What about a crash course for Murray Greys
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waihou
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They look pretty solid, especially the lighter one, when were they born?
backhoeboogie
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robert":1nbdwptx said:
That'd be downgrading. Not "bashing" jsut stating my opinion. In case you didn't notice, this is a MG thread.
townfarmer
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That's becoming a popular cross. On the link below there's a couple of pictures of murray grey/gelbvieh steers.
http://www.summitgelbvieh.com.au/latest_news.html
Andrew
waihou
Well-known member
Thanks for the link to that site, the Composite bulls page is interesting with the Grey Gelbviehs!
Thanks a lot Townfarmer. Those MG/GV composites are great looking cattle and would not hurt an animal that had the diluter gene. You cannot give them away here but everywhere else they seem to be acceptable. I know Hillsdown has a couple of dandies in her herd.
robert":va5a6i05 said:
Yes, the Murray Grey Int'l Assoc (MGIA: http://www.murraygrey.org) does accept "breeding up". Here's a half angus/half murray heifer
pictured at about 7 months old:
And here's a steer that is almost ready for the butcher--at around 20 or 22 months old:
And here's a 1/2 angus/1/2 murray cow with her 3/4 murray calf:
I'm supposing that the rules are about the same in MGIA as other breeds that allow "breeding up".
Only purebred bulls are allowed to be used in breeding up. When the 3/4ths murray cow has
a heifer calf out of a purebred MG bull, that heifer is registered as purebred. But bulls have
to be out of a 7/8ths cow bred to a purebred MG bull. Breeds other than angus can be used
on the female side - but the female foundation cow's breed must be designated on the
registration paper.
Here's 3 bulls that we sold to a farm in Tennessee - they are pictured just short of 2 yrs old. I think
I posted these photos last year:
We did find some of the semen from the old bulls pictured by our New Zealand friend above. I recall that
we tested Candella Park Minute Man and Manaroo Gladiator with GeneStar - but they did not have perfect scores for
tenderness so we didn't use them. As a rule, many, many MG bloodlines are very tender. The Ulysses bull from
Canada was also one that scored poorly I believe. He was also much too tall for anyone wanting
to forage finish beef to direct market ---IMO.
Here's OK Boomer - shown at 5 1/2 yrs old....he's out of JOPA Elation Power:
And here's a photo of OK Ben with some of his cows this past summer:
The Tennessee farm that bought those 3 shown above might be intending to collect them. I could inquire and
let you know if you want.
waihou
Well-known member
Good to get some US input OK Jeanne! Your animals have plenty of muscle where it counts 
I know the old photos I posted were mostly of animals that wouldn't really suit todays market, but they were the only ones we could find to illustrate the original type. They were either very short and muscley, or tall and late maturing. WE had a CP Minuteman cow that was a looney-head always up looking for an escape route. We heard that was a trait of CP Minute man stock too!
The Genestar testing hoopla seems to have gone by the board recently. Now they have found more genes relating to it they appear to be less reliable indicators? Have you any thoughts on this?
Here in NZ I believe the trend is to a much more moderate animal that fattens well on grass alone. Well at least here it is because there is virtually no grain feeding for market, either for home consumption or export beef. Just one Angus feed lot producing beef for export to Japan.
Also good to hear that the grading up system is still possible over there, perhaps Sizmic's heifers are worth registering-do you have an inspection system for registering animals?
I know the old photos I posted were mostly of animals that wouldn't really suit todays market, but they were the only ones we could find to illustrate the original type. They were either very short and muscley, or tall and late maturing. WE had a CP Minuteman cow that was a looney-head always up looking for an escape route. We heard that was a trait of CP Minute man stock too!
The Genestar testing hoopla seems to have gone by the board recently. Now they have found more genes relating to it they appear to be less reliable indicators? Have you any thoughts on this?
Here in NZ I believe the trend is to a much more moderate animal that fattens well on grass alone. Well at least here it is because there is virtually no grain feeding for market, either for home consumption or export beef. Just one Angus feed lot producing beef for export to Japan.
Also good to hear that the grading up system is still possible over there, perhaps Sizmic's heifers are worth registering-do you have an inspection system for registering animals?
Australian
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Great to see some very good pictures of Murray Greys posted. They have had a mixed response with lots of breeders here in Australia. Yes they are very good vealer cattle, but have been overshadowed these days in the showring to what they were as far as steer exhibiton goes. They used to win all the time but now are overtaken by Limousin or a number of crosses with MG. Some steer showers use the MG to soften the often hard continental breeds. I have noted that MGs need softer country to do really well, they don't perform that well on poor coastal country but when crossed with Brahman they do ok. Here we don't see in the showring these days the bigger volume MG cattle that could stand well up in the line up of interbreed classes. It was quite common to see MGs figure up near the top in these classes, now they are overshadowed by predominately Charolais, sometimes Gelbvieh and occasionally Angus. But then maybe the custom fitters have more of these other breeds, where as before maybe a few of these fitters had MGs in their charge. never the less whether you like them or not they have their place and have done a lot for the beef industry here in temperate Australia.
