful assessments of efficiency are possible when the appropriate input:ouput comparisons are evaluated.