Ultrasound Helps Producers Boost Cattle Health, Profits
Daryl and Doug Bott, Washington County, with veterinarian, Phil Bentz, use ultrasound technology developed by K-State researchers to evaluate cattle.
He’s probably not taking it for granted, but Kansas cattle producer Daryl Bott is beginning to expect a nice price boost on cattle he’s been sending to processors.
"On one of our recent cattle shipments to IBP in Emporia, we earned a $34 premium per head by hitting the grid," Bott said.
The "grid" is a ranking of carcass quality, used by processing plants to award premiums for cattle that fit industry’s top standards – or, possibly discounts for cattle that don’t meet those standards.
Bott Cattle Company Inc., located in southern Washington County, is one of several Kansas operations implementing ultrasound technology that was created by K-State Research and Extension researcher John Brethour.
Brethour, who is based at the Agricultural Research Center – Hays, developed the technology to predict the carcass quality of live animals, which enables producers to more efficiently grow cattle that meet industry’s highest standards.
Brothers Daryl and Doug Bott and father Delwin manage a 3,500-head feedlot. They have used ultrasound the past three years to improve their return per head.
"Ninety percent of the time, it pays us to use ultrasound to scan the cattle," Bott said. "Even without the premium incentive, ultrasounding is cost beneficial, because it tells us if a steer or heifer would not benefit from more feed. This way, we don’t put inefficient gain on it."
The Botts learned about ultrasounding cattle from Dr. Phil Bentz, a veterinarian from Washington who learned about ultrasounding from Brethour.
"Ultrasounding allows us to evaluate the cattle, carcass-wise, and project how they will finish out," Bentz said. "With this technology, we should be able to place 80 to 90 percent of the cattle in the choice grid."
Like most cattle producers, the Botts previously sorted their cattle by sight, which is not as accurate.
"When we sorted visually, we would get more cattle finishing with a yield grade four, meaning overfat," Bott said. "Now, we rarely see a carcass with a yield grade four."
Each carcass with a yield grade four costs their operation a $25 per hundred- weight discount. With ultrasound, the cattle are not overfed or overfat, which saves feed and increases profit.
And in the cattle business, time is money. Yet, in about the same amount of time it takes to process a group of cattle through a working chute, they can be evaluated by ultrasound for muscle tissue and backfat.
The cattle are then sorted into groups, based on the number of days they should be on feed to hit the grid. It only takes a matter of minutes, but the return is significant.
Pat Coyne, head of K-State Research and Extension’s Western Kansas Agricultural Research Centers, said the potential economic benefit to the beef industry from Brethour’s discovery is massive.
"Several studies have documented that precision feeding, based on the ultrasound work, increases feedlot profits $15 to $20 per head, while improving beef quality," Coyne said. "There were
28 million fed cattle slaughtered in the United States in 2003, so the potential benefit of this technology is more than $500 million annually."
John Brethour
785-625-3425, X215
jbrethou@k-state.edu
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