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Do your steers make the cut?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ebenezer" data-source="post: 1557499" data-attributes="member: 24565"><p>gcreekrch makes a point here that is key to the Bonsma selection and plays well for commercial herds. Early quick growth pays while late growth makes big mature weights. The selection for a growth curve type in cattle can be done with EPDs or with Bonsma selection techniques. Or you can do as I did and create the type by selection for environmental function and then realize later that it is the same type of animal that Bonsma observed and desired. Some poo poo Bonsma as a dreamer without data but he and the SA research farms had gobs of research and data. His writings are not poetry or opinion but fact filled. The mental capacity required is much bigger than a glance at a page with 20 EPD numbers. So, the easier route is to discount him due to lack of understanding or to call the research too old to count for anything. Quite a waste to avoid his writings in my opinion. But an opinion, only.</p><p></p><p>Last year a friend in GA wanted to start a black Angus herd. We did a good bit of research, study, contacts, sale visits and such. Long story short, the cattle in the SE USA states we considered did not often match the EPDs or the sale catalog descriptions. We ended up with him sourcing the herd from a herd in KY that has a philosophy somewhat as Bonsma. I have never asked them if Bonsma is a guide or an influence. But they select for quick early growth, decent carcass, highly functional females and work from a fescue base. As far as I know they use their own females and use the majority of home raised bulls to breed cows and heifers. They do buy outside bulls occasionally or AI but that is another story and has some secondary reasons. Their goals for early growth and carcass are not stagnate. </p><p></p><p>The beauty of their cattle is that they, like Becton Red Angus, have worked to avoid mature weight creep in their mature females while improving the end point quality and value of their bulls for the commercial folks. It is a refreshing switch to much that is said and done. And the cattle transitioned to GA to be several environments away from their base to do well and are currently calving and doing well. </p><p></p><p>I see the endpoint of any registered cattle as assisting the commercial producer to be as profitable as possible. That requires a focus on the commercial females and an eye towards the beef to the consumers. I guess that is why I do not fit the classic pattern of a mainstream purebred breeder. I am not the endpoint.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ebenezer, post: 1557499, member: 24565"] gcreekrch makes a point here that is key to the Bonsma selection and plays well for commercial herds. Early quick growth pays while late growth makes big mature weights. The selection for a growth curve type in cattle can be done with EPDs or with Bonsma selection techniques. Or you can do as I did and create the type by selection for environmental function and then realize later that it is the same type of animal that Bonsma observed and desired. Some poo poo Bonsma as a dreamer without data but he and the SA research farms had gobs of research and data. His writings are not poetry or opinion but fact filled. The mental capacity required is much bigger than a glance at a page with 20 EPD numbers. So, the easier route is to discount him due to lack of understanding or to call the research too old to count for anything. Quite a waste to avoid his writings in my opinion. But an opinion, only. Last year a friend in GA wanted to start a black Angus herd. We did a good bit of research, study, contacts, sale visits and such. Long story short, the cattle in the SE USA states we considered did not often match the EPDs or the sale catalog descriptions. We ended up with him sourcing the herd from a herd in KY that has a philosophy somewhat as Bonsma. I have never asked them if Bonsma is a guide or an influence. But they select for quick early growth, decent carcass, highly functional females and work from a fescue base. As far as I know they use their own females and use the majority of home raised bulls to breed cows and heifers. They do buy outside bulls occasionally or AI but that is another story and has some secondary reasons. Their goals for early growth and carcass are not stagnate. The beauty of their cattle is that they, like Becton Red Angus, have worked to avoid mature weight creep in their mature females while improving the end point quality and value of their bulls for the commercial folks. It is a refreshing switch to much that is said and done. And the cattle transitioned to GA to be several environments away from their base to do well and are currently calving and doing well. I see the endpoint of any registered cattle as assisting the commercial producer to be as profitable as possible. That requires a focus on the commercial females and an eye towards the beef to the consumers. I guess that is why I do not fit the classic pattern of a mainstream purebred breeder. I am not the endpoint. [/QUOTE]
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