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Have
you ever heard of purebred seed corn?
No one in production agriculture uses purebreds except beef
producers. More and more commercial herds are breeding up to straight bred
Angus. These herds are giving away the only free lunch in the cattle
business - hybrid vigor. If you find your fertility rates dropping or
feed costs rising - it's time to consider crossbreeding again. At
Bar J Cattle Farm we are here to help you simplify your crossbreeding
program. By using our SimAngus composite bulls, you will find that
crossbreeding is not a difficult practice. If your herd is almost purebred
Angus, use one of our 75% Simmental X 25% Black Angus bulls to give you a
5/8 Angus X 3/8 Simmental that is exactly what the cattle feeders and
packers are demanding. If you already have a herd of Simmental X Angus cows,
simply maintain your current level of hybrid vigor by using our 50%
Simmental X 50% Black Angus bulls. Rest assured that these bulls are the
result of very careful matings between the best of both breeds.
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of
using crossbreeding in your herd.
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Crossbreeding increases pounds weaned per cow exposed
by 23% - U. S. D. A. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) data on file.
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Hybrid vigor adds $140 income per cow - Ex: 85%
calf crop X 550 weight calves X $1.30/pound X 23%.
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Bar J Cattle Farm Optimizer composite bulls allow you
to crossbreed while keeping color and type uniform - black or red and
polled.
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Optimizer females average 1250 lbs. mature weight
and maintain body condition as well as an F1 Hereford X Angus.
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Optimizer bulls maintain over 75% of F1 hybrid
vigor in a simple, sustainable, single-breed crossing program.
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Bar J Cattle Farm Optimizer bulls are selected to
maximize cow/calf profitability.
Looking Through A Cattle Feeders
Lens
If you doubt that a Simmental X Angus crossbred calf
is what the feeders and packers are demanding today and are willing to pay a
premium price for, read what J. Tom Brink, Senior Vice President,
Cattle Ownership and Risk Management for Five Rivers Ranch Cattle
Feeding, LLC had to say about it at the 2006 Beef Improvement
Federation Annual Research Symposium and Annual Meeting.
To put into proper perspective what Mr. Brink had to
say, we must remember that Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding, LLC is the
largest cattle feeder in the world. They operate ten feedyards in the
states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Idaho with a one time
feeding capacity of 811,000 head and they feed at least two groups of
cattle per year, making the total number of feeder cattle purchased annually
by Five Rivers a whopping 1.622 million head.
"To satisfy the 21st century beef consumer, we need to
address a few major beef industry problems. A major problem that we face is
that huge numbers of cattle are designed wrong genetically. I will tell you
exactly what Five Rivers wants from a breed composition standpoint. And the
reason we have a preference is because cattle that are well-designed
genetically do a good job meeting the needs of the cattle feeder, packer and
consumer.
Our first choice is an Angus X
Continental(Simmental) animal that is 50% to 75% Angus and 25% to 50%
Continental(Simmental). This combination makes a right-sized,
good-feeding, good-grading, good-yielding animal that covers a lot of
important bases. Higher percentage Angus cattle (Black & Red) will grade
very well, but are weaker in red meat yield, sometimes producing excess
Yield Grade 4s. High percentage Continental (Simmental) produce high
red-meat yields, but they don't grade Choice often enough and often fail to
finish before they get too big in the feedyard. A balanced combination of
Angus and Continental(Simmental) breeding is tough to beat."
Put a Bar J Cattle Farm "SimAngus-Optimizer" bull to
work in your herd and begin reaping not only the benefits of hybrid vigor,
but also the premium prices that are paid for cattle that are the right
breed makeup!
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