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Beef-on-dairy (BoD) crossbreeding represents a strategic integration of dairy and beef production systems that has gained significant importance in recent years. This practice involves breeding dairy cows not intended to produce replacement heifers with beef bulls to produce offspring for the beef market. This chapter summarizes various aspects of BoD crossbreeding. Economic benefits are substantial, with BoD crossbred calves obtaining 40-60% higher prices than purebred dairy counterparts. Additionally, crossbred animals have superior feed efficiency, growth rate, and disease resistance. Environmental benefits include 10-15% reduction in methane emissions per kilogram of weight gain compared to purebred dairy calves. The widespread adoption of BoD crossbreeding, now practiced on approximately 72% of dairy farms in the U.S., represents a paradigm shift toward more integrated, efficient, and sustainable cattle production systems that address economic, environmental, and animal welfare concerns simultaneously.
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Economic impact and market opportunities
- 3 Strategies for optimizing crossbreeding
- 4 Additional recent genetic and genomic contributions to beef-on-dairy crossbreeding systems
- 5 Main breeds currently used in the beef-on-dairy schemes
- 6 Growth performance and feed efficiency of beef-on-dairy crossbreds
- 7 Carcass and meat quality traits of beef-on-dairy crossbreds
- 8 Sustainability and environmental considerations
- 9 Breeding schemes
- 10 Conclusion and future trends in research
- 11 References