The begining of the end...

[jasonleonard]

I am darn sure glad that Iso pointed out the birthdate thing! I was really scratching my bald head as I read down through this thread.
Beautiful steers though FS! Thanks for posting!

 

[gizmom]

Thanks for sharing this is a wonderful program for kids and adults alike. I wish our county had one like it!

Gizmom

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Fire sweep, I wish I could find a couple heifers that look like your steer. Your steer is the prototype of the look I like. I hope Rocking P has some that look like that. I am suppose to go look when Keith can host me. I need some more mouths turning grass into beef. I could put 20 more head on my 80 acres and they would get lost in the grass and clover. Lady, I need a higher stocking rate, bad.

I wish I had your problem ;-) If you are ever in MO, let me know and I would be more than happy to show you around our place (small as it is!). I could talk cows and pedigrees all day long with someone who is willing to listen! That steer was supposed to be a heifer, he would have made a pretty good one! Built Right females are worth their weight in gold!
We hope to get some white faced heifers this fall, and even more in the spring next year! We put in enough embryos and bred to enough white faced sires! The girls go gaga over white faced heifers!!!
And for the others, I know grass is not "free:, but it sure feels nice not having to "write a check" every month for hay and less grain. That is all I was saying, he has less input out of my actual pocket to get him to the finished point. After Monday, I will update everyone on the results with pictures. We are excited here, with the diversity of steers that were brought to the finished point.

 

[herefordlover]

we have been feeding some amino gain and with out a scale hard to tell daily gain. we are seeing that there filling out and fleshing well on about half the feed that we would normaly feed to do the same really wish we had a scale to tell.

 

[machslammer]

Lol I was wondering how you got a 1500 lb calf in born in feb and march... Thought I had missed the boat on how to get calves there! Like all of them. Looks like the kids were having fun. Congrats.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

So the results are in! Here are some photos taken last night by me Can you guess now which carcass belonged to which steer? I have numbered each one from one to six, the way they were hanging on the rail in the locker. Carcass 1 was on the far left, and carcass 6 was on the far right (alone, because of lack of walking space between 5 and 6). Remember, we had a black/white faced Hereford looking steer, a solid black 3/4 blood angus, a red angus, a 3/4 blood simmental (with white on face), a purebred angus calf, and a Charolais cross steer. All pictured at the beginning of the thread. The gentleman that graded the carcasses was OUTSTANDING at explaining how grading is done and how he graded these steers, and is taking back one steak from each steer to check for the shear force and a bunch of other data on the meat. We learned so much in such a short time, it was outstanding! We had a large group of people there, that did not even have a steer in the contest. It was great!
Here goes. Some of the carcasses were so long, they were cut, so getting shots of those Rib Eyes was difficult! :
Carcass 1: CW 837, Choice -, YG 2.85 (premium), 12.8 " rib eye, 3/10 backfat, and 2.5% KPH. Degree of marbling was SM10. The grader said this steer was as close to average as what most packers see on the rail and very desirable.

Carcass 2: CW 760 lbs, Select -(deduction), YG 1.46 (premium), 16.2" REA, 3/10 backfat, 2% KPH, and SL30

Carcass 3: CW 844 lbs, Choice (premium), YG 4.87 (deduction), 11" REA, .75 backfat, 3% KPH, and MT70

Carcass 3 is the long carcass (not cut in half) hanging in the middle:

Carcass 4: CW 990 lbs, Choice (premium), YG 4.16 (deduction), 16.4 REA, 1" backfat, 3%KPH, and MOD 10
his carcass is the one on the right hanging on halves

Carcass 5: CW 788 lbs, Choice + (premium), YG 4.96 (deduction), 11 " REA, .95 backfat, 3% KPH, and Mod 80

Carcass 6: CW 722 lbs, Select + (deduction), YG 2.71 (premium), 12.7" REA, .45 Backfat, 2% KPH, and SL 80

And a group shot of the carcass hanging side by side.

And our guest speaker educating us on counting fat specks in the rib eye area!

 

[dgree]

And I'm having Burgers for dinner. Medium rare please. They look awesome and like it was said before very educational. So which one was yours?

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I know which ones I want on my plate!

 

[3waycross]

Was #5 the Red Angus?

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Was #5 the Red Angus?

ding ding ding!!! Yep :tiphat:
The grader said that the coarse marbling in the rib eye area prevented him from going prime. Had the marbling been better distributed (smaller specks instead of large globs) he would have easily graded prime. Learned something there!

