To Implant or Not? What Cow-Calf Producers Need to Know

January 21, 2026, 7:00 PM MT

SpeaKers:

• Dr. Lauren Younker, TELUS Agriculture
• Betty Green, G7 Ranch 

Key Messages:

• Growth implants are small hormone-containing pellets that are placed just under the skin in the ear of the animal.
• The hormone compounds contained in the implant mimic naturally occurring compounds in cattle.
• There are three primary types of compounds used in implants:
  • Progestins: synthetic progesterone, considered least potent and provides more subtle effects
  • Estrogens: mimics natural estrogen, considered medium‑potency implants
  • Androgens: mimics testosterone, has the highest potency, is most effective when paired with high‑energy rations and is often used in backgrounding or feedlot finishing.
• Discuss with your veterinarian or nutritionist which type of implant is right for your cattle.
• The return on investment (ROI) with implants is typically high:
  • Increased average daily gain (ADG) of 10-30%
  • Improved feed efficiency of 5-15%
• Keys to implant success:
  • Healthy calves
  • Adequate nutrition
  • Minimal stress
  • Proper timing
• Follow appropriate implant procedures. Ensuring implants are deposited correctly is important to maximize productivity, animal health and welfare and human safety.
• Research shows no negative effect on future fertility when heifers are implanted before four months of age using suckling-calf‑type implants.
• Research from the University of Manitoba has shown implant use results in:
  • 3–10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
  • 5–11% reduction in land use
  • 5–11% reduction in water use
  • 3–8% reduction in ammonia emissions
• Training on proper implant use can be gained through veterinarians, company representatives or consultants and learning from experienced producers. 

Learn More:

• Growth Implants on Cow-Calf Operations (BCRC topic page)
• Optimizing Feedlot Efficiency (BCRC topic page)
• Can We Replace Growth Promotants? (BCRC post)
• Growth Promotants and the Environment (BCRC post)

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Note: This transcript was generated using AI.  It has been reviewed for accuracy, but occasional errors may remain. Please refer to the original webinar recording for the most accurate content. 

Kristin Thompson
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the first of four webinars for the BCRC’s 2026 webinar series. Today, we’re going to focus on what cow-calf producers need to know when it comes to the use of growth implants on cow-calf operations.
I am Kristin Thompson, Knowledge Mobilization Specialist with the Beef Cattle Research Council, and I’m going to be your moderator this evening.
We are very happy to be able to put these webinars on through the BCRC’s knowledge mobilization work funded by the Canadian Beef Cattle Checkoff and Canada’s Beef Science Cluster.
Before we get started, I’m going to go through a couple of housekeeping rules. So, you will be able to see and hear myself as well as our speakers, but we cannot see or hear you. If you do have questions, we ask that you submit them through the Q&A tab, which is on the bottom panel of your screen. We will have a Q&A session at the end of this webinar where we will address these questions live.
The webinar is also being recorded, and we will be sending out the recording to everyone that registered for this webinar within the next 3 to 5 business days. You can find recordings of all past webinars, as well as other great videos on our website, BeefResearch.ca or on our YouTube channel.
This webinar is also available for CE credits for veterinarians and registered veterinary technologists across Canada. If you identified yourself as a vet or RVT when you registered for this webinar, you should be receiving a certificate through email in the next few days. Remember that you must attend the entire webinar in order to be eligible for the CE credit. Credits are also available for past webinars, which are listed on our website. Credits can be obtained by watching the webinar recording and receiving a score of 80% or higher on the associated quiz.
For more information on CE credits, you can visit BeefResearch.ca/ce-credit. This page provides some details on how to receive credit for both live and recorded events as well as some frequently asked questions (FAQs). If you do have further questions or have not received your certificate after the live webinar or completion of the quiz, you can contact Dana Parker, the BCRC’s Veterinary Collaboration Specialist, and her contact information is up on the screen now.
On BeefResearch.ca, we do have a dedicated webpage focused on growth implant use on cow-calf operations. This page includes valuable information on the types of growth implants available, implant procedures, and how to get started with using implants. To remain updated on these and other new resources, you can subscribe to one of our mailing lists.
Now, without further ado, we have two very exciting speakers lined up for you this evening, who are ready to share their thoughts and to answer your questions. I’m going to introduce our first speaker, Dr. Lauren Younker, and invite her to share her screen.
Lauren, if you’re able to share your screen, I will introduce you.
Lauren is a PhD feedlot production consultant with TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods. She works with feedlots across Canada and internationally to enhance cattle performance through data-driven management strategies.
Lauren specializes in optimizing implant programs through the use of individual animal data, benchmarking, and on-site implant audits in order to align implant use with performance goals and carcass outcomes.
With that, I will turn it over to you, Lauren.

