Implants

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I will not knowlingly eat beef where implants/hormones were used. My brother will not use them on his herd, I will not use them on anything I raise, including my geese. Eaglewerks

> I am considering using implants
> for the first time. Do you find
> the beneficial? Will if affect my
> ability to sell them? Any other
> comments are welcome.

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You know, that's something that just doesn't make any sense to me at all! Why castrate an animal to eliminate his natural hormones, then implant him with those same hormones?!?!? Nobody has ever managed to explain that line of thinking to me in a way that I could understand!

Since we butcher our own beef, I let the little bulls stay intact until they are about 7 months old, then castrate them. Let their own natural hormones do their job.

Ann B

> I will not knowlingly eat beef
> where implants/hormones were used.
> My brother will not use them on
> his herd, I will not use them on
> anything I raise, including my
> geese. Eaglewerks
 
We casterate them because bulls are more agressive than steers. In a feedlot situation you see bulls fighting or mounting each other. That's stressful and hurts their ability to gain efficiently.

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We don't use them. But implants will increase weight gain and growth. Agressive implanting affects meat quality. And implanted heifers will generally be slower to cycle. If you are selling your own beef it would probably be a good selling point to offer "implant free" beef. But if you're selling at the sale barn, it won't hurt you that they're not implanted. In fact, the buyers might like that because they can implant them and get the extra pounds.

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When I had Simmentals, we'd wean the calf and slaughter him the same day, no castration needed. Our buyers wanted implant free meat and would pay a premium. We were getting 200-225 lb sides in most cases (hanging weight) but on occasion a little more, others a little less. The implants are generally a mixture of hormones that are not a replication of the natural ones, more a remix of the natural. I didn't see the point of removing the natural and then replace it with synthetic when selling what was technically red veal. And yes, before you ask, our meat was lean but very tender.
 
Here is something interesting concerning hormones. I don't know where it was originally from, so I cannot verify anything stated, but here it is:

Beef Hormones in Perspective

The hormone levels in beef produced using growth promotants are well within the range of natural levels of the hormones. Beef from a bull (which is not castrated and to which hormones have not been administered) contains testosterone levels over ten times higher than the amount in beef from a steer (which is castrated) that has received hormones for growth promotion.

Hormone levels (estradiol equivalent) in beef are far less than those found in eggs. A person would need to eat over 6 kg's of beef from animals treated with these hormones in order to equal the amount of those hormones in one egg. For example, a hen's eqq (about 50 grams) contains aboutn 45 times as many estradiol equivalents as 250 grams of steer meat raised with this natural hormone.

A one pint glass of milk from an untreated cow contains about 9 times as much estradial as a 250 gram portion of meat from a steer raised using hormones.

Wheat germ and soybean oil contain phytoestrogens at several thousand times higher hormone equivalent concentrations than a serving of beef from a steer raised with growth promotants.

The amounts of estradial, progesterone and testosterone in animals raised using hormones as growth promotants are extremely low compared with their production in humans. Even a young boy would need to eat more than 7000 grams (about 16 pounds) of beef raised using estradial daily in order to produce a one percent increase in his production of this hormone. A 500-gram portion of beef raised using estradial contains approximately 15,000 times less of this hormone than the amount produced daily by the average man, and about nine million times less than the amount produced by a pregnant women.

Also, one bottle of beer has more estrogen than a whole beef implanted with an estrogen based hormone.
 
> You know, that's something that
> just doesn't make any sense to me
> at all! Why castrate an animal to
> eliminate his natural hormones,
> then implant him with those same
> hormones?!?!? Nobody has ever
> managed to explain that line of
> thinking to me in a way that I
> could understand!

> Since we butcher our own beef, I
> let the little bulls stay intact
> until they are about 7 months old,
> then castrate them. Let their own
> natural hormones do their job.

> Ann B Very Simple...Stress. We have been castrate our calves on day two. We have been doing this now for over ten years Were you really see the benefits is after weaning. Along with creep feeding they never get stressed and stop growing. No shrinkage or sickness. Studies have shown that Implanting Heifers once in an early age can increase Bone Density. Yes continued Implanting Heifers can slow cycling however Impanting once will not hurt breeding. Not to mention increase weaning weights. 10 years of results can't lie.

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The other reason is also very simple. Management!!! If you go to a sale barn with intact males they are likely to sell at a discounted price versus castrated males. Also early castration will increase chance of maintaining a higher quality grade at finishing. Implant regimens are designed to maintain animal growth and allow the animal to reach greater quality growth. Versus leaving them intact.

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> I am considering using implants
> for the first time. Do you find
> the beneficial? Will if affect my
> ability to sell them? Any other
> comments are welcome. If I were you I would visit with the Fort Dodge rep in your area. They should be able to show you the data and answer any questions you have. I would guess to say that you will be surprised how much money you are leaving on the table by not implanting.

[email protected]
 
Frankie":1qlkzjio said:
We casterate them because bulls are more agressive than steers. In a feedlot situation you see bulls fighting or mounting each other. That's stressful and hurts their ability to gain efficiently.

[email protected]
You probably need a little time in front of a book. Implants are estrogen.
 
You could probably do more research. Not all implants are estrogen, some are steroids others testosterone.

dun


guest":1m44a3z0 said:
Frankie":1m44a3z0 said:
We casterate them because bulls are more agressive than steers. In a feedlot situation you see bulls fighting or mounting each other. That's stressful and hurts their ability to gain efficiently.

[email protected]
You probably need a little time in front of a book. Implants are estrogen.
 
Eaglewerks":37vzobvo said:
I will not knowlingly eat beef where implants/hormones were used. My brother will not use them on his herd, I will not use them on anything I raise, including my geese. Eaglewerks

> I am considering using implants
> for the first time. Do you find
> the beneficial? Will if affect my
> ability to sell them? Any other
> comments are welcome.

[email protected]

That's ok because your a moron.
 

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