It’s long been joked that if you want to ignite war in cattle country, start a conversation about which cattle breed is best.
No doubt about it, there’s still a diversity of beef breeds in North America, and while that fact might lead to the occasional heated discussion, there’s good reason for that diversity. There’s more than one way to run a ranch after all, and the genetics that fit one production system might be more like a square peg in a round hole on the next. There’s also a good deal of regional diversity in cattle country across this nation. The cattle adapted for B.C.’s backcountry may or may not work well in the Maritimes or the Prairies or northern Ontario.
The genetic diversity found in beef cattle contrasts the narrower genetic spectrum found in other industries such as poultry and pork. For more on why these livestock industries have taken different approaches to genetic selection, and what the trade-offs are, check out this short feature by Piper Whelan. For more stories on everything from seed vaults to poultry breeding, visit Seeding the Future.