Lauren Younker
00:04:27
Thanks, Kristin.
So tonight, I’ll focus on covering what implants are, how they work, and how to implant properly, so I can arm you with the tools as a cow-calf producer to determine how implants can fit into your operation.
So, in order for me to understand where the industry sits now, I went back and took a look at the 2022-2023 Canadian Cow-Calf Survey, to determine what the biggest barriers were to using implants in your herd, as a cow-calf producer. And so, when we look across what the Canadian landscape answered, I feel like Betty and I can help provide you the confidence to combat a lot of the barriers we’re seeing relative to the economics, labor, logistics, and just giving you the confidence to know the technique and what implants will work best for your operation.
So, while Betty will review a lot of the economics for her ranch and how implants play a role in that, I’ll try to provide you with the tools you need to feel confident in implementing an implant program for your herd that works within your logistical constraints.
And so, we can’t talk about implanting cattle without first understanding what implants are, and how they work, and what they do to improve growth across your herd.
Essentially, they are small hormone-containing pellets that are placed just under the skin in the ear of the animal. And so, this is designed partly because there’s a lot of blood flow there, and that hormone will play out as the blood flows around it, but also the ear does not enter the food chain, and so that is not something that will end up on the plate of a consumer. Which can be a common concern, especially for those of you that might be dealing with a more customer-facing role.
These hormone compounds mimic naturally occurring compounds in the cattle already and pay out anywhere from 90 to 200 days after implantation, with a couple of situations where we might be a little bit shorter or longer. That payout period that we talk about is the period where the minimum concentration of that hormone is required to cause a productive response, and so we’ll see a spike in hormone when we implant the cattle, and then that slowly pays out over time to a point where it essentially runs out. At this point, we either have to re-implant the cattle, or we’ve marketed them to the next phase of production.
That payout can be dependent on the age of the animal, the rate of gain, the hormones that are present in the implant, and their current plane of nutrition. And so cattle that have a better plane of nutrition or have a little more groceries going into them will have a better response to that implant. What it’s doing is essentially helping your calves use the nutrients that they’re consuming while on pasture to turn into more lean growth and more pounds for you as a producer at weaning time, or whenever you’re planning on selling your calves.
At the end of the day, implants will not replace good management. We still want you to manage your cattle properly. Healthy, less stressed calves are going to respond the most to an implant.
How do implants work? There are 3 primary types of compounds used in implants, and I’ll just go from least potent to most potent. And so, progestin is a hormone that’s synthetic progesterone, would be what we consider the least potent implant or hormone that is used in implants and provides less pronounced effects.
Estrogens, those would typically mimic estrogen, and they will help to improve gains on pasture, as long as your pasture quality is adequate. And they would be what we consider your medium potency implants.
Androgens, these would be your highest potency implants. They mimic testosterone and what we would see in the steers and bulls. These would be more effective and most effective when we pair them with a high-energy ration, so some more of your higher-end backgrounding rations, potentially. And then a lot in the feedlot system with our finishing rations.
In the cow-calf sector, most people are going to implant once at branding, and those implants are going to be typically your progestin and or estrogen-type implants. Re-implanting would be typically reserved for those of you that retain ownership and plan to keep those calves past weaning, and so that’s when we would discuss using the stocker and grasser implants.
So, what does this mean for you as a producer? We always talk about implants in the feedlot world and in cow-calf, too, being the silver bullet and one of the highest ROIs that we can have. It’s because it increases our average daily gain anywhere from 10 to 30% and improves feed efficiency from 5 to 15%. As a cow-calf producer, you’re not going to be typically measuring how much your calves are eating because they’re eating grass out on pasture, but you will be able to see that meaningful difference at weaning when you get anywhere from 10 to 20 extra pounds of calf. If that’s something that you’re tracking year over year, implementing those implants, you will be able to see and track those gains, relatively quickly as you manage your implant programs.
So how do we manage implant success and make sure that that implant is working to the best of its ability?
The best thing is to have healthy calves with adequate nutrition and minimize stress. In this case we’re going to see that closer to that 20 pounds, 20, 25 pounds of extra weaning weight when we manage those three factors.
The fourth point I have here is optimal timing. Optimal timing includes re-implanting cattle and managing with your endpoint in mind, and when is my marketing date, and how can I line up implants to line up with that. This one is more difficult to manage as a producer who’s got calves on pasture, who might not be able to pull those calves in to re-implant. And so, when I think about optimal timing for a cow-calf producer, it’s that branding season when you’re processing calves and giving those implants.
And making sure we get them at the beginning of the pasture turnout season.
