Growth/Marbling

[Dale L]

If you had to pick 1 bull to increase hanging weights and marbling who would it be. Looking to breed a commercial herd for a guy that is primarily selling freezer beef. May retain a few heifers out of the better cows but all of the steers and most heifers will be fed out and sold on the rail.

 

[LJCB]

I did a quick search on sire evaluation and one name that popped out at me was VAR discovery. Pretty well rounded all the way across the board ranks really well on carcass data. Never used him but just a well known bull that I saw.

 

[W.B.]

Connealy Fortune 752L is a possibility. He would be a discovery grandson.

 

[T & B farms]

High growth, high marbling, and females do not mix.

 

[Dale L]

Increasing weights and marbling are the goals. I should have left the part about the females out of the original question I suppose.

 

[T & B farms]

I assume you have angus based cows? I would strongly suggest cross breeding. A high growth, big frame simi bull on some good angus cows will give you some monster calves. I have used NLC upgrade for several years on my terminal type cows with good results.
This year I will be using TJ Roosevelt in his place do to the 100 straw price I was able to get on him.

 

[Lucky_P]

T&B makes an excellent point about crossbreeding, for top slaughter calves.
Some really good Simmentals out there for WW/YW, Marbling, Ribeye.
But, also look at Braunvieh... they feed out well, marble well... just take a hit through the sale ring due to color - which shouldn't be an issue for a freezer beef producer. Ron McBee has some purebreds and BraunviehxAngus crosses (McBeef Builders) that rank right up there with VAR Discovery, VAR Reserve, Conneally Capitalist, etc.(they're in the Braunvieh herdbook as a foundation animals) in the top of the breed for WW/YW, marbling.

 

[MLFuller]

I would take a look at GAR Sure Fire. Elite marbling, cw, re proven through actual carcass records. Also, has adequate growth and you can keep and make solid replacement females out of him.

 

[Stickney94]

If you had to pick 1 bull to increase hanging weights and marbling who would it be. Looking to breed a commercial herd for a guy that is primarily selling freezer beef. May retain a few heifers out of the better cows but all of the steers and most heifers will be fed out and sold on the rail.

Due to the death of the angus bull Hoover Dam I'm in the same situation as your question above. I've done more research on this than I'd like to admit (see Yield Grade/Kill Data thread).

I'm tied to ABS Global so I've been looking at Byergo Black Magic & GAR Inertia as terminal sires. Quaker Hill Rampage shows up in a lot of pedigrees of bulls based on carcass traits.

As mentioned, there are some GAR bulls (like SureFire and Momentum) that have actual carcass data out there that would be good choices as well.

 

[hornedfrogbbq]

I have seen feedstock folks chase $B and ignore feet, milk, inputs, $EN, fertility, etc. I have seen folks go after marbling and forget feet (big time), fertility, etc. I have seen folks going for bigger numbers across the board and do it through frame, frame, frame. Huge cattle that are again, not focused on feet, longevity, fertility and for sure not focused on DMI or any kind of conservative feed program.

I would suggest the Tyson and JBS and Cargill want you to focus on carcass above all else. Nothing else affects their bottom line like grade.

We have also seen more moderation lately. More blends of bulls having good marbling scores, ok to good ribeye size and still be putting females on the ground thar you want to keep. Hoover dam used to do it. Impression used to do it.

We will be rotating our sires to capture 3/4 feet, fertility, longevity, big rears, lots of muscle, and efficient uses of their feed inputs. 1/4 we will focus on carcass.

Go do the sire selector on angus.org. it can help you narrow some things down and then call some folks or get on here and ask for reports and experiences. We all share in a fairly humble manner. Well, most of us anyway.

 

[darcelina4]

If you are going for growth and marbling, why would you care about fertility in a terminal calf? Why care about feet in a terminal calf? I'm asking here, I would think you would be interested in getting the most high quality meat you could make and not be caring about things like fertility and longevity???

 

[hornedfrogbbq]

If you are going for growth and marbling, why would you care about fertility in a terminal calf? Why care about feet in a terminal calf? I'm asking here, I would think you would be interested in getting the most high quality meat you could make and not be caring about things like fertility and longevity???

i was putting that in there because the original question included potentially retaining heifers. That throws a wicked curve into just wanting terminal cattle.

 

[Ky hills]

I haven't had any first hand knowledge of feedback on any carcasses, but I would recommend PA Power Tool a son GAR Predestined. We used Power Tool a few years back and had some real good calves by him, kept a son and again some very nice growth calves. Have had a heifer calf by the bull kept actually get bred before weaning and she recently calved at around 15 months and is doing a great job with her calf. To me Power Tool would be a great bull to use for an all around bull.

 

[VaCowman]

How are the feet on PT's calves? That's the only real knock I hear on the bull. Some say he doesn't help, nor hurt, while others say he'll ruin a perfect set of feet. Never used the bull, not because of foot reports, just afraid of the slab sided trait that most of the predestined cattle that I saw had. There were a handful of bred heifers I seen from Predestined that were good, just not enough.

In response to the original post, I'd look at GAR Sure Fire. We have some heifers bred to him, but won't have live calf reports until September. Hopefully they will not have that GAR look about them...until they are unzipped!

 

[Ky hills]

How are the feet on PT's calves? That's the only real knock I hear on the bull. Some say he doesn't help, nor hurt, while others say he'll ruin a perfect set of feet. Never used the bull, not because of foot reports, just afraid of the slab sided trait that most of the predestined cattle that I saw had. There were a handful of bred heifers I seen from Predestined that were good, just not enough.

In all honesty I don't think the feet from Power Tool calves were any worse than a lot of other Angus sires that we have used including ones that were said to be foot improvers. I kept a son and now have two grandsons. The heifers that we kept are looking to be fairly framey at this point they may mature fast and cut off some mature size. They are maybe a little on the slab sided order compared to some but they are holding their own performance wise. They seem to have good udder development. One of the things that I love about the New Design, Predestined, Power Tool cattle is that the bulls that we have used are very fertile breeders that can get a group of cows or heifers bred quickly and consistently. I know it isn't the latest greatest bloodline of the moment in registered Angus pedigrees but if I'm looking for a bull commercial wise having that bloodline in a bulls pedigree gives him a positive in my opinion.

 

[76 Bar]

Over the years I've noted the Braunvieh breed has a history of inherent carcass superiority and especially, marbling. Its a shame they get so little respect.

 

[Lucky_P]

You're right, 76...and the Braunvieh females are functional, fertile, and have longevity. Older, long-dead sires bring a lot of performance to the table, but lots of younger Braunvieh and Braunvieh-influenced hybrids bring carcass traits comparable to noted Angus sires, probably with better ADG and YG.

Took me 30 years to get to the point of saying to myself, "Dammit, I'm gonna breed some Braunvieh, black coat color be damned!" First-cross steers were great, heifers were top-rate...were turning out to be the cows I'd hoped for, when we made the tough decision to disperse.

I know there's lots of Angus folks here, but it'd be hard to beat a Braunvieh sire to do what DaleL originally asked for...increase hanging carcass wt, marbling, AND make functional females...they just might not all come out black - but if he's direct-marketing freezer beef, coat color shouldn't matter.

 

[76 Bar]

Did a little sleuthing today. Looks like some breeders have drank the black cool aid. :frowns:

 

[Lucky_P]

Yeah, there are some black purebreds out there.
Ron McBee sells a number of Braunvieh-Angus 'McBeef Builder' hybrids every year...most are black

 

[76 Bar]

Checked out his website. Obviously trying to cash in on the "black" market. Personally think its a shame so many breeds have succumbed to bastardizing their roots by injecting Angus.