IT has been an ambition of mine since school days (more than 40 years ago) to go to the Mid-west of the United States to see first-hand how farming is done there and the opportunity came last year when I received an award from Banffshire NFU to study beef production in the USA.

What followed was one of the most inspirational and thought provoking two weeks of my life.

Myself, along with wife, Margaret and two close friends from England, Rosan Porter and Karl Hancock, flew to Denver armed with a map, mobile phone (except different states have different phone networks) so two mobile phones and the biggest hire car we could find. We drove more than 4000 miles in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri to see how beef is produced 'over there.'

Cattle numbers in the US are currently around 90m head - a figure which is greatly reduced from the mid-1970s when it was nearer 135m. Interestingly, there is more beef produced now than there was back then. The states of Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, have a total of 17m cattle between them so we were right in the heart of cattle country.

I think the statistics relating to pedigree registrations reflects the trends in US beef production. Angus is the big breed, with more than 320,000 registrations - which is greater than the next seven breeds added together. The most widely used Angus AI sire is a bull called AAR 10X - he sired more than 7600 calves last year, which, to put it in perspective, is around half of the total registered in the UK's Aberdeen-Angus herd annually.

Much of what I saw I found hard to believe as the fertility of the US cattle is way ahead of UK herds.

The 2200-cow world famous Conneally Angus herd, in Nebraska, uses AI on all its cattle - no sweeper bulls are used - and they achieve conception rates of 90% across two cycles. Virtually every animal not in calf after the 42-day breeding season, is culled.

The debate about what age a heifer has her first calf was completed decades ago. She must calve around her second birthday, unassisted. It has been proven that a heifer calving at that age will milk more and live longer than one that calves older.

Many of these cattle have to live and thrive in difficult conditions, where they are stocked at up to 20 acres/cow. In these ranch conditions one person would look after 400-500 cows.

Another stunning visit was to Gardiner Angus, which sells 2500 bulls per year and has AI'd every cow since 1964. We attended their 'Fall Sale', where in excess of 500 bulls sold to a top of $50,000 with an average of just below $7000, selling to 24 of the American states. This family has built a huge following of commercial ranchers because their cattle deliver the goods time and time again.

EBVs are probably used more than we use them and there are total believers and disbelievers in the States, just as there are in the UK.

Interestingly, Bill Rishel, of the internationally renowned B/R ranch believes that milk EBV should be average for an Angus cow as excess milk leads to leaner cows, which are harder to keep and, in turn, less likely to settle to the bull. I guess that is a different way to look at things compared to this country.

Cow size and calf birth weights are lower than the UK. Ranchers appear keen on low birth weight bulls. Some breeders would like to see their commercial buyers choose heavier birth weight bulls, putting more emphasis on those that have good calving ease figures.

The highlight of the tour was a visit to the 50,000 capacity Hyplains Feed Yard, at Montezuma, Kansas, where we were shown round by director, Tom Jones. The attention to detail was remarkable, as each pen of cattle has a known weight, a target gain and is fed as cheaply as possible to achieve that gain.

The manager, a Mexican called Caesar Martinez, was round all the pens before 6.30am each morning checking that all troughs are empty - if not, that feed is removed and the diet for that day slightly reduced.

This feed yard, which contract rears cattle for 200 clients - which may be ranchers wishing to finish their own cattle, or New York Financiers who use the futures market in beef to make a margin.

It is interesting to note that, although mature cow weights are lower than the UK, the average carcase weight is slightly heavier. On the trip, it was our pleasant duty to eat many excellent steaks. Portion sizes were huge, but a 20oz steak is too big, even for me!

Regarding the heavy carcases, I think this is achieved by a higher level of finish and the use of implants. Carcases are graded on marbling, so there is no premium for excessively muscled cattle.

It was an amazing tour. My overview is of an industry that tries to do the simple things well. Ranchers would never consider a Caesarean section as being an every-day part of keeping cows.

Back here in the UK, we have to face up to a time of ageing farmers, reducing carcase weights and falling subsidies. Our mind-set must change to simpler, easily managed systems and one where cattle need less human intervention.