Santas and Duhram Reds
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I have always liked MGs. Never heard the Steel Pig name before but I think it fits them well. Never really knew there was much question about their origin or a mystery ingredient. I always assumed that it was just 1/2 shorty and 1/2 angus and some linebreeding to accomplish the color. Guess its not that uncommon, some people say they is a mystery ingredient and Gerts too. Has the breeding program always existed or is it a relativley new thing? Does the program have a name, like Star5s or Shorthornplus?
Keren
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Colin, the breed has somewhat lost its way, I think due to a push towards larger framed animals. People were trying to get the height but sacrificed the capacity, bone, muscle and easy doing ability that characterises the breed. A true murray grey should be moderate framed, well boned, softly muscled, easy doing ... and I'm sad to say I think a lot of breeders in the showring now have lost sight of that. But all that being said, there are still breeders of the really good type MGs around, you can still find those really good easy doing cattle. For goodness sake I had trouble keeping our heifers from getting over fat ... on dust.
SDR ... the original murray greys were a bunch of accidental calves ... this one particular white shorthorn cow, when bred to an angus bull, threw a grey calf (unlike the rest of the herd). Curiosity caused them to breed her to a number of different angus bulls and she always had a grey calf. Mrs Sutherland liked the grey calves and termed them 'mulberry' calves. Mr Sutherland didn't particularly like them, but she continued to breed them and develop a little herd. He went as far as sending them all in to market one time, and she bought them, and brought them all back home. The breed was developed from this little nucleus herd, with bulls then being used over angus herds etc. to expand herd numbers and widen the genetic pool as they bred up to murray greys.
If you search my posts I have quite a few pictures posted on these boards ... don't have time to throw any up now as I'm off to work.
SDR ... the original murray greys were a bunch of accidental calves ... this one particular white shorthorn cow, when bred to an angus bull, threw a grey calf (unlike the rest of the herd). Curiosity caused them to breed her to a number of different angus bulls and she always had a grey calf. Mrs Sutherland liked the grey calves and termed them 'mulberry' calves. Mr Sutherland didn't particularly like them, but she continued to breed them and develop a little herd. He went as far as sending them all in to market one time, and she bought them, and brought them all back home. The breed was developed from this little nucleus herd, with bulls then being used over angus herds etc. to expand herd numbers and widen the genetic pool as they bred up to murray greys.
If you search my posts I have quite a few pictures posted on these boards ... don't have time to throw any up now as I'm off to work.
Sean M
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Has anyone had anything to do with MG Simmental crosses? Dad is going to get a Simmental bull to put over some cows and I was wondering how they go.
agmantoo
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These folks have Murray Grey stock in California. http://www.eaglesrun.com/cattle.html
I have a bull from there.
http://www.eaglesrun.com/sale/salebulls ... /209P.html
I have a bull from there.
http://www.eaglesrun.com/sale/salebulls ... /209P.html
townfarmer
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Keren":txtuhesu said:
Keren do you think the formation of the square meaters breed has pushed the Murray grey breed towards being a larger framed later maturing feedlot orientated animal. To me the square meater is what the Murray Grey used to be. Not in their size but in being an easy doing animal. Not an informed opinion. Just a thought.
Andrew
Keren
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Interesting thought Andrew, but I think its the opposite. The MG getting larger and later maturing/harder keeping is I think one of the driving forces behind the popularity the SM breed has gained. Yes you are right in some ways the SM is what the MG should be, easy keeping, perform well on grass, well muscled and easy to finish etc etc. SMs are unfortunately following the same trend, getting a bit too big and later maturing so they are starting to lose their breed chatacter, and essentially they are turning more into small MGs. It used to be that you could have a SM bull with a MG bull and be able to tell the difference not only in frame size but more importantly by maturity pattern. Unfortunately that's no longer the case, and I was sad to watch the small breeds interbreed judging at one royal show, and hear a breeder ask why there was a MG in the small breeds interbreed.
townfarmer
Well-known member
Keren":3gexaxz6 said:
It's a shame. I find it fascinating watching the evolution of the Murray Grey and Charolais breeds in Australia over the past decade. You here rumours of both breeds infusing genetics from the other. Its almost like they're both aiming for middle ground between the two breeds. They both seem to be breeding away from their strengths.
Andrew
