>I suspect that it is management differences, I'm in Ohio so we have tall grass (and short cows) A cowboy from Wa. told me that one. If you're buying heifers do you stay with a preferred cross or do the differences seem to even out with a terminal sire? One of the new things that I see coming is the electonic tracking of cattle thru slaughter. If you can get feedback on your cattle, that would make choices in breeding MUCH easier. P.S. excellent pun Excellent information, I really
> enjoy thoughful discussions like
> this. A couple of the points you
> brought up bear some furthur
> discussion. Some of the
> differences in our viewpoints may
> be as a result of management
> styles for a beef herd. For our
> herd we have not retained any
> heifers for breeding. We do this
> because, after putting a pencil to
> paper, we have found that it is
> more economical to purchase
> replacements than to raise our
> own. As a result we are able to
> maintain a more consistant genetic
> base in our herd because we do not
> try to maintain static numbers of
> cows over the whole cattle cycle
> but rather have the maximize
> number of cows producing calves
> when calf prices are good and cull
> heavily when prices start to
> slide. Stockers are used to fill
> in for "empty" grazing
> positions. This style allows us to
> use AI and purchase bulls that
> "fit" with our fairly
> consistant genetic base. Trying to
> fit any one bull to a whole group
> of cows that have a varied genetic
> mix is very difficult and results
> in a rainbow of product. You are
> right, one of the biggest problems
> currently with producing crosbred
> calves is having access to a high
> quality supply of crossbred
> seedstock that will allow a
> breeder to maintain a consistant
> genetic mix. One approach that
> does work well if you cannot get
> good crossbred bulls is to to
> purchase quality 50/50 heifers and
> breed them terminally to either a
> saler bull or an angus bull
> depending on the desired market.
> This 75/25 calf maintains most of
> the desirable traits of both
> parents but it allows the breeder
> to utilize purebred parents with
> EPD's. In discussion of
> tenderness, unfortunately marbling
> is our best guide at this time.
> Probably very soon we will have
> other genetic tools but we have to
> work with what we have. It has
> been proven that marbling does in
> fact have a good correlation with
> tenderness. I do not have the
> exact figures readily available
> but as I recall the USDA did a
> study and concluded that a prime
> steak is 80% more likely to be
> tender than a select steak and a
> choice steak is 50% more like to
> be tender than a select steak. My
> percents may be off but that was
> the jist of the study. That is why
> prime is worth more than choice
> and so forth. As far as wanting a
> 1/2" outer covering, I
> suppose that this is one way to
> attempt to pick out higher quality
> animals but it in itself does not
> guarantee anything except lower
> grading animals and adds to the
> amount of time that the animals
> are on feed. External fat and
> marbling are loosely related but
> not directly. I will have to pick
> this discussion up later as I
> cannot seen to keep my thoughts
> flowing clearly. Some more fat to
> chew....
[email protected]