What about a crash course for Murray Greys

[Keren]

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

yup. sad but true.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Well, I received a little prod from Doc Harris to take a peek at this post... I don't have the years behind me that OK Jeanne has but since 2007 my "herd" of Murray Greys has grown quite a bit (I'll post some pictures of MY herd if I can figure it out.. its been quite some time since I've posted pictures). I am saddened by the state of the separation between associations and see no resolve to it. I see an overall decline in the Murray Grey population...and they have all but disappeared from Canada. I am deeply saddened by this as I love the breed. We have a lot of offer but the promotion is not there... I have been preaching that we need to have a presence at every major cattle event but we can't seem to make that happen (neither AMGA OR MGIA)... I have wanted the two associations to work together to save our breed and that hasn't happened either. If anyone is interested, the American Murray Grey Association will be having its national show at the World Beef Expo in September 2011...I will be there so feel free to stop and say "hello"... that said,

I am not a breeder of show cattle. I breed for production. I have several Pharaoh and Unity daughters bought from Eagles Run and the herdsire I am keeping is a Pharaoh grandson. I too have owned Wee-Gun Tjandamara "TJ" genetics but those cows were large framed & not easy-keepers and I didn't keep any daughters. I just wasn't happy with them. He was a well-liked bull but because of my goal, I shoot for using genetics from current top Australian performers. I admire the Eagles Run breeding program... its the closest to my own goals except that I also do testing for Marbling/Tenderness. The bullcalf I am keeping scored within the top 10% for Feed Efficiency, Tenderness AND Marbling so he should improve on that current weakness in my herd.

You will love the Murray Greys... their temperment is outstanding and they offer a good product but the breeders in the United States have not done enough to see that they sit at their rightful place in the industry and thats very sad.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Additionally,
Since you live in Kentucky, you might be interested to know that the American Murray Grey Association is having their Winter Meeting on January 15, 2011 in Louisville. They will be doing a lot of committee work and the meetings are open to everyone. It would be a great place for you to meet other breeders from all over the United State and get that "crash course" you're looking for. If its something you can do then just call the AMGA office for further details.

 

[sizmic]

Thanks for the info, I'm starting out slowly.

Sizmic

 

[cowboy43]

What would be the result with murray grey on hereford cows ??

 

[townfarmer]

What would be the result with murray grey on hereford cows ??

Grey baldies. I'll try and post some pics of some steers we've had a bit later.

Andrew

 

[Suzie Q]

I would say a Greyford.

 

[townfarmer]

Here we go. Steers from hereford cows by a Murray grey bull:

Andrew

 

[Smokey Bull]

Those are really NICE looking animals!

I will be getting a couple of the MG's and maybe a couple of British White's to put with my Beef Master bull. As you can see in the pics, they really pack on the meat. Their smaller frame (I have been told) helps with carcass yield. Plus, according to their breeders/producers get to the 1000-1200lb range in 12-15 months...instead of the 20-24 of the larger frames. I'm talking pastured, grass fed here. The few I have been around have been exceptionally gentle and easy to work with...which is supposed to be a breed trait.

Also, the Aussies have a breed, that has a very small presence in the U.S., called a Square Meater that is small framed but a very fast maturing beef animal.....I am trying ti learn more about these as well.....If any of you have info I would like to learn more.

Sizmic, if you want to PM me, I would be happy to put you in touch with a friend who has been raising MG for about a year or so and has been happy with the results...

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

Keren would be a good one to talk to about Square Meaters, Smokey bull. If you PM her (Keren) she'll be glad to give you some info.

 

[Smokey Bull]

Thanks...I will do that.

 

[OK Jeanne]

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?

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?

Hello to my New Zealand friend!
I do not know of any USA breed association that actually has "field agents" to inspect cattle before they
can be registered. There may be some that I'm unaware of however --- I think the Hereford people
had that system years and years ago.

We did lots and lots of GeneStar testing in the past, beginning with the very first one, calpastatin
which was patented by the Australian company. Then came calpain--then more calpain, etc etc etc.
We kept up with the testing for a few years. But when you know the scores of both the sire and dam,
and they are both the same, I saw no need to test a calf from that pairing. Typically we raise our own
bulls, so know the scores by inheirtance. If we used some new semen, we would test it first.

I really liked the looks of Minute Man and also Maneroo Gladiator. Somewhat short and very muscley
is exactly what we would like to have for the beef business.

Thanks so much for the magazine! May I have your permission to use your photo of the lovely pair
on the front of our next newsletter???!!

 

[djinwa]

Smokey Bull, I looked into Square Meaters a few years ago as I wanted smaller framed animals. I contacted people at the site below. The folks in Colorado had a bull called Winchester, that I believe came from Australia. Turned out he is a frame 4, which didn't seem that much different from regular Murray Grey.

