B.I.G. SPEAKER TO TELL HOW TO PRODUCE “IDEAL” CALVES

WACO — Most Texas cow/calf producers would probably be surprised to learn that a recent beef quality study showed an average $138 was lost per steer or heifer marketed in the United States because of excess fat or other unwanted carcass conditions, says a livestock specialist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service.

Dr. Todd Thrift, Extension livestock specialist, will outline ways to produce the ideal calf for today’s market and regain some of that $138 discount at the upcoming 1998 Blacklands Income Growth (B.I.G.) Conference, Jan. 12-14 at the Waco Convention Center.

Thrift’s “ideal calf” presentation has been well-received elsewhere in East Texas, raising a few eyebrows along the way.

“What a lot of producers don’t realize is that a good middle-of- the road calf is the most desirable for today’s market,” he said.

Many producers, for example, breed continental-type cows to a continental bull. Another mistake is to include too much English or zebu (Brahman, for example) in their crossbreeding program.

Studies have shown that packers, retailers and restaurateurs want consistent carcass characteristics that are produced by a crossbred calf from a planned crossbreeding system.

For Central, South and East Texas producers, this translates as a calf that is a minimum 25 percent English, a maximum of 50 percent continental and a maximum of 25 percent zebu.

“There’s room for a lot of different breed combinations if these general guidelines are used. The message is, if producers avoid the extremes, they’ll avoid the majority of the discounts,” Thrift said.

Also on the B.I.G. Conference beef session agenda will be an update titled on improvements in bull fertility by Dr. L.R. Sprott of College Station, Extension beef cattle specialist, and a producer’s prospective of the Ranch-to-Rail program.

Sprott will talk about some of the newest findings on bull fertility associated antigen (FAA). Research has revealed that a protein produced by the bull’s prostate and Cowper’s gland ensures that sperm cells are able to fertilize an egg. This binding process is essential to enabling the sperm cell to fertilize the egg.

Further research has shown that there is considerable variation between bulls and the amount of FAA associated with their sperm. In one study on about 6,000 cows, the pregnancy rate averaged 81 percent on cows mated to bulls with the binding agent, compared to 63 percent in cows without the binding agent.

“Producers often believe that bulls are normally fertile as long as they are not injured and have no diseases, but bull fertility is a complex function and can be affected not only by disease but by other factors including nutrition, weather, sex drive, age, scrotal size and various physical features. The old notion that `a bull is a bull’ is no longer true,” Sprott said.

Sprott’s talk will also cover serving capacity, how nutrition affects bull fertility and suggestions on culling bulls.

The B.I.G. conference will also include sessions on cotton, grains, forage, horticulture, and horses. There will also be a family forum session on Jan. 13.

The B.I.G. 34-county region includes Bastrop, Bell, Bosque, Burleson, Caldwell, Collin, Coryell, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Dewitt, Ellis, Falls, Fannin, Fayette, Gonzales, Grayson, Guadalupe, Hill, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Lavaca, Lee, Limestone, McLennan, Milam, Navarro, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis, Washington, and Williamson counties.

For more information on the B.I.G. conference or Extension programs in general, those in the B.I.G. region should contact the local county Extension office. Otherwise, call Ronald Woolley at (254) 968-4144, or visit the B.I.G Internet site at <http://stephenville.tamu.edu/BIG>.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you have an Internet browser, you will be able to download a plain ASCII text version of this story at the B.I.G. web site. (http://stephenville.tamu.edu/BIG) You will also find mugshots of the speakers and other images in the form of a high-resolution JPEGs. If you have problems accessing the site or need further info, call Robert Burns at (903) 834-6191, or rd-burns@tamu.edu.

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