Ultrasound

[greenwillowherefords]

My new Hereford World had an article on ultrasound that I found interesting. An operation named Ellis Farms said that through the use of ultrasound and other carcass information, they had achieved an average of 17% Prime out of their straight Herefords, if I remember correctly. (I left the magazine at work today, and can't look it up right now. If anyone out there has it, please correct me if I'm wrong. Otherwise I'll do it tomorrow. But I think I remember this correctly.) Your thoughts, please.

 

[Frankie]

My new Hereford World had an article on ultrasound that I found interesting. An operation named Ellis Farms said that through the use of ultrasound and other carcass information, they had achieved an average of 17% Prime out of their straight Herefords, if I remember correctly. (I left the magazine at work today, and can't look it up right now. If anyone out there has it, please correct me if I'm wrong. Otherwise I'll do it tomorrow. But I think I remember this correctly.) Your thoughts, please.

Sounds good. I've seen articles about some Angus operations that have dramatically improved their carcass quality by using ultrasound and EPDs. The trick is not to ignore other important traits while improving carcass. IMO, a major advantage of a straight cow herd is consistency. It's hard to get a consistent calf out of a five-way cross cow herd. But then, there is heterosis.....

 

[greenwillowherefords]

My new Hereford World had an article on ultrasound that I found interesting. An operation named Ellis Farms said that through the use of ultrasound and other carcass information, they had achieved an average of 17% Prime out of their straight Herefords, if I remember correctly. (I left the magazine at work today, and can't look it up right now. If anyone out there has it, please correct me if I'm wrong. Otherwise I'll do it tomorrow. But I think I remember this correctly.) Your thoughts, please.

Sounds good. I've seen articles about some Angus operations that have dramatically improved their carcass quality by using ultrasound and EPDs. The trick is not to ignore other important traits while improving carcass. IMO, a major advantage of a straight cow herd is consistency. It's hard to get a consistent calf out of a five-way cross cow herd. But then, there is heterosis.....

Then there is the next level of consistency, line-breeding, which is something I don't intend to do, but I do like to put a line bred bull on my cows from time to time.

 

[joe]

can someone define the "line bred", "double bred", and "inbreeding" for me ?

 

[greenwillowherefords]

can someone define the "line bred", "double bred", and "inbreeding" for me ?

Inbreeding: Parent X Calf matings, sibling matings.

Line-bred: Consistent matings between closely related animals in cow families. Examples, the same bull and cow may appear a couple generations back on each side of the pedigree. This would also be double bred I believe. Otherwise most of the animals in the pedigree would be the equivelent of cousins, etc. Also the use of only one bloodline, as in Line One Herefords. I would say a typical linebred herd consists largely of half sisters, with one scenario of the herd bull being the calf of one of their sisters that has been sent on to the happy grazing grounds. This bull would be sired by a different sire than any of the cows he was servicing, but still part of the family tree. Or the bull's sire could be somewhat of an outcross to the rest.