What kind?

[Big Muddy rancher]

Rod you should beable to take small group of any breed and beat the INDUSTRY AVERAGE. :cowboy:

Like you, I don't often pay attention to the very small scale tests or the tests at bull stations, as these tend to be a selection of best animals out of each breeders herds. The Cargill test was a good example of a small scale test, but I often point to it because those animals did outrageously well.

But how would you skew a random test?

Lets take the Lanigan test as an example. This wasn't a small scale test of 50 animals, nor did the breeders select particular animals. As COMMERICAL cattlemen delivered their animals, their Shorthorn influenced stock (minimum 50% Shorthorn) got sorted out into different pens and the feed test commenced. Three of the commercial guys in my area who utilize Shorthorn stock sent their full calf crop in, including their non-Shorthorn influenced stock, since Lanigan was paying pretty good dollars around that time. It'd be pretty tough to back a claim that the test was skewed.

Rod

Rod I;m saying the Industry average is not that great. There is a lot of poor cattle out there. Alot of the "GRADES" can come from a good feedlot manager I feel. I've seen it and paid for it.. Did you have cattle in the trial?

 

[Northern Rancher]

Under 50 percent AAA's is no screaming hell for sure-I wonder what the harvest weight was-from the amount of Y1's I'm guessing that pen could of used some more days on feed-would have had alot more AAA's and not hurt the YG too much. Unless they were getting into heavies already. On the grid we sell into were getting 95% plus AAA's but more Y2's-I guess you can't have it all. I think last pen we closed Primes were $.22 premium in the beef. I let the lot manager make the feeding and selling decisions he's forgot more than I'll ever know-as long as I keep getting a stipend after every pen I'm happy with it. As far as the industry average being so low-it's hard to get those high % exotic calves to marble be3fore they get too heavy-alot of guys up here calve now and then weran in late October-those 900 lb weaners get pretty big before they're done. I'd think a bit earliar weaning might help a bit.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Rod I;m saying the Industry average is not that great. There is a lot of poor cattle out there. Alot of the "GRADES" can come from a good feedlot manager I feel. I've seen it and paid for it.. Did you have cattle in the trial?

Ok, I get what you're saying. I'm going to see what if kept _their_ average results from that year, to eliminate the feedlot manager variable. Although, I can't imagine the Lanigan lot being _that_ far off of industry average, seeing as they take in a pile of animals each year from all over western Canada. And feedlots are far better managed these days than they were even 10 years ago. With slim margins, if you can't manage the animals properly, you can't stay in business.

And nope, I had no animals in the trial. I was running Angus and Baldies exclusively when those tests were going on. I was anxiously awaiting the trial results though, as a good friend of mine had animals in the trial. He calves at the same time I do, his animals are about the same as mine, we buy similar bulls and he always took 50 lbs more weight to market in March.

On a personal note, since I've switched to Shorthorn crossing, I'm taking more weight to market (my average is 40 lbs more than when I was using Angus bulls and 10 lbs more than when I used Simm bulls). I'm sold on the cross, especially the Angus/Shorthorn and the Simm/Shorthorn cows.

Rod

 

[Northern Rancher]

Ohh I'm not saying they were mismanaged-sometimes trials are run a bit different than the regular feedlot. I do know Lanigan has some of the taggiest feedlot cattle I've ever seen anytime I've been there-a pet peeve of mine.