 

[BRYANT]

Very cool!! Interesting fact - 98% of all beef that grades prime is Dairy.
I don't where you got this idea from but it ain't true. I worked in a packing plant and have killed and seen thousands of head that were graded. Be more like 98% will not even grade,maybe not quite that bad ,but ever how hard you try dairy cattle are not prime beef cattle

 

[3waycross]

Very cool!! Interesting fact - 98% of all beef that grades prime is Dairy.
I don't where you got this idea from but it ain't true. I worked in a packing plant and have killed and seen thousands of head that were graded. Be more like 98% will not even grade,maybe not quite that bad ,but ever how hard you try dairy cattle are not prime beef cattle

FWIW a significant number of Dairy steers grade choice. I have been selling them in boxes for 25 years and it's good stuff!

 

[pdfangus]

I would say that is an excellent and worthwhile kids steer project.....
kudos to those who organized and supported it.....
now if you can keep it from getting competitive and keep it educational and worthwhile....
a few years of putting steers thru a project like this and you folks will turn out some young people who have a grasp upon reality in the cattle business and the ability to make decisions based upon fact and knowledge rather than fads and hype.
sounds just excellent.....

 

[chippie]

I agree with pdfangus. It's a shame that the majority of kids who raise steer projects for fairs do not get to see what the end product is.
The goal is raising a top quality carcass, not a pretty steer.
Thank you for sharing this with us. You all have a great program.

 

[BRYANT]

FWIW a significant number of Dairy steers grade choice. I have been selling them in boxes for 25 years and it's good stuff!

You must be buying them from a lot better feed lot than we were .I must say also we did not kill as many dairy steers as some plamts may and that was the reason why, grade issues, they just not beef cattle just like beef cows are not dairy cattle nothing can be done to make them as good , they are what they are.

back to the steers in the pictures I think this was a very good project for the young people to do shows them what goes into raising a good beef ,some of these looked nice . alot better than most show cattle we use to kill after all the fairs were over.

 

[thommoos]

carcass # 1 3/4 sim by 1/4 ang
carcass #2 pb angus
carcass #3 3/4 an by 1/4 simm
carcass #4 3/4 simm by 1/4 herf
carcass #5 pb red ang
carcass #6 Char cross
How is my guessing?
Really cool contest greatly apprecoiate the info

 

[3waycross]

FWIW a significant number of Dairy steers grade choice. I have been selling them in boxes for 25 years and it's good stuff!

You must be buying them from a lot better feed lot than we were .I must say also we did not kill as many dairy steers as some plamts may and that was the reason why, grade issues, they just not beef cattle just like beef cows are not dairy cattle nothing can be done to make them as good , they are what they are.

back to the steers in the pictures I think this was a very good project for the young people to do shows them what goes into raising a good beef ,some of these looked nice . alot better than most show cattle we use to kill after all the fairs were over.

I work for Sysco Foods. I believe that they buy all their Holstein beef from a feedlot in Neb!

 

[ABrauny]

Holsteins, Jerseys, and Brown Swiss are all prediposed to have high marbling.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

carcass # 1 3/4 sim by 1/4 ang
carcass #2 pb angus
carcass #3 3/4 an by 1/4 simm
carcass #4 3/4 simm by 1/4 herf
carcass #5 pb red ang
carcass #6 Char cross
How is my guessing?
Really cool contest greatly apprecoiate the info

Pretty close. You got carcass one right, that is ours (and we can not wait to taste!!)
Someone already nailed the RA as number 5...

 

[mwj]

FWIW a significant number of Dairy steers grade choice. I have been selling them in boxes for 25 years and it's good stuff!

You must be buying them from a lot better feed lot than we were .I must say also we did not kill as many dairy steers as some plamts may and that was the reason why, grade issues, they just not beef cattle just like beef cows are not dairy cattle nothing can be done to make them as good , they are what they are.

back to the steers in the pictures I think this was a very good project for the young people to do shows them what goes into raising a good beef ,some of these looked nice . alot better than most show cattle we use to kill after all the fairs were over.

Just checked results on our local sale yesterday. Choice beef bred slaughter steers topped at $1.24. Choice Holstein steers topped at $1.18 :cowboy: These are good steers that have had a lot of grain most of there life. You would be impressed with them if you could see them in person. Threeway is right about the eating quality on the plate. Most people would be very surprised at where some of the black and white cattle are served!