In 2015, Wedel Red Angus invested in GrowSafe system in order to be able to identify variation in feed intake and feed conversion. The identification of cattle that not only have superior gain and carcass merit, but improved feed efficiency could have tremendous impact on calf value.

Our feed intake data confirms there are multiple paths to efficiency. Some average gainers eat 25% less feed. Some eat 10% more feed, but gain 30% more weight. Perhaps most importantly, this technology allows us to identify and eliminate those that eat 20% more feed and gain 20% less weight—and never give our customers the opportunity to own them.

While low-intake and high-gain are antagonistic, outliers do occur. It is our plan to share this data with customers in the most economically relevant sense possible—the profitability of feed conversion.