Umatilla County Steer Futurity

[PPRM]

ok, I got the results awhile back,

I thought my calves did well, but didn't place in the money. Says a lot about the calves entered.

First Calf-

Days On Feed-154
ADG-4.37
Hot Wieght-841
Fat Thickness-.50 inches
Rib Eye Area-14.7
KPH%-2.5
Marbling-sl
Quality Grade-Select
Yield Grade-2.7
Retail Cuts-50.35

Second Calf-

Days On Feed-168
ADG-4.07
Hot Wieght-899
Fat Thickness-.60 inches
Rib Eye Area-14.8
KPH%-3.5
Marbling-sm+
Quality Grade-Ch-
Yield Grade-3.3
Retail Cuts-48.85


Third Calf-

Days On Feed-154
ADG-3.74
Hot Wieght-871
Fat Thickness-.50 inches
Rib Eye Area-14.1
KPH%-2.5
Marbling-sl
Quality Grade-Select
Yield Grade-3.0
Retail Cuts-49.63

Average-

Days On Feed-1159
ADG-4.06
Hot Wieght-870
Fat Thickness-.53 inches
Rib Eye Area-14.5
KPH%-2.8
Marbling-sl+
Quality Grade-Select+
Yield Grade-3.1
Retail Cuts-49.61

Futurity Average-Steers

Days On Feed-160
ADG-4.31
Hot Wieght-867
Fat Thickness-.55 inches
Rib Eye Area-13.8
KPH%-2.7
Marbling-sm
Quality Grade-Choice-
Yield Grade-3.3
Retail Cuts-49.42

Big thing was I needed to hit choice on the two selects. I was impressed by the overall performance of the cattle entered. They went to Beef NW feedlot in Boardman and were fed in a regular pen with the feedlots normal rations.....

PPRM

 

[sw]

Pat,
looks like they did pretty well, when the choice select spread is as it is this year, you can't aford to feed to choice at the risk of the YG 4 discount. When they can gain over 4 a day they will make you money and I think that is why we are in this business. I wish more people would enter things like this to see what they are really raising. Good looks are sometimes deceiving, everyone wants the homecoming queen but inside she is a witch. :wink:

 

[PPRM]

Thanks sw,

I am not unhappy with the performance and at the time these were sold, YG 4 discount was $20.00/cwt. But it did tell me that a lot of my choice calves may tend to be low choice. I am going to keep with bulls similar to what I have had in the past, but I will definetly go after a bit more marbling on them......

I was also impressed with the futurity averages. Takes not only good cattle, but a good feedyard to do that. I was talking to a friend about this average of over 4 lbs. per day gain. Heck, 3 lb gains may go the way of 400 lb weaning wieghts, LOL.....


PPRM

 

[Dave Mc]

PPRM...do you feel that the rapid gain is related to your marbling scores or does the genetic factor play a stronger role in influencing the marbling?
DMc

 

[PPRM]

I think that they aren't exclusive. It doesn't have to be a choice. Look at the select sires Catalog and the Bull Gar Preeminent. He has both great growth and marbling....I think the marbling is something I didn't select for until recently. I started selling to Tyson on the grid about 4 years ago and this futurity tells me where I am a little more than the Tyson summaries.

I remember 30 years ago that a lot of folks thought you had to choose between growth and calving ease. However, a few sires with good growth also had moderate to small calves. My theory has been that the good growth calves that have low birthwieght tend to come out of the mamma with a different body shape. They tend to be long string beans that immediately bulk up. Long way of saying, I think you can have both, but it takes the right bull to do it.

I went and reviewed the futurity a bit. I will say there were a lot of low choice calves, I am not sure if that is genetics or the way they were fed. SAR Shorthorns had a calf that gained 5.10 lbs per day and graded choice. The two calves grading prime gained 2.73 pounds and 3.63 pounds. Both had pretty small ribeyes. I guess I would say, overall the calves here show a lack of bull selection for carcass traits. I think there are two reasons for this. Historically, relatively few people retain ownership and sell on the grid and it is relatively new.

A lot of research is indicating that you need to hit the calves onto high energy feed at an early wieght to start developing the Fat cells, that backgrounding actually hurts this. My thot is it depends upon the backgrounding. If it is really cheap feed with no energy and you implant, then you are going to have a hard time getting marbling. However, I think a good moderate energy background ration with the right calves can give me pounds and grading. I am after both wieght and carcass premiums, so I will keep working to achieve it,

Lots of ideas on how to do this stuff, makes for good discussions. I really lok at this forum as part of the continuing education process. When I post something, it is something I know I might fid I am wrong on, but my thought for now, LOL,

PPRM

 

[sw]

PPRM,
there is suppossed to be an article in the latest Journal of Animal Science that compares early weaning, growth rate etc to marbling. I'll see if I can find time to get it and send it to you or post it here if it is worth reading.

 

[PPRM]

Thanks sw,



While gathering some cows today, I remembered another factor from this futurity. They sold tehes late April. The YG 4 discount was steep, but the choice/select spread was narrow. We got like $1.48 for te calves on Hot wt.. When i had talked to Clint Sexton from OSU (they had a lot of cattle in this), he mentioned they were pulling cattle a litttle green as long as they had size. At the time, A select 1 was bringing more than a Choice 4. It may have been bringing about the same as a Choice 3.....


Anyway, that sounds like an interesting article, depending on the Phd that wrote it, LOL. I remember introducing a Phd Animal nutritionalist to guys at the Washington Cattlemans. I would say, "This is ******* From ******. What makes him great is he is one of the few guys that looks at what you have vs. having a preconcieved idea of what you need to feed." Well, then he would start talking and get to techno speaking and lose the guys. I mean, these guys were ready to talk and then you could see within two sentences, they wanted to be somewhere else, LOL


PPRM