Composites

The Hicks Beef composite herd is based on science.

The Meat Animal Research Centre (MARC) in Nebraska tested 7000 head of cattle and found that using composites is the easiest and most effective way to benefit from hybrid vigor and breed complementarity in commercial cattle without complex rotational crossbreeding systems.

The Hicks Beef composite, designed for heavy commercial stocking rates, is a maternally focused breed. Hicks Beef Females must calve unassisted, wean a calf annually, join within 2 cycles, remain structurally sound, and manage above average commercial stocking rates. This composite enables producers to exploit hybrid vigor—enhancing fertility, steer weight, calf numbers, and carcase quality—while ensuring a consistent breed type.

Indexes

Indexes are one of the most powerful tools we as producers have to improve the profitability of our herds. Rather than looking at an ever growing list of EBV’s or EPD’s producers can look at a single weighted value that accounts for all relevant economically relevant traits.

The All-Purpose Index (API) is one of the few self-replacing indexes that accounts for both the input traits and output traits. If we only account for the benefits of improving growth without factoring in the additional costs associated with the increased feed demand of additional growth, cow size will increase year on year and the kg of beef produced per hectare will not improve.