AL Pasture to Rail retained ownership program

[jscunn]

Feeding for Primes is 2/3 management and 1/3 genetics. Never let them have a bad day, that includes a long trailer ride (~300 miles) which your cattle probably had. One of the reasons Southern cattle have trouble making Prime at the national average.

 

[WarEagle73]

To say prime is hard to achieve is beyond an understatement.
In my opinion the only way it will be achieved with any consistency might be Wagyu.
But I think you'll give up so much in adg that it's not worth chasing.

BUT from a purely selfish point of view I would love to see you A.I. a few cows to Wagyu just to see the comparison.
Do It... Do It... Do It... but know I say that for my benefit... I do not have your best interest at heart. :)
Do it, Do it, Do it!

I have actually been really tempted to try out some Akaushi genetics. I have seen some in person in a feedyard. Other than being similar in color to traditional Limousin, they didn't stand out negatively. If only I had 300 to play around with instead of 30!

Charolais is actually where I am really interested. There were some charolais sired calves that did very well, both Yield and Quality.

 

[WarEagle73]

What are the basics of how it works, as far as who's responsible for what, and how money is paid and divided?

AU73,I live in north Alabama as well do they still have this program?I was planning to put calves in it a couple of years ago and I was to late for that year and haven't tried again.As for the calves that graded select that had some holstein in them,I sold some calves through a coop program a few years back that we got carcass data back from and two of those calves had some holstein in them and they were the only ones that graded select the rest were all choice and most of those calves were Brangus and Charolais.

Yes, as far as I know they will be doing the program again this year. Loads will start shipping in September. The basics are that the producer pays a $75/HD nomination fee to cover trucking, eartags, etc. and the rest of the costs are held by the feedyard and taken out of the final check. There is some interest by doing it that way, but it only comes out to $4-6/HD. Money is paid based on the performance our your individual calves. Costs are broken up on an individual basis as well, with feed cost being the Pen Feed Efficiency X Individual Calf Gain X Feed Cost. It's not exact, but its not bad either.

 

[WarEagle73]

Feeding for Primes is 2/3 management and 1/3 genetics. Never let them have a bad day, that includes a long trailer ride (~300 miles) which your cattle probably had. One of the reasons Southern cattle have trouble making Prime at the national average.

These calves were on a trailer right at 1000 miles. I agree with management. If we were truly shooting for Primes, I think we would start creep feeding at home and make a few other changes. Probably find a yard to feed at in Illinois, Ohio or something like that. Maybe even feed in Alabama and ship fats to Augusta or the plant in PA. My target now is going to be 100% Choice or better, highest percentage CAB Possible on the black cattle, NO HEALTH ISSUES, and slightly improve growth.

 

[kd4au]

What are the basics of how it works, as far as who's responsible for what, and how money is paid and divided?

AU73,I live in north Alabama as well do they still have this program?I was planning to put calves in it a couple of years ago and I was to late for that year and haven't tried again.As for the calves that graded select that had some holstein in them,I sold some calves through a coop program a few years back that we got carcass data back from and two of those calves had some holstein in them and they were the only ones that graded select the rest were all choice and most of those calves were Brangus and Charolais.

Yes, as far as I know they will be doing the program again this year. Loads will start shipping in September. The basics are that the producer pays a $75/HD nomination fee to cover trucking, eartags, etc. and the rest of the costs are held by the feedyard and taken out of the final check. There is some interest by doing it that way, but it only comes out to $4-6/HD. Money is paid based on the performance our your individual calves. Costs are broken up on an individual basis as well, with feed cost being the Pen Feed Efficiency X Individual Calf Gain X Feed Cost. It's not exact, but its not bad either.

$75 for trucking and the rest is not bad at all,where do your calves ship from?

 

[WarEagle73]

$75 for trucking and the rest is not bad at all,where do your calves ship from?

Load out points are determined when they see where all the cattle are coming from. Usually somewhere close to I-65.

 

[kd4au]

$75 for trucking and the rest is not bad at all,where do your calves ship from?

Load out points are determined when they see where all the cattle are coming from. Usually somewhere close to I-65.

Thanks,that makes sense.The time I looked into it they were going to ship from Bell Mina experiment station and that's not to far from me.I bought 3 high marbeling bulls last year and I may look into sending some of their calves next year.

 

[Son of Butch]

To say prime is hard to achieve is beyond an understatement.
In my opinion the only way it will be achieved with any consistency might be Wagyu.
But I think you'll give up so much in adg that it's not worth chasing.

BUT from a purely selfish point of view I would love to see you A.I. a few cows to Wagyu just to see the comparison.
Do It... Do It... Do It... but know I say that for my benefit... I do not have your best interest at heart. :)
Do it, Do it, Do it!

I have actually been really tempted to try out some Akaushi genetics.

Just saw a Costco ad: Wagyu (imported from Japan) 4 - 12 oz steaks $499 on special just $399