Texas A&M AgriLife is working directly with beef producers across Texas to help improve production efficiency, cut input costs and strengthen the long-term sustainability of cow-calf and stocker operations.
The Texas Beef Cattle Efficiency Initiative pairs ranchers with specialists to identify practical management strategies that can deliver measurable gains at the ranch level. The project is led by Jason Smith, Ph.D., beef cattle specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and Jeff Goodwin, Ph.D., director of the Texas A&M Center for Grazinglands and Ranch Management.
Smith said the goal is to help producers adopt strategies that enhance productivity while protecting land resources.
“By working directly with individual operations, we can support ranchers in identifying the areas where improved efficiency will matter most,” Smith said. “Participants should expect both economic benefits and gains that support the long-term sustainability of their operation.”
Custom Tools to Fit Each Operation
The initiative is supported by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, McDonald’s Corporation and Golden State Foods. It focuses on matching management practices to each operation, rather than promoting one-size-fits-all solutions.
Producers gain access to customized programming and educational resources covering nutrition, grazing management, genetics, herd health, reproduction and cattle handling. Many of these practices are well established, Smith said, but adoption varies due to cost, uncertainty about results or limited access to decision-support tools.
“There is a lot of diversity across grazing operations,” he said. “Our aim is to help producers connect the dots and identify practices that fit their specific environment and business goals.”
Better Records, Better Decisions
A major component of the project is improving record-keeping and data use. Participants receive tools to track both individual-animal and herd-level performance.
Smith said accurate records help managers make more informed decisions about which cattle are contributing to efficiency—and which are not.
One example is mature cow size, which has increased industry-wide. Larger cows often require more forage or supplemental feed than they return in added weaning weight. Through the initiative, producers learn how sire selection and replacement heifer criteria can help moderate cow size while maintaining productivity.
Moderating cow weight could reduce forage intake and allow some operations to carry more cows on the same land base. Texas A&M AgriLife estimates that reducing forage demand by about 17% could allow an operation to run roughly 12 cows where it previously supported 10, assuming similar productivity.
Soil Health as a Measure of Efficiency
The initiative also emphasizes grazing management strategies that improve both livestock performance and land condition. Goodwin said soil health plays a central role in ranch resilience.
“Defining grazing strategies that positively influence soil, plant communities and livestock performance is essential for long-term sustainability,” he said.
Some participating operations will contribute to on-ranch soil health research to help identify grazing strategies that deliver practical, real-world benefits.
Benchmarking for Long-Term Impact
Two of the project’s long-term goals are to benchmark current management practices and monitor changes over time. Tracking results will help both ranchers and researchers understand which practices deliver the strongest efficiency improvements and what barriers producers face in adopting them.
Smith said the practices promoted through the initiative are backed by science and field-tested in real production systems.
“Our role is to help producers adopt practices that strengthen their bottom line and support their ability to keep doing what they do best,” he said.
Producers interested in learning more about the Texas Beef Cattle Efficiency Initiative can request information at beefficiencyinitiative@ag.tamu.edu.
