Breeding Systems...

[IluvABbeef]

No question here, just letting everyone know (just because), I posted some more things on TFCCP on breeding systems and bull selection.

Here's a snippet:

Breeding Systems and Bull Selection for the Beef Herd

What Business Are You In?

You hear that cattlemen are in the business of producing food and therefore should listen to the consumer. And the consumer wants leaner and smaller cuts of meat, that are "healthy and not hormone implanted." But the industry calls for typically bigger calves that conventionally speaking, have hormone implants put in them at weaning age when they are being backgrounded, and need to be vaccinated in order to remain healthy. So what message do you listen to? You have to consider production performance as an economical price to continue in the beef business. Which part of the beef business can you successfully afford to operate in?

The Ideal Bull

What is the perfect bull for your cow herd? You cannot answer this question until you know what yourmarketing plan for the offspring will be, age and type of breeding female you have, and how much money you can afford to spend on the bull. Resources (land, feed, skilled workers, etc.) also dictate what you choose. And consider this as well: do you keep your own replacement females?

There's always more to read...

 

[Jalopy]

I believe you are right about setting your marketing goal before you start buying bulls. I think if you are heading for grass fed beef direct marketed you should use a bull that can produce market cattle without grain and only with forage. Whereas if you are headed to marketing the 15-18 " ribeye to the restuaurant market you need a different type bull. But each of these markets are really specialized and you need to know your consumer before you commit 50% of your herd in any direction. JMO.

 

[Bluestem]

You bring up some good points. Unless you are selling direct to the end user "customer" then your customer is the "Industry". It is the "Industries" responsibility to meet the end users desires. Which will trickle back down to the producer. Short term it may be cheaper and easier through advertising for "industry" to shape the customers desires to fit the industry. Which creates niche markets for those able to respond to the end users desires.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

What we always did was to try to have large calves at wean age and would choose bulls accordingly. We AI'd and natural cover and wanted to produce lean large muscled end product. The only meds the calves received was Scour Guard at birth and antibiotics as needed for proper medical care, fortunately that wasn't often. Cows received a 7-way vacc every spring before being let out to pasture. I can't say we had a niche market, but our calves were top sellers more often than not. We backgrounded for atleast a month before selling and when we started to sell bred second calf heifers that really took off for us. All in all it was a win for us because our costs were low and the end plate product was supreme.