The graph I have here just explains how those implants pay out, and so I talked about there being a sharp increase in hormones when we first implant those calves, and that maximum hormone release will be anywhere from typically 7 to 10 days post-implant, and then it slowly pays out over time. As that minimum concentration for productive response decreases, we will re-implant if we’re in a feedlot setting or in a system where we can address some of those logistical constraints.
One of the barriers to using implants was not knowing what implants to use and not knowing, the technique. And so, the implants that we would recommend, or that are legal to be used in Canada would be these top 5 that I have listed here. So, your Ralgro, Synovex-C, Component E-C, Compudose and Encore are all approved for use in suckling calves at around, typically, 45 to 60 days of age. Ralgro would probably be the most typical one that we see across the industry that is used in our suckling calves, and is available for both steers and heifers.
When we look at the backgrounders, or the grasser or stocker implants, so if you’re retaining ownership, what’s the next step? You can continue to use some of these, suckling calf ones, so the Ralgro, Compudose and Encore, but what we would typically see in the backgrounding phase is anything with the G, so grasser or grower implants, so your Revlor G, Component TE-G, Synovex Primer and Synovex One G. Synovex One G has a longer payout than the other three, so if there’s an opportunity or a situation where you want to keep your calves longer, but can’t bring them back in, Synovex One G could solve some of those concerns. And then the other three are typically if you’re in a phase where you’re preconditioning or have a shorter time frame.
Let’s look at the proper implant procedure. I think this is one of the situations that does not get enough airtime when we talk about implants.
The first thing I always go over with producers and with implant and processing teams is to make sure we have the right tools in place. And so, check your needle and your gun, and this is cheap insurance. I would always suggest any time there’s a slightly bent needle, any time there’s a burred or dull needle to toss it in your sharps bin and get a new needle. Always have extra needles on backup, so if you hit the gun against something between calves, you can replace that needle quickly and easily. A sharp needle will make the job a lot easier and will help you make sure that the implant is implanted correctly.
Disinfectant, I think this one is, again, another really cheap insurance that doesn’t get enough airtime. So, disinfecting that needle between every single animal is huge. If we don’t disinfect, and we have dirty ears, and we end up getting a lot of bacteria in that ear, an abscess can form around that implant, and that implant won’t pay out, and so we’ve essentially wasted it on that calf. And so, I really try to stress with my crews to use a disinfectant solution, and to just always, always, always be re-dipping if you hit the needle against something.
In order to use a disinfectant solution, you would pick this up about the same time when you pick up your implants from your veterinarian, but I would use any of the disinfectant solutions that are available, so chlorhexidine or stanhexidine. We suggest using about 200 mils of disinfectant per gallon of water, and then within those trays that you see here, fill those about a quarter full. In this image, I have two sponges, but there’s also implant trays that have rollers. Always make sure that that needle, when it’s not implanting a calf, is in contact with that disinfectant solution.
And that just makes sure that that stays clean, and that we’re not introducing unnecessary bacteria to those ears. I’ve done a lot of implant checks, and I would say almost all of the implant wrecks that I’ve seen over the last few years have always started with dirty ears.
And with, wrong, disinfectant use.
That brings us to the animals themselves. What do we need to do to make sure these cattle are being implanted properly? Properly restraining your animals makes a world of difference. The tighter their head is and stopped from moving, the easier it is for you to grab that ear, get the right angle and get that needle in the right spot to make sure that implant pays out. And so that would include, you know, your chute, your calf table and the branding pen if you’re doing a rope and drag, to make sure those cattle are restrains and to just make your life easier when you’re trying to implant those animals.
Going back to disinfecting, always ensure the ear is clean prior to implanting. So not only do you need to make sure that your needle is clean, make sure the ear is clean, and so have a brush there. If you noticed on the previous slide, there was a bucket beside the implant tray, and that had a brush in there so they could scrape off any visible manure or any wet ears that were dirty and needed to be scrubbed prior to implanting.
That solution, both in the implant tray and your bucket on the side, can be recharged based on how dirty the ears are. So, if it’s a dry day and the calves ears are all dry, you’re probably not going to change it out much, but if it’s a wet day and things are muddy, you’re going to be scrubbing more ears, and you’ll probably be changing that out every 50 to 100 animals.
I can’t stress this enough, is that dirty ears will increase your risk of infection and lose any ability you had to gain from that implant.
Now about proper implant procedure. As cow-calf producers, you guys have the opportunity to have, ears that don’t have implant or tags in them, so you are not implanting around old scar tissue or holes.
We stress the middle third of the ear would be our preferred zone to implant, and so that’s at least an inch away from the edge, from any scars, old implants, tags, etc. We want to have a lot of blood flow and no scar tissue around where that implant is. And so, as a cow-calf producer, you typically determine where those first tags are going to go, and so always think about tag placement when you’re tagging your calves and try and to avoid the middle third so that that implant can be laid in there.
