I plan to take you through the Genetics of Grass-fed Beef, the Three phases of Operation, Forage Nutrition and Plant Physiology, Grass-finishing, Processing and Economics.
From my earlier post, I was trying to see just how many people were bucket dependent in this forum and my statistics show that 97% of the people using this board are indeed bucket-dependent cattle raisers.
The most lasting damage of the massive grain-feeding that has been done in this country is what has been done to our cattle's genetic make-up. Very few stock-raisers realize just how bad our genetic situation is:
The shift of late maturing, growthy cattle have been devastating to cow/calf producers because it has destroyed fertility and by restoring fertility we automatically restore the genetics that will finish on grass.
Cows that have high reproductive rates are consistently moderate milkers.
Cows we should be selecting for include those with a lower body maintenance cost and:
Lower in milk production
Low in visceral organ weight
Low in body lean mass
High in body fat mass
All these traits combined = high fertility cows
Fertility many say is not thought to be heritable because the bulls used by commercial cattlemen have not been subject to the same strict culling criteria as brood cows have and many of the traits that seedstock producers select for are in direct opposition to the production of highly-fertile bulls.
When highly fertile cows are bred to highly fertile bulls – heritability is indeed significant and if no feed supplementation is employed, significant genetic progress can be made through selection for fertility and culling.
The heart of animal genetics is the genetic adaptation of the animal to it's environment, which is inline with my rule that many people do not select the right type of animal for their available forage base < a big problem in all operations.
What causes sub-par fertility in bulls?
What your seedstock supplier fails to mention:
Buying a "performance tested" grain-fed bull often isn't what you would want in a potential herd sire as there is a strong correlation between high grain-fed gains and low fertility. There is also a correlation with large frame size and low fertility.
Studies have shown that bulls grown off on grain had a lower semen count with greater than 20% abnormalities.
Studies in grass-fed or forage tested bulls showed a live semen count in the 80 to 90% range on average with only 2-3 percent abnormalities.
Grain-fed fattening of Bulls causes even more problems like fat buildup in the neck of the scrotum that insulates the testes and the heat exchange system in the spermatic cords become ineffective with the presence of fatty tissue, causing a reduction of sperm mobility and an increase in abnormalities.
The bottom line is as long as fat bulls top the sales; seedstock producers will continue to sell grain-fattened sub-fertile bulls.
In cows, endocrine imbalance has an influence on the reproduction and can be caused by the overfeeding of grain.
Phenotype
1. Never buy in brood stock from outside your own ranch's latitude
2. In the south choose an animal with a thicker hide because those animals are able to better tolerate the heat.
3. Color in the south --- Red
4. Selecting for reproductive performance (rp) will naturally produce an animal that will mature early, fatten early and have a high value carcass yield.
5. Use only ultra-sounded bulls for tenderness, marbling and rib eye shape
6. Smaller frame cows: mature weights from 1000 to 1250
7. Choose a docile breed
8. Select for body maintenance an rp.
Genetics of grass-fed beef cattle just hits the high points and a good place to begin.
Next the three phases of the operation.
From my earlier post, I was trying to see just how many people were bucket dependent in this forum and my statistics show that 97% of the people using this board are indeed bucket-dependent cattle raisers.
The most lasting damage of the massive grain-feeding that has been done in this country is what has been done to our cattle's genetic make-up. Very few stock-raisers realize just how bad our genetic situation is:
The shift of late maturing, growthy cattle have been devastating to cow/calf producers because it has destroyed fertility and by restoring fertility we automatically restore the genetics that will finish on grass.
Cows that have high reproductive rates are consistently moderate milkers.
Cows we should be selecting for include those with a lower body maintenance cost and:
Lower in milk production
Low in visceral organ weight
Low in body lean mass
High in body fat mass
All these traits combined = high fertility cows
Fertility many say is not thought to be heritable because the bulls used by commercial cattlemen have not been subject to the same strict culling criteria as brood cows have and many of the traits that seedstock producers select for are in direct opposition to the production of highly-fertile bulls.
When highly fertile cows are bred to highly fertile bulls – heritability is indeed significant and if no feed supplementation is employed, significant genetic progress can be made through selection for fertility and culling.
The heart of animal genetics is the genetic adaptation of the animal to it's environment, which is inline with my rule that many people do not select the right type of animal for their available forage base < a big problem in all operations.
What causes sub-par fertility in bulls?
What your seedstock supplier fails to mention:
Buying a "performance tested" grain-fed bull often isn't what you would want in a potential herd sire as there is a strong correlation between high grain-fed gains and low fertility. There is also a correlation with large frame size and low fertility.
Studies have shown that bulls grown off on grain had a lower semen count with greater than 20% abnormalities.
Studies in grass-fed or forage tested bulls showed a live semen count in the 80 to 90% range on average with only 2-3 percent abnormalities.
Grain-fed fattening of Bulls causes even more problems like fat buildup in the neck of the scrotum that insulates the testes and the heat exchange system in the spermatic cords become ineffective with the presence of fatty tissue, causing a reduction of sperm mobility and an increase in abnormalities.
The bottom line is as long as fat bulls top the sales; seedstock producers will continue to sell grain-fattened sub-fertile bulls.
In cows, endocrine imbalance has an influence on the reproduction and can be caused by the overfeeding of grain.
Phenotype
1. Never buy in brood stock from outside your own ranch's latitude
2. In the south choose an animal with a thicker hide because those animals are able to better tolerate the heat.
3. Color in the south --- Red
4. Selecting for reproductive performance (rp) will naturally produce an animal that will mature early, fatten early and have a high value carcass yield.
5. Use only ultra-sounded bulls for tenderness, marbling and rib eye shape
6. Smaller frame cows: mature weights from 1000 to 1250
7. Choose a docile breed
8. Select for body maintenance an rp.
Genetics of grass-fed beef cattle just hits the high points and a good place to begin.
Next the three phases of the operation.