CASE STUDY: Searching for the Ultimate Cow: The Economic Value of Residual Feed Intake at Bull Sales

Cow-calf producers seek to reduce costs and increase profits by selecting bulls that produce more efficient offspring. Organizers of formal bull auctions usually produce catalogs for potential buyers that advertise bull performance measures and genetic characteristics, including EPD and simple performance measures (SPM). Buyers use this information to make decisions regarding bull purchases based on heritable bull traits. Residual feed intake (RFI) is a relatively new SPM of feed efficiency. The Midland Bull Test company (Columbus, MT) measures RFI in addition to other SPM during bull performance testing. The Midland Bull Test company records individual animal feed intake by using GrowSafe (Airdrie, Alberta, Canada) technology. Residual feed intake for each bull is calculated as the difference between actual and expected feed intake. The Midland Bull Test company included RFI along with EPD and other SPM in its 2008 and 2009 sale catalogs. A linear hedonic price model was used to quantify RFI values with various bull performance measures from the Midland Bull Test sale catalogs and associated bull sale prices. Analyses indicate that buyers were willing to pay more for bulls that were RFI efficient (P < 0.01). Although other performance measures (e.g., BW gain, birth weight, and age) were valued more highly (P < 0.01) by bull purchasers, an RFI SPM could eventually be valued to the extent that an RFI EPD might be developed.