Colorado State University Data

[greenwillowherefords]

Remember last year before and when I joined the boards? I quoted CSU data and was challenged by certain members to prove I wasn't making it up. I have received in the mail today the 1992 and 1993 Beef Program Reports. The pertinent page numbers for 1992 are 159-175. For 1993 they are 145-152. Getting this data to the boards will be a huge task, probably requiring a scanner for starters. So it may be some time before I can get the actual documents before your eyes. In the meantime, I intend to mail copies to some of the most respected members of CattleToday that they may verify what I have said. Thanks to RWTHerefords for the e-mail address that got the response.

Remember, proof is to follow, but I quote from page 159 of the 1992 Beef Program Report: "Average daily gain for the entire population was 4.1 lb. and cost of gain and feed conversion ranged from $.45 to $.47 and 5.21 to 5.89 lb. per lb. of gain. Optimal combination of Yield Grade and Quality Grade for this group of Hereford steers was achieved at 84 days on feed with 53.8 percent of the carcasses from those steers grading Choice and the entire group of carcasses having a mean Yield Grade of 3.16. Based on frequency distributions, feeding Hereford steers to a live weight endpoint of 1200 to 1250 lb. optimizes marbling score and Yield Grade at an acceptable (for the live market) weight." That is the summary. The study used 398 straightbred Hereford steers from thirteen producers in seven states, New Mexico, Washington, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, Montana, Texas.

Interestingly, it was a Nebraska producer who had the lowest average backfat thickness, .17.

More later on the meat quality portion of the study.

 

[Bez]

You really do not like to let sleeping dogs lie - do you?

Better watch out - frankie will be calling you.

GW - you have always been a man of truth - so go forth and do your darndest - I believe she will find / attempt to find a way to cast doubt / challenge you.

Is there any other breed besides the famed BA?

:lol: 8)

Bez

 

[Crowderfarms]

The dogs are gonna wake up real soon. But they may hang their collars, half way over the fence.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Crowder do you think these are real huntin dogs? Or just bark alot.

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Summary of the carcass study, page 145 of the 1993 Beef Program Report, (Colorado State U):

"Two hundred straightbred Hereford steers (HS); 198 straightbred Hereford heifers(HH); 203 HerefordXBritish (HxBR) steers; 200 Hereford x Continental European (HxCE) steers, and 203 Hereford x Bos Indicus (Hx BI) steers were selected from a commercial feedlot, and slaughtered at a commercial packing plant. After the carcasses had been chilled for 24 h, USDA Quality and Yield Grade data were collected, and rib samples were taken from all carcasses in each group as well as from 121 "mine-run" Choice and 119 "mine-run" Select carcasses. Shear force measurement (WBS) and sensory evaluation were conducted. HxCE steers produced the heaviest, leanest and most muscular carcasses. HH produced the lightest, fattest carcasses, and along with HxBR, had the highest marbling scores, with the highest percentage of carcasses grading Choice. HxBI produced carcasses with the smallest ribeye area, the lowest marbling scores and the highest percentage of carcasses grading Standard. All Hereford cattle-types produced rib steaks with WBS values and sensory panel ratings that were either equivalant or superior to those of "mine-run" Choice rib steaks. Palatability attributes of rib steaks from Hereford straightbreds and crossbreds were superior (P< .05) to those of straks from "mine-run" Select carcasses."

Introduction: "Previous studies conducted at Colorado State University.........showed that beef produced by straightbred Hereford steers had palatability attributes similar to those of U.S. Choice beef, even though many of the carcasses produced by the Hereford steers did not grade Choice. [/b]Results of these studies demonstrated that it was posssible to utilize straightbred Hereford steers to produce beef that would meet American Heart Association guidleines for less than 30% of calories from fat, and still maintain eating qualities characteristic of U.S. Choice beef.( emphasis mine)

The objective of this study was to determine if it was possible to phenotypically identify Hereford straightbred steers and heifers, as well as Hereford cross-bred steers, (all of unknown origon) that would yield rib steaks equivalant in tenderness and overall palatability to rib steaks from a representative sample of Choice grade carcasses."

This data was widely used in the founding of CHB.

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Obviously, the emphasis got in the wrong spot.

 

[Beefy]

someone put the emPHASis on the wrong syLLABLE.

 

[MikeC]

Crowder do you think these are real huntin dogs? Or just bark alot.

Nothin like hearing a hound baying! ;-)

 

[Crowderfarms]

Crowder do you think these are real huntin dogs? Or just bark alot.

Caustic, They're just Panlickers. All Bark No bite. Can't tree a Polecat.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

Somn, here is the thread that I mentioned on MikeC's thread on feed conversion. I was actually hesitant to pull it up, because there were some arguments in the past that I wish had involved less animosity, and this was tied to some of them.

I did indeed mail copies of those pages to Bez, but that was about as far as it went, and the sleeping dogs went to other subjects.

 

[somn]

What weight in and out?

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

I would have to actually dig the books out to give you a definite answer, but if you read the second informative post above, they were feeding them to an endpoint of 1200-1250 pounds. They gained 4.1 pounds per day in the optimum 84 day period. 84 times 4.1=344.4. 1250-344=906. So we may suppose that they were in the neighborhood of 850 to 900 pounds when they went in, and 1200-1250 when out.