If there is a lot of other, you know, tags or, scar tissue in that middle third, our secondary option is the top third on the other side of the ridge, and we recommend that to a lot of feedlot producers if they have, you know, calves coming in with a number of tags or old holes.
Learning how to implant. This’ll take practice, and it’s a very learnable skill, but it’s going to take you a few calves to get comfortable. So, best practice here would be always try to make your calf as restrained and still as possible. That ear is clean and dry. Aim for getting in the middle third of the ear between the skin and the cartilage. This here is going to take some practice and insert that needle shallow under the skin. It’ll take you some feel to kind of determine the best angle to put that implant under the skin, and then deliver those pellets in a straight line and pull out smoothly. And hopefully, you should feel the top of the ear, you can feel those pellets in a straight line under the ear.
If you are feeling the top of the ear, do not put your thumb over the hole, or the injection site, because your thumb has bacteria on it, and you’re just introducing bacteria into an otherwise clean site. And so, we recommend just kind of feeling on top of the hair where the implant should be, and you should be able to feel that. And so, if you did it right, you should feel a straight row of pellets under the skin.
Working on suckling calves is a great place to start, because there’s fewer pellets in those implants, and kind of gives you an opportunity to really feel and understand how to get into your ears.
So, troubleshooting. What happens if you have issues? My recommendation is if your pellets don’t all go in, or if you go through the ear, just remove what pellets are in there and redo it. You know, implants are relatively cheap to the value that they provide, and so a couple of implants pushed out and redone is going to provide you more value than leaving them and not doing them at all.
Anytime that you pull out of the ear, disinfect that needle again. Like I said, cleanliness is key here to making sure that we get the most value out of the implants. If your pellets end up bunched or crushed or they end up in the cartilage, check your needles. And if there’s a burr on it, or if it’s bent or slightly dull, change it, and change your placement angle.
We do a lot of implant audits approximately 3 to 4 weeks post-implant, and I know at that time your calves are likely out on pasture, but if you’re riding through the herd and you see a bunch of calves with swollen ears, that’s a good feedback that ear cleanliness was not correct, and to review your technique. And so, on the right-hand side here, just have a couple of examples of what those abscesses look like. They’re quite large. And you should see them from far away.
Implanting heifers, I think this is probably one of the questions we get the most and probably has the most discussion around it. What do you do with heifers in a cow-calf setting? And so, there’s been a fair number of research studies in suckling calves, looking at what those implants do on future reproductive performance. And for those of you that are retaining heifers, I think there’s good news here that they can be used in the suckling phase.
And we recommend it. And a lot of the research says prior to 4 months of age, using implants in heifers has no effect on future reproduction. So, that’s an opportunity for you to add a few pounds to your heifers prior to determining replacements.
If you are planning on keeping replacements, and you are retaining ownership, and want to implant your calves again at weaning, this is where the research is less clear. Some research suggests when we are implanting heifers at weaning, we can delay that first cycle, and kind of delay that first calving that you have for your heifers.
And so, as a producer, you have a couple of options. You can consider not implanting any of your heifers at weaning if you pick your replacements later, or you sort your replacements off at weaning, or the group that you think you’re going to keep, and implant the rest to capture that value when you sell them later on.
So finally, just a quick play-by-play as to what I would do if I were implanting a herd or starting to implant today. I’d talk to my veterinarian and or nutritionist about what implants to use. Like I said, probably Ralgro is the most common that we see across the industry. There’s no prescription required, and when you’re picking up the implants from the vet, you can also pick up your disinfectant, your tray, the gun, everything should be there.
I would only buy what I need for the year. There are expiry dates listed on your implants, and so if you do end up with a few extra, always follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the page, or on the box.
And then start with the branding and pasture turnout. So, they’re approximately 45 to 60 days old.
Use it in your calves, and if you’re keeping track of your weaning weights year over year, you should be able to see a difference. Re-implanting at weaning is up to you. If you’re retaining ownership, I’d say that’s a definite yes. If you’re not retaining ownership, or you’re nervous about your heifers, that would be a place where you might want to skip it. And so, you want to match your implant program to your intended marketing plan. I mentioned with the Synovex One G, that was an implant that pays out a lot longer, so if you’re keeping those calves for another couple hundred days, or using them as grassers or something somewhere, that might be an opportunity to use a more expensive and longer implant.
So, bottom line, if you’re new to implants, I’d start with at branding with a suckling calf implant. Always keep the ear clean and use a sharp needle. Place it between the middle third, between the skin and the cartilage, and if something goes wrong, redo it. If you retain ownership always consider using an implant at weaning as well. And a measure of success is you’ll feel that straight pellet line, there’ll be no bunching of those pellets, minimal swelling, proper placement in an area with higher blood flow, and that performance should show up at weaning for you.
Thank you.

