Revised August, 2001 THE OPTIMUM COW - WHAT CRITERIA MUST SHE MEET?

I would like to take poetic license and change the title of this presentation to Search for the Elusive Optimum Cow because she is indeed an elusive beast. I have searched for her for over 20 years. I have not yet found her, but I believe I am getting close. During this search, I have heard her defined in numerous ways: the high performance cow, the mini-care cow, the lowmaintenance cow, and the biologically efficient cow, to mention a few. The latter definition served as the focal point of The Beef Cow Efficiency Forum , held in 1984 in Colorado State University and Michigan State University (Ritchie and Hawkins, 1984). The purpose of this conference was to review the research that had been conducted to date on beef production efficiency. The ultimate objective was to identify potential means for improving beef production efficiency, particularly in the cow-calf segment of the industry.