I know of an institution that has hired a certain other institution to clone two or three steers that went prime yield grade 1. Now that is a bull to get semen on. The question is would you use him? He is a cross bred seems to have some angus in him and has some chrome on his face. I personally think he would make a great bull in a commercial herd.
Bull of the Future
- Thread starter Beef11
- Start date
purecountry
Well-known member
Spill the beans! Who is he? What is he? Let's hear it. 
I am behind the times. I thought all we could clone at this point was females, since the clonable tissue they were using was mammary. If they succeed, I would be very hesitant. Many of these clones have had a tendency to get grotesquely fat and have inexplicable health problems and some have been perfect copies too. Also a crossbred calf will have some difficulty breeding "true". I am real hesitant to use a cross bred sire; particularly if it were of completely unknown ancestry. I think I will wait for the inevitable YG1 Prime straight Angus and Hereford clones.
i've been around plenty of clones, and yes some are "Different" but those are caused by the activation process, so they think. All research says that they are safe for consumption and if reproductively viable their seed wouldn't be affected. It will be hard to get a Y1 prime of known decendancy being how they pick them out at the slaughterhouse. You could probably trace it back to the breeder then DNA all the bulls and that would give you half of it the other half would be the tough one figuring out the maternal pedigree of a commercial cow could be real tricky.
ga. prime
Well-known member
I'm just wondering how these clones will fare in outer space?
Why go through all the trouble of cloning?
Ultrasound Leads to ‘Best Carcasses in World’
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The search for superior beef may have found a solution.
John Brethour, K-State Research and Extension animal scientist, may have discovered a way to produce carcasses of consistent superior quality. Brethour tests ultrasound application in tracking marbling at the K-State Western Kansas Agricultural Research Center in Hays.
"I wanted to apply ultrasound to calculate how many days it will take an animal to go to the next grade," Brethour said. "We are attempting to determine objectively how many days to feed the animal in order to receive the highest price."
Brethour has dedicated nearly 12 years to studying ultrasound. The early experiments attempted to establish equations for measuring backfat in live animals. Once he established different backfat equations for different breeds, he wanted to see if marbling works the same way.
"We have studied ultrasound over the years to tract the development of marbling, since marbling is supposedly the best indication of eating ability," Brethour said. "I wanted to see if the equations for native cattle would hold true for Wagyu cattle or if marbling would differ."
Rated Prime Plus
This calf was rated prime + at the NWSS
Jim Scott, owner of PrimeLine Genetics, asked Brethour for assistance with his own quest for high quality beef. Scott experimented with Wagyu crosses but needed a better way to select the harvest date.
"We needed to look inside at the carcass while the animals were still alive," Scott said. "K-State and John Brethour gave us the best offer."
In their experiment, Brethour and Scott bred 135 commercial Charolais heifers to six Wagyu purebred bulls from OBBCO Ranch in DeLeon, Texas. From that group, 25 steers were randomly selected to be included in the study, performed at the Agricultural Research Center—Hays.
The results? The cattle graded more than 90 percent prime, in comparison to the national slaughter mix average of less than two percent prime. In addition, the men took six cattle to the 1999 National Western Stock Show (NWSS) for the carcass contest, where they won first place with an unprecedented 100-percent, prime-graded group.
"One judge said this was ‘the best set of carcasses I’ve ever seen in my life,’" Brethour said. "We broke history in Denver with an average quality grade of Prime plus."
Rated Prime Plus
"The best set of carcasses I’ve ever seen in my life"
Wagyu cattle have been used in the United States before, but they have been bred to cattle known for high marbling. Scott said they thought to bred them to Charolais because Wagyu cattle "have the marbling but needed the growth and efficiency provided by Charolais."
Producers can expect similar results with Wagyu-Charolais crosses, Scott said. In addition to carcass quality, Wagyu cattle also are known for their calving ease due to small-boned, lighter calves. The disadvantage of the breed reverts back to the 60-pound average birth weight.
"When you start with an animal that small, you don’t have as good a growth pattern pre-weaning," Scott said. "However, as you go through post-weaning, hybrid vigor kicks in and you end up with animals just as large."
The hybrid vigor in Wagyu crosses is higher due to the new genetics from the Japanese-based breed.
"Wagyu cattle are not related to anything in America, which results in a huge heterosis effect," Scott said.
Will this cross affect the beef industry? Scott says no, not until producers can focus on the end product instead of the cattle’s appearance.
"Wagyu cattle are ugly. They are fine-boned, small ended and ugly," Scott said. "Breeds of cattle are still being judged with the eyeball, even though we have EPD’s and are using data. Not many cattle producers know what the end product should look like, yet." While Wagyu cattle are not widely accepted by the beef industry, the use of ultrasound to determine the harvest date is increasing in popularity in the industry. Brethour is attempting to polish the technology for practical application.
"Our interest in ultrasound is for upstream commercial operations," Brethour said. "Today we are working with different ultrasound machines to resolve the variation among the machines."
Brethour continues to discover new applications for ultrasound.
"We are currently studying the accuracy of evaluating calves at weaning to predict their potential grade. It’s interesting how accurate we can be by evaluating the calves," he said. "We also plan to ultrasound cows to predict the genetic potential of calves she will raise."
Linda Albers
Communications Specialist
K-State Research and Extension John Brethour
Agricultural Research Center-Hays
785-625-3425 Ext. 215
Ultrasound Leads to ‘Best Carcasses in World’
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The search for superior beef may have found a solution.
John Brethour, K-State Research and Extension animal scientist, may have discovered a way to produce carcasses of consistent superior quality. Brethour tests ultrasound application in tracking marbling at the K-State Western Kansas Agricultural Research Center in Hays.