Kristin Thompson
00:25:38
Wonderful. Thank you, Lauren, for that presentation. I look forward to having you answer some of the questions that have been coming in. Just a reminder to the audience, if you do have any questions, please, type them into the Q&A tab at the bottom of your screen, and we will answer them after our second presenter has finished with her presentation.
So, I’m now excited to introduce our next speaker, Betty Green, and invite her to share her screen. So, Betty, if you’re able to share your screen, I’ll introduce you.
Betty is a cattle rancher from the Interlake region of Manitoba. She and her grandson, Curtis, own G7 Ranch in Fisher Branch. Together, they run a large cow herd that includes a small herd of Simmental purebred, a group of purebred Charolais and a Simmental-Charolais crossbred commercial herd. The ranch’s goal is to background and sell high-performance crossbred tan calves, raised in an environmentally sustainable way. In order to achieve that goal, they believe that continuous improvement and research are both essential.
With that, I will pass it over to you, Betty.

Betty Green
00:26:52
Perfect, thank you.
So, Kristin introduced me. G7 Ranch is, now in its third generation of ownership, operating in Fisher Branch, Manitoba, and we moved into the Interlake region in 1982. Prior to that, we’d been mixed farming, and we wanted to focus on raising cattle.
So, we came with our family and have gradually evolved to now. The farm is being operated by myself and my grandson. The other person involved is my daughter. She’s a veterinarian out of Prince George, BC. But she does own some of the Simmental cattle and is a real resource for us year-round.
So, as Kristin had said, we have, full blood Simmental, a purebred Charolais group of animals, and then primarily we have the commercial herd.
We have our own backgrounding feedlot, and so we background all our calves, and then developed the bulls for sale, or for our own use, and the heifers for replacements into our herd.
As most producers would tell you, they’re always looking for ways to improve on their ranch, in a variety of ways. One of them, of course, being improvement in animal productivity.
We are always looking at genetics, improving reproduction, and feeding management, but also the growth-enhancing technology (GETs) that is available. And we’ve been involved for quite some time.
About 30 years ago, we were asked to participate in a trial, for implants. They came out, they weighed our calves, we implanted them at, between 60 and 90 days. 50% of the calves were randomly selected for implants, and the others were not.
The fall results at weaning showed a positive result for weight gain, and we were convinced, so we’ve never really looked back.
Since that time, we have changed our protocols from time to time, using a variety of implants, implanting all calves some years, then only steers at some time.
And that was primarily because we were worried about the impact on reproduction.
And we had buyers who wanted unimplanted heifers. So, you know, every ranch is going to have to assess their reality and what they want to try to achieve and make those decisions around those goals.
So, our implanting protocol begins with suckling calves, at about 60 to 90 days of age.
Of course, we use an implant that is from that top list that Lauren was talking about, not aggressive, meant for suckling calves, and it will always say that.
Then our calves are brought in and re-implanted just prior to weaning, at the same time as we’re doing our second vaccinations. Those implants are meant for weaned calves, 400 pounds and over.
And, then those animals go into our feedlot. And again, we’re looking at the implants based on the sex, the age and the ration that we’re going to be using in the feedlot.
I had a call from a buyer in Ontario, Ken Schaus, and Ken wanted to share some advice for producers. I thought it was well-founded. Not all implants are created equally, and we need to really talk to our vets, to our nutritionists, and Ken suggested even to the cattle buyers, because that’s important information for them as well.
Selecting the appropriate implant for age, sex and ration is important. He suggested telling the buyers what implants you’re using. And I think that’s a good strategy. We actually have a written report for buyers when we’re selling our calves, telling them what vaccines we use, what implants we use, what ration the calves have been on, and at what point they had been weaned so that they know how long they’ve been feedlot ration.
Using, the wrong implant, Ken has suggested can negatively affect the cattle performance in a finishing lot, and he’s seeing that from his end. And has suggested that using the wrong implants can result in buyers not wanting to build on those calves. So, it really is important to use the right ones.
Now, there’s been a lot of research done on the impacts of implants, and I’m not going to share our farm results, but rather results that have been put together by the University of Manitoba, showing the impact of implanting on the various stages of production. And the first one that I’m showing on this slide is impacts of implanting on pre-weaning growth of steers. So, this is steers only and these are suckling calves.
This slide also shows the unimplanted animals. And the implanted results in terms of weight, and the average daily gains were higher.
I should say that the dollar values that I’m using were based on November of 2024, so a year ago, last fall, and the reason why I’m using that was available. I didn’t want to update it this year. The prices were pretty good in the fall of 2024, and the results are probably a little more average than perhaps this year’s.
So, the gain per steer weas $153, and on 100 calves, $15,345. So that’s significant.
The next slide shows implanting of both heifers and steers, and there is one column here that includes the results of some MGA trials that they had done. But we’ll focus on the implants
First, for the heifers, so the control group having no implants, and the second column showing implanted heifers. These are post-weaning calves.
So these are either on grass or going into a backgrounding lot and showing about $5,700 on 100 head.
The bottom two columns show the steer results, first with the control group, and secondly, the implanted steers, with an end weight of about 850 pounds. That’s very similar to our production system.
And the results shown here is just over $10,000 on 100 head.
The last slide that I have shows implanting of post-weaning growth on animals that are going into finishing, or right through to the finishing. So, the top two columns show implanted yearlings, coming off grass, going into a finishing lot.
And the results show the implants having an effect of $17,272.
The bottom two columns show, calf-fed in finishing lots, so these will be weaned calves going into lots. So, they are in the lot for longer, but the results show about, just over $27,000 on 100 head.
So… Certainly some significant impact, for the use of implants.
Now, we’re talking a lot about dollars, and I am perfectly upfront in saying that that was what motivated us to be involved right from the start. We believe that the extra dollars were a benefit to us, and so that’s why we implemented it 30 years ago. But it’s really not just all about dollars, and I’m pleased to say that the research has shown that that’s true.
So, can use of implants improve environmental sustainability?
And we’re looking at things like greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, land, and water use.
So, again, I’m using research that’s been put together by the University of Manitoba. And they started by looking at consumer perspectives. So, factors that influence consumer demand on beef can be, of course, flavour and color, marbling and price. Consumers are taking into consideration the product source.
But environmental sustainability is on that list, and of course, management techniques and food safety are as well, but environmental sustainability was the question that the researchers decided to take a look at.
So, this is a case study associated with the use of, growth promotants in a Canadian feedlot. So, this is in the feedlot, not at the cow-calf level, but I think it certainly translates into an impact at our level, at the cow-calf level as well.
So, the researcher’s goal was to provide science-based information regarding growth promotants and the impact on environmental sustainability.
And this is a critical first step in empowering producers to discuss the on-farm management practices that have led to improved sustainability, as well as assisting consumers in making informed decisions about the food they purchase and consume. This is information that should be shared across the value chain, in my opinion.
So, the concerns we’ve all heard are the greenhouse gases that are related to the production of beef or agriculture, the amount of land that’s used for producing beef. The amount of water and the amount of ammonia emissions that are related to our industry.
So, the real-world implications? Growth-enhancing technology improves feed efficiency and the average daily gain. This results in fewer days on feed and lower cost of production, which means a lot to producers.
Getting the implants and using them has an impact on sustainable strategies to address food security challenges while decreasing greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, as well as land and water use.
So, the results that they found were pretty clear:
3% to 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
5% to 11% reduction in land use.
5% to 11% reduction in the use of water.
And 3-8% reduction in ammonia emissions.
So, in all 4 areas, there was an impact by using implants.
I do want to recognize the researchers that were involved, the University of Manitoba and the National Center for Livestock and the Environment.
As well as, of course, the funding sources that those researchers used to back their research, and BCRC, of course, were one of them. We certainly need to thank the researchers and the funders for the work that they do, because as producers, I can tell you that, in our operation, it’s had an impact. We use implants because there’s a financial gain, but we’re also very pleased to know that it’s having a positive impact on the environmental sustainability of our operations.
So that, I think, wraps my part of the presentation up, and we’ll look forward to the questions.

