Ok so I am new to cattle ranching so I need some advice on selection and culling of cattle. I plan on having a high cull rate in the beginning so that only my best cattle reproduce and will be the foundation from which I build the longevity of my herd. I am not a huge operation and starting small so forking out huge amounts of money on extras is not an option. I am needing to know what method a small rancher can use to select cattle for marbling? I am using AI for my sires with known high marbling so I have that covered....but if I want to have my heifer or her offspring tested so I can see if I should keep them or cull them...how do I go about that? Genomic testing or ultrasound or both? Or something else? Pricing estimates would be of help to. Thanks for helping a lady out! Much appreciated!
Marbling Questions
- Thread starter lms0229
- Start date
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wbvs58
Well-known member
With a small herd I would just go with the genomics to enhance and improve the accuracy of the EPD's. I have found the scanning in a small sample to be not that helpfull.
Always happy to help a lady out.
Ken
Always happy to help a lady out.
Ken
Son of Butch
Well-known member
Single trait selection creates problems.
Select your base cow herd for fertility, calf raising ability, sound functional type and then consider marbling.
Follow the culling rule that she gives you a calf to market or she goes to market to replace the calf.
Making excuses and keeping a poor producing cow just because she's high marbling is a bad idea.
As you progress and identify your best cows, embryo flush them to the best high marbling sires with sound type and
maternal pedigrees you can find and keep your replacement females from them.
Cattle breeding unlike hogs or rabbits is a very slow process, start with a sound foundation and Best of Luck to Ya.
Select your base cow herd for fertility, calf raising ability, sound functional type and then consider marbling.
Follow the culling rule that she gives you a calf to market or she goes to market to replace the calf.
Making excuses and keeping a poor producing cow just because she's high marbling is a bad idea.
As you progress and identify your best cows, embryo flush them to the best high marbling sires with sound type and
maternal pedigrees you can find and keep your replacement females from them.
Cattle breeding unlike hogs or rabbits is a very slow process, start with a sound foundation and Best of Luck to Ya.
Thank you both for your responses. Genomics it is! Just to clarify, I am not just looking at high marbling but it would take pages upon pages of writing to give you the full scope of my selection process. Something as simple as body conformation of a bull is of huge importance to me. I need to make sure he has no joint issues because he is bow legged and can't support the weight I put on him and he passes that poor conformation onto his offspring and I can't finish our my steers properly because their bodies can't support the additional food intake that would increase their carcass weight and marbling ability. Didn't mean for my question to come off like I am selecting only for marbling. I am probably focusing more on marbling than most or ranking it higher in my selection process but by no means am I selecting for just that. Btw... who are y'all using for your genomics testing?
Thank you!
Thank you!