"I wanted to apply ultrasound to calculate how many days it will take an animal to go to the next grade," Brethour said. "We are attempting to determine objectively how many days to feed the animal in order to receive the highest price."
Brethour has dedicated nearly 12 years to studying ultrasound. The early experiments attempted to establish equations for measuring backfat in live animals. Once he established different backfat equations for different breeds, he wanted to see if marbling works the same way.
"We have studied ultrasound over the years to tract the development of marbling, since marbling is supposedly the best indication of eating ability," Brethour said. "I wanted to see if the equations for native cattle would hold true for Wagyu cattle or if marbling would differ."
Rated Prime Plus
This calf was rated prime + at the NWSS
Jim Scott, owner of PrimeLine Genetics, asked Brethour for assistance with his own quest for high quality beef. Scott experimented with Wagyu crosses but needed a better way to select the harvest date.
"We needed to look inside at the carcass while the animals were still alive," Scott said. "K-State and John Brethour gave us the best offer."
In their experiment, Brethour and Scott bred 135 commercial Charolais heifers to six Wagyu purebred bulls from OBBCO Ranch in DeLeon, Texas. From that group, 25 steers were randomly selected to be included in the study, performed at the Agricultural Research Center—Hays.
The results? The cattle graded more than 90 percent prime, in comparison to the national slaughter mix average of less than two percent prime. In addition, the men took six cattle to the 1999 National Western Stock Show (NWSS) for the carcass contest, where they won first place with an unprecedented 100-percent, prime-graded group.
"One judge said this was ‘the best set of carcasses I’ve ever seen in my life,’" Brethour said. "We broke history in Denver with an average quality grade of Prime plus."
Rated Prime Plus
"The best set of carcasses I’ve ever seen in my life"
Wagyu cattle have been used in the United States before, but they have been bred to cattle known for high marbling. Scott said they thought to bred them to Charolais because Wagyu cattle "have the marbling but needed the growth and efficiency provided by Charolais."
Producers can expect similar results with Wagyu-Charolais crosses, Scott said. In addition to carcass quality, Wagyu cattle also are known for their calving ease due to small-boned, lighter calves. The disadvantage of the breed reverts back to the 60-pound average birth weight.
"When you start with an animal that small, you don’t have as good a growth pattern pre-weaning," Scott said. "However, as you go through post-weaning, hybrid vigor kicks in and you end up with animals just as large."
The hybrid vigor in Wagyu crosses is higher due to the new genetics from the Japanese-based breed.
"Wagyu cattle are not related to anything in America, which results in a huge heterosis effect," Scott said.
Will this cross affect the beef industry? Scott says no, not until producers can focus on the end product instead of the cattle’s appearance.
"Wagyu cattle are ugly. They are fine-boned, small ended and ugly," Scott said. "Breeds of cattle are still being judged with the eyeball, even though we have EPD’s and are using data. Not many cattle producers know what the end product should look like, yet." While Wagyu cattle are not widely accepted by the beef industry, the use of ultrasound to determine the harvest date is increasing in popularity in the industry. Brethour is attempting to polish the technology for practical application.
"Our interest in ultrasound is for upstream commercial operations," Brethour said. "Today we are working with different ultrasound machines to resolve the variation among the machines."
Brethour continues to discover new applications for ultrasound.
"We are currently studying the accuracy of evaluating calves at weaning to predict their potential grade. It’s interesting how accurate we can be by evaluating the calves," he said. "We also plan to ultrasound cows to predict the genetic potential of calves she will raise."
Linda Albers
Communications Specialist
K-State Research and Extension John Brethour
Agricultural Research Center-Hays
785-625-3425 Ext. 215
Ultrasound is definately a good tool. How many of those calves were Yield grade 1's? Also for a commercial operation it would be easier to use a clone bull AI then it would be to use constant Ultrasound. Basically it would be the Bull with the most proven carcass data in history. Simply cause he was a steer and finished Prime yield 1. What more can you ask for except a maternal pedigree.
Beef11":1a2tl78m said:
Most of us (particularly in the South) have NEVER sold a calf on the rail. We don't get paid for grade and we have NEVER met or spoke to most of our calves' buyers. I am more interested in a bull's structure and his dam. He has to have the feet and legs for his heifers to hold up for 15 years out here and his daughters need to be easy fleshing easy keeping cows that will wean of 600 pound calves with a minimum of supplement. I know I am not using any bull (except as a terminal) unless I have seen his mama or a bunch of sisters and if his sire is a complete unknown I wouldn't even contemplate using him. Using a bull just because he is a clone of a YG1 Prime steer isn't going to cut it by itself; though that is certainly a notable accomplishment.
That is not tremendously difficult to do, it is just hard to do with ANGUS.
I know a guy that makes about 8% prime, y2 and 4% prime, y1 on out of several hundred head every year.
Trick is to make the angus have real heavy muscle with some marbling, and make the continental have high marbling for a continental, with both breeds having lower outside fat.
Not real hard, just too many folks trying to do it with straight angus, and it ain't gonna happen too easily going that path.
mtnman
I know a guy that makes about 8% prime, y2 and 4% prime, y1 on out of several hundred head every year.
Trick is to make the angus have real heavy muscle with some marbling, and make the continental have high marbling for a continental, with both breeds having lower outside fat.
Not real hard, just too many folks trying to do it with straight angus, and it ain't gonna happen too easily going that path.
mtnman
Ohh it can be done. The problem is if you've got a bull you think is good you won't know how good he is. These calves that go Y1 prime are the best. The disadvantage they have is they lost their nuts and they are dead. Cloning allows you to use Bulls that are proven the way no other bulls have been. All we have on other bulls is some scewed ultrasound data and after a few years we could potentially get calf report data. Cloning seems like a pretty darn good tool to have in this situation.