Kristin Thompson
00:42:17
Thank you, Betty, for your presentation. If you’re able to stop screen sharing.

Kristin Thompson
00:42:23
Lauren, if you’re able to turn your audio and video on as well.
We’ll get going with the questions. We’ve had quite a number come in, so we’ll kind of just work our way down the list.
So, the first one, and Lauren, you had touched on this in your presentation, but if we are retaining heifers to keep as replacements, will implanting at birth or implanting after weaning impact the fertility of the replacement heifer?

Lauren Younker
00:42:52
Yeah, so if you’re implanting at a young age – 45 days, no, there is no effect on fertility in the replacement heifer, assuming that you’re using one of those suckling implants that I mentioned. If you’re implanting after weaning with one of those grasser or stocker implants, there is, less research on how that affects reproduction, but, does suggest that it will delay that first cycle Therefore, we recommend not implanting at weaning, in your replacement heifers, but for sure in your calves.

Kristin Thompson
00:43:30
Thank you.
Is there a better choice for implanting at 30 days of age for calves? So, is there an option for, that young of age?

Lauren Younker
00:43:41
That is essentially going to be your average age, you know, that’s what the manufacturer’s recommendations are, is 45 to 60 days, and it’s kind of dependent on what the label of the implant says. But if you have a group of calves, you’re going to obviously have calves that are a little bit younger when you’re branding, and you’re not going to do them later. And so, I would recommend still doing those calves. You’re likely not going to see the same benefit as you would in some of those older calves, because they’re still getting some immune status and growing in that phase. So, I’d still do it, it’s just you might not see as much.

Kristin Thompson
00:44:21
Perfect, thank you. A question for you, Betty. What is a rough cost per calf if implanting at branding time?

Betty Green
00:44:31
Actually, the implants that we use are virtually the same cost for the calves and for at branding time, and it’s right around the $2 per implant.

Kristin Thompson
00:44:45
What is the price difference between implants, such as ones meant for suckling calves versus feedlot?

Betty Green
00:45:01
Yeah, it really depends on the implants you’re going to use. The more aggressive implants cost more but the ones that we use, you know, obviously because they’re suckling calves, and then they’re on a backgrounding ration that isn’t a hot ration, the cost remains about the same.

Kristin Thompson
00:45:28
Thank you. Lauren, I wonder if you could answer this one. How long do I need to keep my steers if I re-implant at weaning before it is appropriate to sell?

Lauren Younker
00:45:38
We can run the numbers as to how much gain do you need, but in our office, our typical window is saying that an implant will pay for itself in approximately 30 days, probably sooner, given the current price of calves now, but that’s kind of if you’re going to keep them longer than 30 days, chances are that implant will pay off for you.

Kristin Thompson
00:46:03
Did you have any additional thoughts on that, Betty?

Betty Green
00:46:06
Yeah, we’d certainly agree with that.

Kristin Thompson
00:46:10
A question on 4-H steers. Would you still implant a 4-H steer when Achievement Day is May 20th?

Lauren Younker
00:46:21
Yes, for sure, and that’s probably a situation where I would use the more potent implants, assuming your 4-H steer is probably on a more finishing ration. I didn’t mention, the implants that you would be used in that situation, but your 100s, your choices, your Cinevex Plus, those types of implants, the Revlore XS, would probably get you through right to May 20th. Chances are, if you’re implanting today, there’s a chance to re-implant again even before your achievement day on May 20th, but I would definitely talk to the vet about something stronger than what I mentioned. So, the ones that have androgens in them is what you’d be looking for to… essentially, because it’s a feedlot animal at this point.

Kristin Thompson
00:47:17
So, the next question is on whether implants are changing the behavior of cattle. So, do testosterone implants in a steer change their behavior or attitude? If either one of you wanted to comment on that?

