rkaiser
Well-known member
Searching for Perfect Angus Genetics
I was reading a couple of articles in a major beef publication this week about Angus cattle and was prompted to write a little piece myself. The last twenty or more years have seen a major shift in purebred genetics toward this breed which deserves praise and congratulations for taking the lead into the new realities of the cattle business in this country.
The articles I mention are somewhat polar in their views of Angus cattle however and reflect the variance in the breed that we all see at shows and sales around the country. One fellow speaks of a business approach to purebred sales using technology and economic strategy. He goes on to describe his choice of cattle to include characteristics like loose made - big ribbed - big boned - and lanky among others. A number of these terms could be perceived to be admirable to a British cattle breeder but could also be seen as following traits that we already have lots of in the Continental breeds in this country.
The other fellow focuses on hardiness and the low cost production side of our industry. He goes on to describe the size and efficiency of his cattle and goes so far as to say that his cattle handle a 30 per cent drop in body weight over the winter. He is talking about 350 pounds off a 1250 pound cow over the winter months. Now if this fellow is able to keep his conception rates at or near industry averages with this kind of management he deserves some credit but my goodness - what does this say for the genetic selection in his herd. Does he simply not put feed out for these animals? To me this sounds like a cow that cannot make it on a low quality ration if he is offering any volume of feed at all. The cows that would lose that kind of weight in my herd would be culled to make room for those who maintain on our low quality winter rations and carry that maintenance characteristic to their offspring.
I would say that this second fellow is more aware of where the industry is heading right now and is somewhat on the right track, but is a fair way off from calling his cattle the perfect Angus. In fact a fair way away from calling his cattle perfect in general. A goal that purebred breeders of all breeds hope to accomplish. It is nice to see different ideas in the Angus breed and awfully interesting to see almost all of the other purebred breeds looking at changes needed to keep ahead of the game. Adjustments are always being made within breeds and many breeders look to composite situations to make more drastic change.
I don't know how many times I have been told by ranchers touring our herd that they have driven countless miles looking for Angus genetics like we have in our own herd. But our herd is not Angus. We do have two purebred breeds that are as pure as Angus, as black as Angus, and I believe as good as Angus. But due to the simple fact that they are not Angus they do not receive near the attention that they deserve.
I am not going to even mention the breeds of cattle that we work with as this is not an advertisement as much as a wake up call to an industry hung up on putting all of it's eggs in one basket, and then trying to change those eggs to suit every customers needs.
Good luck all
Randy Kaiser
I was reading a couple of articles in a major beef publication this week about Angus cattle and was prompted to write a little piece myself. The last twenty or more years have seen a major shift in purebred genetics toward this breed which deserves praise and congratulations for taking the lead into the new realities of the cattle business in this country.
The articles I mention are somewhat polar in their views of Angus cattle however and reflect the variance in the breed that we all see at shows and sales around the country. One fellow speaks of a business approach to purebred sales using technology and economic strategy. He goes on to describe his choice of cattle to include characteristics like loose made - big ribbed - big boned - and lanky among others. A number of these terms could be perceived to be admirable to a British cattle breeder but could also be seen as following traits that we already have lots of in the Continental breeds in this country.
The other fellow focuses on hardiness and the low cost production side of our industry. He goes on to describe the size and efficiency of his cattle and goes so far as to say that his cattle handle a 30 per cent drop in body weight over the winter. He is talking about 350 pounds off a 1250 pound cow over the winter months. Now if this fellow is able to keep his conception rates at or near industry averages with this kind of management he deserves some credit but my goodness - what does this say for the genetic selection in his herd. Does he simply not put feed out for these animals? To me this sounds like a cow that cannot make it on a low quality ration if he is offering any volume of feed at all. The cows that would lose that kind of weight in my herd would be culled to make room for those who maintain on our low quality winter rations and carry that maintenance characteristic to their offspring.
I would say that this second fellow is more aware of where the industry is heading right now and is somewhat on the right track, but is a fair way off from calling his cattle the perfect Angus. In fact a fair way away from calling his cattle perfect in general. A goal that purebred breeders of all breeds hope to accomplish. It is nice to see different ideas in the Angus breed and awfully interesting to see almost all of the other purebred breeds looking at changes needed to keep ahead of the game. Adjustments are always being made within breeds and many breeders look to composite situations to make more drastic change.
I don't know how many times I have been told by ranchers touring our herd that they have driven countless miles looking for Angus genetics like we have in our own herd. But our herd is not Angus. We do have two purebred breeds that are as pure as Angus, as black as Angus, and I believe as good as Angus. But due to the simple fact that they are not Angus they do not receive near the attention that they deserve.
I am not going to even mention the breeds of cattle that we work with as this is not an advertisement as much as a wake up call to an industry hung up on putting all of it's eggs in one basket, and then trying to change those eggs to suit every customers needs.
Good luck all
Randy Kaiser
