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Show The Salina Sun March 30, 1972 Crossbreeding Common Practice A few years ago, when driving through cattle ranching country, you would see mainly herds of straightbred Herefords, red animals with white faces; Anor Shortgus, pure black; horns, red, white or roan. Those you may have recognized were the chief British beef breeds common in this country. Now, crossbreeding of beef cattle is becoming a common practice in the United States. We see many color combinations from crossing among the British breeds and crosses between these breeds and others Brasuch as the hump-backhman from the Far East and its American combinations and a number of "exotic breeds, recently introduced from Europe. The exotic breeds include Charolais, white or cream; Limousine, red gold; Slmmental, red to reddish tan ed with white spots; Maine-Anjo- u, red with white spots or roan; and the Murray Grey, Welch Black, and Lincoln Red, colored as their names imply. Indeed, we are producing cattle of many colors. Some folks hate to see this crossing and mixing of colors. To them it ruins the aesthetics of pure color strains. Also, some cattle buyers use real A whole new exciting area for now been opened by Introduction of the new "exotic breeds. Under changed but crossing has carefully replated r Why, then, you may ask, is to prevent transmission But all is not benefit. There some problems associated with crossbreeding. Research resaws from Nebraska indicate increased calving difficulty from corssiig 'i- - large exotic breeds with the British breeds. Likewise, increased problems of low fertility may be introduced from some of the these breeds. Also, if larger crossbred cows are kept for mothers, they will require more feed. Where feed is plentiful they may do very well, but if feed is scarce as it is on much of Utah's rangeland these animals may run into real are experimented with different binders and methods of making a few products such as turkey frankfurters, turkey bologna, turkey salami and turkey ham. Last year we concentrated on developing and testing items such as turkey burgers and turkey loaf in the school lunch program. This year we are seeing commercial Utah companies take hold of the ideas and begin producing some of the turkey products for the school lunch program and other Institutional use. We are being asked to develop standards for further processed turkey products and to help market test and evaluate general consumer acceptance of them. The idea is to make turkey available and accepted year round by consumers in the forms and size packages they Part of this is done desire. by cutting and marketing the various turkey parts. Development of the machine deboner has made it pssible to utilize trim meat and the surplus dark meat to good advantage in the further processed products. Besides being nutritious, tur- foods, since 40 percent of food consumption in the U. S. consists of snack foods. The turkey industry is beginning to move ahead in getting further processed turkey has really proven to be very adaptable to making into good further processed products. Speakers at the National Turkey Federation meeting stressed that there is need for expanding research to develop more quick, turkey items that can be heated and served in three to five minutes for use in short order meals and snack houses. Even the airlines and the military are going more to this type of meal. In our product development at USU, we make a product and then try to improve it. Turkey patties is an example, as are turkey burgers, turkey loaf and other products tested in the school lunch program. We are especially Interested in developing convenient snack-typ- e key products on the market. Three to four turkey years ago we first saw burgers in supermar- kets. Now they are becoming quite common. It is not just a matter of making further processed items to expand the turkey market, but it is necessary to keep up with the swim. The school lunch programs, poverty programs, other institutional programs are all looking to these types of products. The food field is wide open for the development of new convenience type products. Adaptable turkey can meet the nutritional requirements in both private use and federally supported programs. easy-to-prep- are If every bad thing that could happen to alfalfa were to march into your field at one time, the best alfalfa to have would be ResistadOr. Resistador Alfalfa, from Northrup King, is bred to do just what its name says: resist spotted aphids and stem nematodes. Resist common leaf diseases and bacterial wilt. Resist the icy clutch of winter, and summer drought as well. See why we call it Resistador? And why it can stay leafy and green and full of protein, and give you extra hay for extra hay years? About the only thing Resistador is susceptible to is high yields! Resistador Alfalfa and gain in weaning weight 4.9 He said, "Sometimes when the returns and costs of production are nearly equal, increases such as the above can easily double or triple profits or pull an outfit out of the red. The biggest economic boost, however, comes from using the crossbred females as mother cows. It amounts to some 14 percent increase in pounds of calf weaned per cow bred. This, combined with other advantages gained by producing crossbred calves from these crossbred mothers, may give nearly a 20 percent advantage over the percent. one-eigh- have seen steady proour research in the from gress development of turkey proThree years ago we ducts. We The Best Alfalfa for Bad Conditions cross-breedin- straightbred animals. He said crossing the British breeds with the Brahman derived breeds has been much more popular in the southern states than it has here. Animals containing Brahman blood can withstand the Intense heat well and are resistant to some of the troublesome insects. However, since they usually have some decreased tenderness of beef, our markets tend to discriminate against animals th that carry more than Brahman blood. ts of foot and mouth disease, semen and sires of these breeds has recently been permitted to enter the United States. Most of these breeds are large, well muscled and grow fast. We can expect that calves produced from crossing tc British breeds will also be growthy and produce lots of lean meat. These qualities benefit both the producers and the consumers. or imaginary color prejudice as a wedge to buy cattle for a reduced price. there such a big movement toward crossbreeding? Dr. James A. Bennett, Head, Department of Animal Science, Utah State University, says the answer is mainly economics. It has little or nothing to do with color. Producers aim incrossbreeding to: (1) add one or a few genes to their animals genetic makeup, (2) blend the desirable characteristics of two or more breeds of cattle, (3) capitalize on hybrid vigor that results in an increased production potential for the animals, or achieve a combination of all three objectives. At a recent beef cattle short course, Dr. Bennett cited research results indicating seg veral small gains from British the among breeds. When these are combined they can have a big influence on profits: calving rate 1 .3 percent, survival 3 percent equire-men- NORTHRUP KINO INTERMOUNTAIN FARMERS SIEasnWainSaMn fefcviXfil ratatesKtf ISt4k lynjiii flitest Xi lOfi. OiKr m I Dm lists) JiiY ilM'idJSK.Si 33 tirrsi m (UK .ni& i 811 ist. Kfsfr fcii ,11, XdiCuK (lasted iOf n i fcw H) mflto'n a itai i 4(361.' 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