Lauren Younker
00:47:33
I don’t think so.

Betty Green
00:47:36
We have really not found any change in the way animals behave. And certainly, when we were randomly selecting 50% of our calves, that would have been the best time to… to see it, and we experienced no difference.

Kristin Thompson
00:47:56
This is a question for you, Betty. Are implants used on marketed seed stock bulls, and do implants impact EPD values? And would the EPDs reflect higher performance than a buyer would see if they did not implant the progeny?

Betty Green
00:48:18
I’m not sure I can answer all of those questions, but certainly we don’t implant any bulls. You know, why would you? You haven’t removed the testicles, so they are producing their own growth promoters. So, we would never implant bulls.

Lauren Younker
00:48:40
I wouldn’t recommend implanting bulls either. I guess that is a situation, too, where implants probably wouldn’t work, in your seed stock bulls.

Kristin Thompson
00:48:49
Thank you for that. Next question. When using an implant such as Ralgro on suckling calves going out to pasture in a bad or dry year, is creep feeding whole oats helpful or recommended to be able to see the impact from those implants? And if so, is there a higher risk of overeating or bloating in implanted calves?
So I guess two… two questions kind of there, if either one of you wanted to answer that or comment.

Lauren Younker
00:49:17
I had mentioned that your plane of nutrition is important, but if you have a poor year and don’t implant, then you’re losing out that much more, in my opinion. So, even if implanted a group of calves and didn’t implant another one, and they were out on poor pasture, you’re still going to see a response in those implanted calves, and so I would definitely recommend, even in poorer years to still be using that implant, so you can kind of get an extra boost without having to use more grass.
When it comes to the higher risk of overeating and bloating, I would definitely talk to your nutritionist and come up with a plan as to what that might look like, to avoid any acidosis issues.
And kind of, you know, it’s dependent on what your operation is and what you have available logistically.

Betty Green
00:50:11
And from my perspective, we use implants on our calves on dry years, which we’ve experienced, too, in the last 5.
We still implant. We really believe we’re sometimes seeing more benefit those years, because the cattle are able to utilize more of the nutrients that are available to them. We do sometimes put out creep feeders, particularly for calves, off of our heifers, and we’ve experienced no difficulty with that, and our nutritionist said we should see no negative impact.

Kristin Thompson
00:50:50
Thank you for those answers, those are great.
We have a couple questions on, the age at implanting, and whether there a too young of an age to get calves implanted?

Lauren Younker
00:51:05
I wouldn’t implant them when they’re born so when you’re going out there, putting a tag or something on them, or just kind of doing your newborn processing. Those calves are still getting their feet under them, literally, and for those first couple weeks, especially, they’re getting used to just being alive, and that implant is probably not going to be doing much.
And so, the older they are, that 45-day range, you know, they’re starting to nibble on some grass and stuff, you’re going to see more value there. But obviously, when you’re branding, some calves are going to be younger, some are going to be older, and so it’s kind of going to be the average of your herd.

Kristin Thompson
00:51:43
Thank you. This question is for you, Betty.
You had talked about, the consumer, consumer concerns about the use of growth-enhancing technologies as well, and then the environmental, benefits from using them. So, does the use of growth-enhancing technologies offset the concerns and challenges, with consumer demand?

Betty Green
00:52:09
That’s a good question, and it depends on the consumers and their perspective. Certainly there are consumers who will say that they seek out animals that have not had implants, so more of the natural beef.
Anecdotally, in talking to consumers, and I’ve done a fair bit of it when I was with the Manitoba Beef Producers, when you explained to them that the implants are improving the environmental sustainability, that they’re just being able to utilize the nutrients better. And that they actually end up having a positive impact on the environment. That can impact most people who are just wondering how it works.

Kristin Thompson
00:53:05
We’ve got a question on discounts on implanted suckling calves from one of our attendees, and they say that feedlot buyers in Ontario have told me that there may be discounts on implanted suckling calves when sold after weaning. And if there’s any comments that either of you may have on that.

Betty Green
00:53:28
I have not had any, any comments or any… information about that.

Kristin Thompson
00:53:37
Thank you.
What are the side effects, or potential side effects, of implants, or potentially improper implantation as well? So maybe cover both of those.

Lauren Younker
00:53:52
On my end, potential adverse effects are usually in the feedlot side when we start getting into more aggressive implants, affecting meat quality, more so just, more lean tissue than fat tissue, but at the cow-calf side.
Essentially, any negative impacts would be improperly placed implants, or that implant not paying out as well. I don’t know of any side effects, unless you’re selling into a natural program, obviously you can’t use them.

Betty Green
00:54:29
Yeah, and I think, Lauren covered the potential for infected ears, occasionally that happens, and, you know, it does here, too. We had one this year, but out of almost 600 calves, I think that’s acceptable. We catch it as soon as we can. We address it.

Kristin Thompson
00:55:02
The next question is, for January calving producers that don’t want to implant until grass turn out, around 150 days of age, is that okay to do that late, or are they still going to see benefits?

