Applying Principles of Crossbreeding

One of the most powerful tools available to cattle producers to improve the efficiency of production in a herd is the use of crossbreeding. Effective use of a crossbreeding system allows producers to take advantage of heterosis (hybrid vigor), complementarity and breed differences to match cattle to available feed resources and to predominant market preferences. Failure to adequately think through a crossbreeding program can be potentially devastating. It could result in nothing more than a mongrel herd, which lacks both uniformity and the ability to produce under a given set of available resources.