I still have Winchester's photo in photobucket. I recall he was a yearling at photo time, and seemed a bit leggy - not typical for MG or square meater. Also not as "soft" looking as MG - almost looks more like continental breed.

http://www.squaremeaters.com.au/unitedstates.htm

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

Thought I'd post some of my friends Squaremeaters. The stud has only been going for a few years but they're nice animals. The main girl handler is about 5'6" for comparison. Not sure on their frame sizes.

This steer actually won 2nd on the hook for his class. Excellent achievement. To get that they need about a score of 95+/100

Here's their facebook profile if anyone is on there and interested
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pag ... 7505868830

 

[Smokey Bull]

Smokey Bull, I looked into Square Meaters a few years ago as I wanted smaller framed animals. I contacted people at the site below. The folks in Colorado had a bull called Winchester, that I believe came from Australia. Turned out he is a frame 4, which didn't seem that much different from regular Murray Grey.

I still have Winchester's photo in photobucket. I recall he was a yearling at photo time, and seemed a bit leggy - not typical for MG or square meater. Also not as "soft" looking as MG - almost looks more like continental breed.

http://www.squaremeaters.com.au/unitedstates.htm

Thanks for the info. I had talked to the breeder that has Winchester...nice folks, real enthusiastic, but I am not into AI (yet) and that is basically where the breed is in the U.S. Not a lot of standing critters to purchase as yet. And I agree with your assessment of the bull...I am sure they will get the breed tightened up as time goes.

 

[Smokey Bull]

Thought I'd post some of my friends Squaremeaters. The stud has only been going for a few years but they're nice animals.


Whohee! From those pics sure looks like some nice beef animals. Looks to me like they are very efficient producers. Do you know what the average yield of carcass wt. is? Looks to be very little waste on them.

Thanks for the pics!!

By the way...Y'all (Aussies & NZ) are teaching me a lot about low maintenance cattle production. I trade emails with 2 ranchers, one in N.Z. and 1 in Aus. from time to time AND I am fascinated as well as learning stuff all the time. In fact, I am using an irrigation system developed "over there" that is inexpensive and very efficient...not to mention low labor intensive.

Thanks again.

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

Thought I'd post some of my friends Squaremeaters. The stud has only been going for a few years but they're nice animals.


Whohee! From those pics sure looks like some nice beef animals. Looks to me like they are very efficient producers. Do you know what the average yield of carcass wt. is? Looks to be very little waste on them.

Thanks for the pics!!

By the way...Y'all (Aussies & NZ) are teaching me a lot about low maintenance cattle production. I trade emails with 2 ranchers, one in N.Z. and 1 in Aus. from time to time AND I am fascinated as well as learning stuff all the time. In fact, I am using an irrigation system developed "over there" that is inexpensive and very efficient...not to mention low labor intensive.

Thanks again.

Not of the top of my head but I'll ask them when I see them. IIRC that steer at least had a very good yield %

 

[Keren]

I've looked at a lot of square meaters, and I still say that cow is one of the best in the country. if all SM breeders were using a cow base like that, the breed would be headed in the right direction. that is what a sm is supposed to look like!

 

[waihou]

In the hopes not to be shot down in flames by the professional show groomers on here, this is the Breed group which won their class at the local summer show held last weekend! There were 5 beef breeds represented and the class was group of at least 3 animals, of which at least one must be a male (multiple cows with calves would increase the numbers!)

These are our Murray Grey entries-note straight off summer grass, no hard feed or fancy supplements-straight off the paddock.
The yearling bull had come out of the cows (12) 4 days previously. He is an August 09 calf, almost 18 months old. The yearling heifer is in calf and 18 months old, the calf bringing up the rear was born 2nd August 2010 and is still on her mother-whom we left at home.

The age class for our southern hemishere born animals runs from 1st June.

I haven't measured these ones but I'm picking they will mature at about between frame score 5 and 6. The bull weighed 678kg (about 1500lbs?) straight off the truck from the cows last Tuesday) The heifer weighed 476kgs(@1050lbs?) on 9th Jan and the calf weighed 228kgs (500lbs) on 1st Jan and was gaining 3lbs a day on just grass and mothers milk. She was 32 kgs born-which I think is about 70lbs

 

[Backbone Ranch]

I bought a book from Australia about Murray Greys and it showed photos of the old world murray greys from the 1960's and 1970's. The goal for the Square Meater Society is to produce Murray Greys similar in phenotype to the original murray greys.
Below is a bull from 1966.

The last two photos are of cow calf pairs. One is from the book and the other is from the square meaters website.

I want my family's herd to eventually look like the animals shown above.