High altitude question

[mountainman]

This is my first post but its something I've been wondering about for the last few months. How do Wagyu and Wagyu/Angus do at higher elevations? I have heard that Angus don't fair so well however, I see alot of black cows in my area. My land is right around 9000ft. above sea level (8900-9600) and I have been told to only buy cattle bred for high altitude.

 

[J]

Not sure about cattle, but I know it affects me. ;-) Welcome to the boards.





Oh yeah.............. someone will come along shortly with an answer better than mine. :lol:

 

[grumpy]

The Shamrock Angus herd at Laramie, WY has a reputation for angus that work in high country. Might want to check them out.

 

[Aero]

as long as you buy from herds who do PAP testing, you shouldnt have a problem. There are many Angus breeders in CO that keep their animals at altitude and they do very well.

if possible try to get PAP scores for the animals you might buy. anything below 40 should work fine at your altitude.

 

[purecountry]

I'm sure you're not talking about the PAP-testing that I'm thinking of :lol: , so what does it stand for?

 

[ENNOT]

PAP tested cattle are your best bet. Otherwise you can run into problems from what I have heard and read. Your best bet would to try to obtain cattle from neighboring ranches.

Also Shamrock Angus is dispersing. Their sale is September 26 and 27th. Gary is a good cowman and knows what kind of cattle will work at high altitudes. I knew him when I was still home in Montana and he ran the Jolly Roger Angus Ranch at Belt. Check out his website http://www.shamrockangus.com and even give him a call to find out more about high altitude cattle ranching.

 

[Aero]

I'm sure you're not talking about the PAP-testing that I'm thinking of :lol: , so what does it stand for?

i think it's Pulmonary Arterial Pressure.

it is a messure of blood pressure at the heart, which is pretty much a measure of stress or a measure of the animals ability to handle low oxygen environments. Around 30 is the best I have seen.

When I talked to Dr Tim Holt (the guy who invented the test), i found out that a calf's health early in life has a great impact on this score. if they were sick as calves, they will almost always have an elevated PAP. There is a strong genetic correlation too. if the calf is from a line of cattle that have good PAP scores, the calf is likely to have a good score.

 

[eldiente]

Yes PAP is pulmonary arterial pressure. Here's a link to Tybar ranch which has a pretty good angus program using lines bred for altitude.

http://www.angusproductions.com/vip_home.html?RID=58

 

[circlet]

I think Brisket Disease is the common term for PAP. See this link http://www.cattlerange.com/brisket-disease.html

My father-in-law sold his ranch in Nebraska and bought a ranch in Idaho, he took his (mostly) angus herd out there and they never missed a beat, he thinks they've actually performed better out there up in the mountains. Guess one never knows, everyone has a different story to tell.

 

[eldiente]

In my experience, all cattle seem to do well up to 6500 feet. But summer ranges around here can be 9000 - 11000ft above sea level, and brisket disease due to higher than 40 PAP becomes a problem in 3-5% of cattle. As previously mentioned, Tim Holt DVM, is the recognized expert in the "field".