For you Hereford lovers.

[Sir Loin]

For you Hereford lovers.

Feb. 13, 2013

Scott Ericsson and Bonnie Warnock, faculty members at Sul Ross State University (SRSU), Alpine, TX, have received a five-year, $245,370.26 grant from the Dixon Water Foundation to develop a biological type of cattle through utilization of traditional Hereford genetics.
The project will utilize Hereford bull semen frozen since the 1960s, and donated by the National Animal Germplasm Program, to artificially inseminate the SRSU cowherd and the Mimms Ranch cowherd. Production traits and carcass merit will be assessed during the grant period to ascertain the feasibility of developing a biological type of cattle for a sustainable grass-finished, cow-calf operation.
It's envisioned that at the end of this project, there will be two nucleus herds in which bulls can be produced as herd sires for crossbreeding in a commercial grass-finished cow-calf operation.

Source: http://beefmagazine.com/srsu-embarks-hereford-project

 

[Kingfisher]

The Hereford folks are about to make a big run at the "plate beef". Sounds like these folks got some of that money looking down the road.

 

[AllForage]

Wasted funds. There are already many old style Hereford herds capable of this already. I have one here. Wish someone would pay for my dream......guess I will have to continue funding it myself.

 

[back2dfuture]

Read the report........ Sounds like they are going "Back to the Future" ..

 

[back2dfuture]

I think black hides were getting such a high premium due to the Angus Marketing Machine, which is great. But what I wonder if those of us that are focusing on the black hide are we behind the curve. As a newbie, over the past few years as prepared for the day I took over my family's land, I would see & read reports focusing on developing a cow that's more efficient on grass, regardless of color.. I guess what I'm asking are we looking forward enough into the future? Are we trying to develop or manage the wrong genes? Will a day come when hide color want matter? If fed,fuel & fertilizer for improved grasses are pricing the small to mid-size cattleman out the business, should we look at creating more profit by improving our herd in other ways?