period of time. And what this reminds us of is that we can, in fact, have an impact. We can change tomorrow through using the tools we can harness in the way of genetic evaluation.” The changes in cattle from the 1990s to today have been every bit as dramatic and profound, if not more so, than the changes from the ‘50s to the ‘90s. What have we learned in the past 30 years? “The most important thing we have learned is that when you take the power of selection and the power of heterosis for a commercial cow-calf producer, you im- prove their profitability and their sustainability,” Field said.“When we leave either of those tools – selection or crossbreeding – off the table for commercial breeders, we make it harder for our customer,” he admonished the seedstock producers in the room. What does the future hold? It’s doubtful that anyone back in the 1990s would have predicted the chang- es in the beef business from the then to today. Will we indeed produce 1,500-pound carcasses, as has recently been predicted? Only time will tell. Looking ahead, Field told Hereford leaders that they can choose one of two ways to go about their business and their lives.“We can ei- ther play a finite game or we can play an infinite game,” he said.“And it matters not where we live.” In the finite game, the thinking is short-term, often in quarters. The players are known, the rules are set and there’s a definite ending to the game.
“And the question that drives us in the finite game is what’s best for me,” he said. “Then there’s the infinite game. We think in generations. There are both known and unknown players. The rules are in flux. There’s no endpoint. The goal is to stay in the game, and what drives us is what’s best for others.” Field speaks from experience when he says the finite game will ultimately not end well.“I tried to play the finite game on our family ranch, and we made a lot of mistakes. When we got our minds back to playing the infinite game, we got better. Our cattle got better. Our family got better.” We get to pick, whether it be with genetics, management approach or any of the myriad other decisions that happen daily, he said.“Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we miss. But we get a chance to leave a mark, a legacy, and that’s important. It matters.”
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CALF News
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December 2025 | January 2026
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