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Show Page Eigii. Wednesday, March 2!). 1972 Sun Chronicle-Fugl- Keview-- ( e Icarficld Courier Supplement Cattle country changes with crossbreeding fad by Cleon A few years M. Hotter ago, when driv- ing through cattle ranching country, you would see mainly herds of straightbred Herefords, red animals with white faces; Angus, pure black; or Shorthorns, 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 such as the d Brahman 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; red ot reddish tan with white spots; Maine-Anjored with white spots or roan; and the Murray Grey, Welch Black, and Lincoln Red, colored astheir names imply. Indeed, r e are producing cattle of many colors. Some folks hate to see this crossing and mixing of colors. To them it ruins the aesthetics of the pure color strains. Also, some cattle buyers use real or imaginary color prejudice as a wedge to buy cattle for a rehump-backe- Sim-ment- u, duced price. then, you may ask, is there such a big movement toward crossbreeding? Dr. James A. Bennett, head, Department of Animal Science, Utah State University, says the answer is mainIt has little or ly economics. nothing to do with color. Producers aim in crossbreeding 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 Why, ments to prevent transmission of foot and mouth disease, semen and sires of these breeds has recently been premitted to entr the United States. increased production potential for the or achieve a animals, combination of all three objectives. At a recent beef cattle short course, Dr. Bennett cited research results indicating several g small gains from among the British breeds. When these are combined they can have a big influence on profits: calving rate 1.3 percent, survival 3 percent and gain in weaning weight 4.9 percent. He said, Sometimes when the returns and costs rf production are nearly equal, increases such as the above can easily double or triple profits or pull an outfit out of the red. Most of these breeds are large, well muscled and grow fast. W'e can expect that calves produced from crossing to British breeds will also be growthy and produce lots of lean meat. These qualities benefit both the producers and the consumers. cross-breedin- But all is not benefit. There are some problems associated Research crossbreeding. results from Nebraska indicate increased calving difficulty from crossing the large exotic breeds Likewith the British breeds. wise, increased problems of low fertility may be introduced from some of 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 it is on much of Utahs rangeland -- these animals may run into real difficulty. We cant overlook the buyer discrimination mentioned earlier; market demand and preference must be considered. But perhaps even more important, unless the cattlemen going into a will program crossbreeding carefully plan and rigidly follow the plan, they may lose much more than they gain from it. with 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 straightbred animals. as He said crossing the British breeds with the Brahman derived breeds has been much more popular in the southern states than it Animals containing has her- -. Brahman blood can withstand the intense heat well and are resistant to some of the troublesome insects. Dr. Bennett stresses that successful crossbreeding must be based on the use of good nure-brethat are backed by adequate production records. Also, he says that some of the advantages from crossbreeding may be obtained from crossing unrelated lines within a particular breed. So, for those who cattle simply prefer pure colors, all is not lost. However, since they usually have some decreased tenderness of beef, our markets tend to discriminate against animals that Brahcarry more than one-eig- ht man blood. A whole new exciting area now been for crossing has opened by introduction of the new "exotic breeds. Under changed but carefully regulated require r. w - 27 SOUTH MAIN STREET LAYTON, UTAH GUZUKI PHONE 376-399- 4 18 New Models For 1972 Complete Shop Facilities Suzuki Parts and Accessories |