Lauren Younker
00:55:17
Yes, yeah, implants always pay out, in my opinion. I think your calves are still going to see a benefit, because they’re still going to change how they put on lean tissue, right? And so, even at 150 days, it’s better than… than, you know, you’ve just given up that first 100 days, right? And… realistically, when I look at the entire production of the animal, every pound, as you get bigger, is going to be more valuable.

Kristin Thompson
00:55:47
Any comments on that, based on your experiences, Betty?

Betty Green
00:55:50
Yeah, I think the only thing is to really encourage producers to talk to their vets or their nutritionists about selecting the right implant at that age, because it won’t be the same one, necessarily, that they would have used when the calf was 45 to 60 days old.

Kristin Thompson
00:56:10
The next question is, how do implants affect marketing or selling of calves? And I think both of you have kind of touched on that a little bit, but just wondering if you could maybe provide a few more comments. But maybe from your perspective, Betty, and whether you’ve seen an impact on the markets that you’re selling into, or just marketing your calves in general when using implants?

Betty Green
00:56:34
Yeah, we really haven’t. We have always been very upfront with buyers. When we put our cattle on offer, we make sure that they know what we’re using, but we haven’t experienced any negative impact from that at all. Other than we don’t try to get into the natural beef market.

Kristin Thompson
00:56:56
And just a follow-up question on that, Betty. Do you typically sell to the same buyers every year, or you have multiple new buyers for your calves as well?

Betty Green
00:57:11
We usually have the same group of buyers bidding on our cattle, not always the same one comes out on top, but yeah, we have a variety of buyers, and in large part, they’re Ontario buyers.

Kristin Thompson
00:57:28
Next question. So, when an implant runs out, does the animal have a period of no gain, or do they go backwards in growth at all?

Lauren Younker
00:57:41
No, no, your calf is still going to keep growing, it’s just…that advantage you got from the implant of, you know, that extra 5% to 15% in average daily gain, they’re just going to kind of slow down. They will not go backwards, as long as their nutrition is the same. So they’re just going to essentially slow down. And so, at that period when that implant is slowing down, and you have a marketing end date in mind, that’s why we would re-implant in the feedlot to just kind of get that hormone back up, to kind of keep that growth curve going through the end of the feeding period.

Kristin Thompson
00:58:19
Do either of you recommend implanting purebred heifers at branding time?

Betty Green
00:58:27
I’ll go first. I would say no, primarily because we’re looking to select our replacement heifers at that time, and if we haven’t made that decision, we wouldn’t implant any of our heifers at that point.

Lauren Younker
00:58:46
I think it’s a personal decision, but usually the purebred industry is a little bit different, so if that’s something you don’t want when you’re selling to your purebred clients, then that’s kind of your decision.

Kristin Thompson
00:59:04
And we’ve kind of touched on this one already, but are there issues to implant, yeah, at 150 days versus 30? I think you’ve answered that, already, and that you will see those gains.
Are there any other comments, or final thoughts from either of you before we do close out the Q&A session?

Lauren Younker
00:59:27
You know, use implants as you can, and, you know, the extra labor will definitely pay for it, and always talk to your vet or nutritionist about how it might fit into your operation, but it typically pays out quite well.

Betty Green
00:59:46
I would agree and also suggest that one of the concerns we had right off the start was who was going to do the implant, and how long was it going to take till we got really good at it. It doesn’t take very long at all.
I’ve done the implants, that’s just most often been my job. And you get so comfortable with placement and technique that, it really doesn’t take a lot of extra work.
The last couple of years, one of my other daughters wanted to take over doing some of the implants, and she caught on extremely quickly as well.

Kristin Thompson
01:00:38
One just final question is where would a producer, or can a producer get training somewhere? Would that be from their veterinarian, or from a company selling implants? But for a producer that is new to implanting, is there training available on the implanting procedure?

Lauren Younker
01:01:02
I would say talk to, you know, your vet and… or… and/or any of the reps that are selling implants. That’s something we provide for our clients, but… and so I would assume that most other vet clinics would do the same.

Betty Green
01:01:21
From a producer’s perspective, Kristin, I would suggest that if you know somebody that’s implanting ask if you can come and watch, and maybe even try one or two. We’ve got a young fellow here, he wants to start implanting, and you know, that’s a great way to give them a chance to just get the feel for it.

Kristin Thompson
01:01:45
Excellent point. Thank you. We will close out the Q&A session now, and thank you, Betty and Lauren, for your presentations and spending time with us in the Q&A session.
We did have a question on here whether PDF slides will be provided. We do not provide PDF slides, but the recording will be uploaded to our website and sent out to all registrants so that you can rewatch it.
If your question wasn’t answered, I would encourage you to reach out to your veterinarian, nutritionist, local extension agent, provincial producer organization, or reach out to us on social media. Thank you again to our incredible speakers and thank you all for spending your evening with us.
We hope that you have gained some valuable information that you can bring back to your operation. This webinar was the first of our 2026 series. There will be a post-webinar survey link that will pop up once the webinar is finished, and we appreciate any and all feedback on the webinar, as well as for potential future topics as we plan for the 2027 webinar series. Again, thank you all for joining us.