Weekend weigh in/philosophy busters.

A couple of people asked me to expand on the grassfed steer weight/type comments I made in the mythbusters thread so I have started a new post as I am adding some pictures. Please roll it into the other thread if you see fit Mike.
My grassfeds/young bulls are grazing right next to the corrals just now so I pulled them in last night for their once a summer check weight. They have done very well this year and are about a month ahead of target. Anyways here is what I find about grassfed beef type/weights which is contra to some marketers philosophies.

A good example of our seedless fruit - Luing cross Simm/Red Angus. Hybrid vigor maximised in my simple way of thinking - 1100lbs at just under 15 months. His mother probably weighs over 1400lb.

Steer on the left is out of one of the biggest framed, heaviest cows I ever owned. Another 1100lb steer with excellent fleshing ability and should have adequate meat yield. Steer on the right is a left over runt from last years calf crop - same age weighing 700lbs.

The little guy again. I expect if I went Pharo type this is what I'd get. Using 2 or 3 frame, reduced growth, reduced milk cattle versus 5+ frame bulls on 5+ frame cows. He weaned at 380lbs versus the 600lb+ weights of the bigger steers here. I have seen bulls in Pharo catalogs with 380-400lb ww so I guess they will have about the same potential. My calf was out of a sorry milking first calf heifer who maybe weighed 1100lb. Now we are all told the 1100lb cow is more efficient and eats less but in my book it doesn't pencil. Here a 1400lb cow costs the same through the grazing season as an 1100lb cow because 60% of our grazing is rented on a $value per head/day basis. We feed for around 100 days usually and even supposing the bigger cow ate 25% more (being 25% heavier) which I doubt it would only cost me @ 30c/day extra (based on feed @ $1.20/day - yardage doesn't alter with cow size). So on 100 days winter feed - and hence the years total cost of keep the heavier cow for the year = $30 extra. Weight gain on calf 200lb + at weaning, 300lb+ by slaughter age for $30 sounds good to me.

A parting shot - in the frame score debate we often here "the difference between a frame score 3 and a frame score 5 is x inches under the belly which doesn't weigh anything and you can't sell it or eat it"
This shot illustrates about a 4" difference in frame but the bigger steer weighs 1050lbs versus 700lbs - how come?

Grassfarmer wrote "
A parting shot - in the frame score debate we often here "the difference between a frame score 3 and a frame score 5 is x inches under the belly which doesn't weigh anything and you can't sell it or eat it"
This shot illustrates about a 4" difference in frame but the bigger steer weighs 1050lbs versus 700lbs - how come?'




In the Beeby or Chiga articles recently referenced on here, they stated the futility in selection for frame. Weight is weight, and really the only thing useful for determining growth. Frame was merely a maturity indicator. I believe frame 5 would be dead center in the average of frame scores and a pretty safe place to be. Adding more weight to a smaller framed calf is usually just fat and terribly inefficient to carry around from weaning untill slaughter.

Good points Grassfarmer


Bootheel

The Pharo frame score measurements are the biggest farce and most totally irelevant data in the industry...a joke to anyone with any cattle experience...

pharoism = marketing at its best.

patb wrote:

pharoism = marketing at its best.

not at all...marketing at it`s best is telling the truth