greenwillowherefords
Well-known member
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.
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.