Productive Longevity in Beef Cows

Introduction. Cow longevity is one of the most economically important traits in the beef cow. Longevity is inter-related to other important traits, and, therefore, it is difficult to separate the importance of longevity, itself, from the importance of traits that are related to longevity. For example, reproductive performance is usually part of the culling criteria. It is often stated that reproductive performance is the single most economically important trait in beef cattle. It can be argued that, if reproductive performance is included as a criterion for culling, productive longevity can be the most economically important trait to the cow-calf producer. Since the only reason that the seedstock industry exists as a business is to meet the demands of the commercial cattle industry, I will discuss longevity as a factor in commercial herds. However, since most of the genetic improvement for longevity must come from seedstock producers, it is also important to consider longevity in purebred (or other seedstock) herds.