Exterior landscape view of the Ponsonby General Animal Facility, a large, modern, L-shaped barn

Early life nutrition key to raising better “beef on dairy” animals

The advent of sexed dairy semen has brought new options for Canadian dairy farmers. The best cows and heifers can be bred to ensure production of female calves, and older or lower-quality cows can be bred with beef semen to deliver a new revenue stream of crossbred calves. These “beef on dairy” calves are born on the dairy farm and raised as a beef animal for market.

Published: Thursday, March 27, 2025
Lead photo: The Ponsonby General Animal Facility (above) and Ontario Beef Research Centre allow researchers to monitor animals and their feed intake for nearly their entire lives.

Impact

Up to 40% of dairy cows in Canada are bred with beef semen

These crossbred cows help Ontario dairy farmers capture new market opportunities.

13 months to market

Gains in crossbred animals rival growth of beef animals.

10% of cows in Canadian feedlots are "beef on dairy"

The segment is expected to continue to grow.

While many dairy producers in Canada now routinely use beef semen on dairy cows, Dr. Michael Steele believes there is much we need to learn about this new market segment.

“There are a lot of opportunities with these crossbred calves and a lot of challenges,” says Steele, a University of Guelph professor in the Department of Animal Biosciences at the Ontario Agricultural College. “I don’t think we know how to feed or raise these animals very well right now.”

Research to meet the needs of a growing industry

The use of beef semen on dairy cows has grown from just 5 per cent to as much as 40 per cent over the last few years. These crossbred animals now make up about 10 per cent of the animals in Canadian feedlots, and Steele expects that number to rise as beef prices remain high.

He is about two years into a comprehensive six-year project, funded in part by the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, to find better ways to rear crossbred calves that will have a positive impact on them later in life. Young dairy calves notoriously have high morbidity and mortality as well as low immune status and require higher levels of antibiotics.

“We don’t have any data on this segment and need to find ways to raise them better early in life to see the long-term impact on feed efficiency, profitability, health and overall environmental sustainability of these production systems,” says Steele.

His extensive team focuses on nutritional programming or early life programming – changing early life experiences to study different aspects of raising crossbred calves. The team includes co-investigator Dr. David Renaud in the Department of Population Medicine at U of G’s Ontario Veterinary College; Drs. Christine Baes, Katie Wood, Marcio Duarte and Jennifer Ellis from Animal Biosciences; and graduate students including Melinda Kovacs (M.Sc.), Hannah McCarthy (PhD) and Titouan Chapelain (PhD).

Black cow calf wearing a pink coat laying in a bed of straw.

Dr. Michael Steele studies ruminant physiology, to develop a better understanding of how common pre-weaning nutritional and management factors can impact gastrointestinal development and metabolism during the pre-weaning phase and later in life.

The key to crossbreds starts early

They have completed the first part of the multi-component study comparing different colostrum feeding strategies and following the crossbred (Holstein [dairy] x Angus [beef]) and purebred Holstein calves from birth to slaughter. “We are now looking at high- and low-fat feeding in early life to see the impact on their health, feed efficiency, environmental sustainability and meat quality,” says Steele.

Early results show that altering the nutrition of colostrum and milk replacer may impact the quality of beef produced. “We’ve been able to compare these animals through their entire life and show that you can change carcass quality quite a bit by focusing on early life nutrition,” says Steele.

When fed properly, especially post-weaning, crossbred calves can gain more than two kilograms a day in the feedlot and be market-ready in 13 months – gains that rival growth in beef animals.

Steele’s research is the first study that follows animals from their first week to slaughter. Study calves from commercial farms arrive at the Ponsonby General Animal Facility where they are fed for three months before going to the feedlot at the Ontario Beef Research Centre in Elora until processing. These study locations are part of a provincial network of research centres owned by the Government of Ontario through its agency, Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario, and managed by U of G through the Alliance.

“Facilities like these put us in the driver’s seat for this type of research,” says Steele. “We can follow feed intake on every single animal for every minute of their lives – no one else is following animals through their entire life.”

In future research, the team will compare dietary fat levels, weaning times, varying beef genetics and early life transport. They plan to share actionable results with producers, veterinarians and nutritionists.

Capitalizing on opportunities

Steele is particularly optimistic about this “new” crossbred market, for several reasons. The team will look at the economics to understand the value proposition for producers on early life intervention to optimize performance, health and meat quality for producers. These crossbred animals could provide a year-round supply for feedlots. They may also allow for net-zero production, as most greenhouse gas emissions in the beef industry are generated in cow/calf operations. The team’s research may also improve overall animal health and welfare by allowing for shipping of cattle later in life to feedlots.

“It’s great to be able to understand what early life interventions can do to improve animal health, transportation and meat quality for these crossbred animals,” says Steele.

This research is funded by NSERC, Trouw, Semex, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Veal Farmers of Ontario, Beef Farmers of Ontario, Canadian Beef Research Council, Alberta Milk and British Columbia Dairy Association, and the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, a collaboration between the Government of Ontario, Agricultural Research and Innovation Ontario (ARIO) and the University of Guelph. The Ontario Beef Research Centre and Ponsonby General Animal Facility are owned by the Government of Ontario through its agency ARIO and managed by U of G through the Alliance.