Murray Greys

[Sean M]

I thought I'd better post some of my fathers cattle.

This bull doesn't actually have a name but he's produces good vealers apparently. He's by Glencairn Spartan from a Willalooka Lochial cow.

This is Onward Malta, by Murfield Volcano and Ondiong Melody (by Ondiong Janola)

Dovegrove Donald, by Lindsay Starbright out of Dovegrove Cleo (by Glencairn Spartan. He's 3yo.

Some cows and calves.

A "spare" we didn't ring. He's by Onward Malta I think. He's about 70 days old here.

I'll post some more later. Sorry about the quality of the photography, it's hard to get the right light and every time I do they move mid sho t.

 

[houstoncutter]

Whew boy.... bovine tanks

 

[Sean M]

Yeah Dad said the top bull looked like a wild boar, it's a smaller frame and has a big rump on it.

 

[UG]

Very impressive cattle Sean.

How is the demand for MG cattle down under? Are they still popular or have they lost market share to Angus, like most of the other breeds have here in the USA?

Though I have never owned any Murray Greys, they are on my "short list" of breeds that I hope to try in the future.

 

[sizmic]

Sold my first 1/2 MG 1/2 Black Angus yesterday. I was hoping to get more heifers, but after 5 sraws of semen I got 3 bulls and only one heifer! :bang:

Sizmic

 

[Sean M]

Very impressive cattle Sean.

How is the demand for MG cattle down under? Are they still popular or have they lost market share to Angus, like most of the other breeds have here in the USA?

Though I have never owned any Murray Greys, they are on my "short list" of breeds that I hope to try in the future.

He always says "they only want black" and talked about getting an Angus bull to cover some of them. I think Angus do get better prices but the MGs sell well at the saleyards if they are in good condition. I keep telling him to get a Euro bull because I think the feedlots would prefer a British Euro cross to a straight Angus, and he's talking about getting a Limousin bull. But there is definitely a perception here that Angus will and do sell for more. The MGs are fairly popular in this area but the breed seems to be going towards taller, larger later maturing animals.

 

[waihou]

When does your herd calve Sean?

Here are a few more down under MG's, but from across the Tasman Sea, in NZ.
This years August born calves are coming along quite well.

no he doesn't really have 6 legs!

These calves by Torrisdale Cheyenne, a son of Gnoleda Zac (Au.)

Most cows this year are out with the new boy, just turned 25 months old, by Woodbourn Warrior (Au.)B48.

A pretty reasonable eleven year old pure bred black MG,

This was her bull calf from last year at 10 months old.

 

[Sean M]

They calved from mid september/october Waihou and we had a really late one a few days ago. I like your cattle they seem quite moderate which doesn't seem to be where the breedd is going here, they want taller cattle for some reason. 331 looks fantastic and is probably put together a bit better but the one third down really has the bull look to me. I've heard of Woodbourn, I'm not sure but I think we have some of their AI in the herd somewhere. The calves look good out of him.
I assume your still drunk after the WC?

 

[waihou]

Actually we were out of the country for the WC final, bad planning, but we did have the scores texted to us, even if it was the middle of the night in USA where we were-and no not drunk-just a celebratory glass of champagne, at 4am!

...this is a better photo of 332, the third one down in the previous lot.

The Woodbourn stud is in Tasmania.
We have yet to see what calves we get from him.
This crop are by the bull Cheyenne from Gnoleda Zac pictured below.

Yes we are aiming for the moderate, grass fed, carcase type, but must admit they are a lot bigger than when we started with Murray Greys back in 1979!

 

[Sean M]

YeaH they have become larger. I don't think it's neccessarily a bad thing but they seem to be getting taller as well. Gnoleda Zac looks fantastic, is he an NZ bull? And I've never seen a black MG before! You could just call her an angus and noone would know
And Sizmic the chocolate coloured bull up the top has produced about 80% heifers for the last three years. It's just one of those things unfortunately.

 

[waihou]

Just a point, the last bull pictured is a son of Gnoleda Zac! Zac is an Australian bull, and our boy is NZ born and bred by AI!
Even Australia has black MG's, but they are registered seperately from the silver and grey ones. Over here they are accepted into the same registry.

Well Sizmic the tank should have left a good legacy in the herd to breed on with all those females to choose from!

 

[Sean M]

Well he's a good looking bull . Do you sell as grass fed over the hooks Waihou? I was wondering what kind of marbling scores you get for the carcasses. I've looked through the EPD numbers in the MGAA catalogue and a lot of the bulls have negative IMF scores.

 

[waihou]

Yes we do sell a few over the hooks, but usualy cull heifers or older cows. Our bulls are sold as either yearlings or 2 year olds for use on dairy heifers, or the occasionally stud.

All our stock is grass fed the whole time, either as growing grass or hay or baleage in winter.

We have recently started ultra sound scanning all 2 year olds for marbling and eye muscle size. Before that many of the herd was dna tested for marbling, tenderness and feed efficiency, but since the more recent 56 gene test has come in we haven't done more.

One of our heifers last year was 8.1% for IMF (intermuscular fat) actually 4 ouf 8 were over 8%, but she also had an eye muscle area of 89 sq cm which is evidently pretty good for her age. Two of the other heifers had less IMF, but 90sq cm eye muscle. Her half brother (same dam ) was 90 sq cm eye muscle, but minimal fat-he had been out working for 3 months-he was out on lease and just mating his third herd of the season!

This year the half brother is the grey bull calf in the photos-333, so being from the same dam we are hoping he is just as good.
We tend to concentrate on low bith weight and improving 200 day weight targeting our yearling bull market-but still have some heavier growthy individuals to keep the size from getting too small ;-)

It's a long slow task improving several traits at once. We use EBV's here, as in Australia. They can be found on the NZ
web site at www.murraygreys.co.nz

 

[Sean M]

That sounds very good for IMF Waihou. I'd like dad to sell some over the hooks as grass fed, the shorter ones that won't be as appealing to feedlot buyers at the saleyards but he sells them all at the saleyards and doesn't want to change that. One of the strengths of MGs is their ability to fatten up on grass and we have a paddock of chicory and red clover for baling so it makes sense to me, especially with the season we're having.
We don't even have scales so I couldn't really tell you our 200 day weights! Hopefully he can buy some even if it's just for our own purposes, he sells young bulls through the saleyards sometimes but I don't think he gets a premium for them because we don't have any data and they probably go for meat prices.
333 looks to have a lot of length. Hopefully he'll do well for you.