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Steer Shootout can partake in additional educational activities, including Beef Quality Assurance certification, as well as competitive opportunities throughout the program.

Hereford Feedout

Numbers Climb. More Hereford breeders and commercial users of Hereford genetics are discovering the feedlot and carcass performance of their genetics through various American Hereford Association (AHA) programs.

Currently, 94 participants from 22 states are feeding more than 1,400 head of Hereford and Hereford-influenced feeder cattle at HRC Feed Yards, Scott City, Kansas. The numbers encompass the Hereford Feedout Program* and the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) Fed Steer Shootout**

“Every year, we see increased interest in these programs from our members and their customers because of the value they find in benchmarking feedlot and carcass performance in their programs and then tracking subsequent performance relative to their benchmark,” says Trey Befort, AHA director of commercial programs.

These cattle feeding opportunities enable participants to enroll a few head or entire pens of cattle. They receive ongoing updates about how their cattle are performing while on feed and then receive a collective summary of all cattle enrolled in the program to see how their cattle performed relative to the entire group.

“The value of this information and being more closely engaged with the cattle feeding sector has always been important. It is becoming invaluable as more cattle are channeled into specification based, value added areas of the supply chain,” Befort says.

All participants can attend an annual educational field day at HRC Feed Yards, which delves into various aspects of the cattle markets, cattle feeding, and beef packing. This year’s event is on April 15.

NJHA members enrolled in the Fed

“These programs provide value to those who have never fed their cattle before and those who do so on a routine basis,” explains Bill Goehring, Libertyville, Iowa, AHA president — a Hereford breeder, commercial cow/ calf producer, and sale barn owner and manager. “These programs are a convenient, cost effective way for Hereford seedstock producers and their commercial customers to identify how their genetics perform in the feedlot and in the packinghouse. The data also adds increasing accuracy to the breed’s genetic evaluation.”

* Hereford Feedout Program — participants enroll a minimum of five head of same sex (steer or heifer) cattle for feeding within a designated delivery period; participants can enroll whole pen groups outside of the designated delivery period.

** NJHA Fed Steer Shootout — participants enroll individual steers or pens of three steers.

About the American Hereford Association. AHA, with headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the largest U.S. beef breed associations. The not-for-profit organization, along with its subsidiaries — Certified Hereford Beef (CHB) LLC, Hereford Publications Inc. (HPI), and American Beef Records Association (ABRA) — provides programs and services for its members and their customers while promoting the Hereford breed and supporting education, youth, and research.

Composites Simplify Reproductive Management. Composite breeds like Lim-Flex provide hybrid vigor in a straightbred system. What’s the big deal with composite bulls? And why should I use them? “These are two good questions,” says Dr. Bob Weaber, a geneticist and head of Kansas State University’s Eastern Kansas Research and Extension Centers. For answers, he says look at the cowherd.

That’s where composite bulls help commercial cow/calf producers realize the benefits of heterosis without the headaches of a traditional crossbreeding program. “They (the bulls) come with the crossbreeding system already built in,” he says, using Lim-Flex as an example. LimFlex composites can have 25-75 percent Limousin genetics, with the remainder being registered Angus or registered Red Angus.

“We get our biggest boost in performance due to heterosis in lowly heritable traits like cow longevity and fertility,” he says. Given today’s cost in developing replacement heifers, cow longevity is more important now than ever before.

Composite bulls also provide breed complementarity — that’s when the breed combination possess complementary traits like Limousin and Angus do.

Coupled with heterosis, it adds even more to a commercial herd’s economic potential. “So, producers can expect a 13-15 percent improvement in weaning weight per cow exposed using a Lim-Flex breeding program, for example,” he says.

Real World Results - Shane Whiting and his two sons run around 1,000 commercial cows in northeast Utah near Roosevelt — all Lim-Flex, bulls and cows alike.

“Docility and calving ease are the two number one things for a commercial rancher,” he says. “And the docility of the Lim-Flex is really great. But calving ease is top of the line. She has to be able to produce a calf without a lot of problems.”

They have a 60 day breeding and calving season. “And our conception rate with Lim-Flex cattle has run 95-96 percent consecutively for up to 20 years now.”

He also appreciates that his cows have a moderate frame size yet milk well. “We have better longevity, and we have a better bag,” he says. “These hold up.”

Whiting has carcass data on thousands of head beginning in 2014. That year, his Lim-Flex calves came down the rail grading 94 percent Choice and Prime. “Now we’re at 97 percent.”

Data from the Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., helps explain why Whiting’s Lim-Flex cows perform well on a diet largely of grass and grass hay. “There was no statistical difference in feed efficiency yet lower intake. That’s likely tied to the expected lower mature weights on these females,” Weaber says. Citing other research, Weaber points out that Limousin females had the lowest mature cow weight among ten breeds, with weights corrected for breed effect and contrasted to Angus.

Hitting Home Runs in the Southeast

- Will Hargett owns a sale barn in Ayden, N.C., in the eastern part of the state. “We handle quite a few cattle that are in less than load lots,” he says, with cow herds ranging from 20 to around 100 head.

A number of years ago, he marketed some Lim-Flex calves to a producer who backgrounded and finished them. “About a year later, he called me back and said, ‘We’ve been in the business for three generations and that last set of calves we bought out of your barn really showed us something.’”

Hargett did a little research and decided he would help place Lim-Flex bulls with area cow/calf producers. “We’ve had a great experience with Lim-Flex bulls in recent years with what I would consider to be fairly average commercial cows, and just get outstanding calves coming off these cows,” he says. “And we’ve had a lot of good response from the people buying these calves.”

Several of his customers retain their heifers. To that end, he says the Lim-Flex genetics are busting some age old myths. Bred back to Lim-Flex bulls, “They’re not throwing anything with bad temperament issues. They’re easy to handle, they’re good milkers, they’re good mothers and are producing fantastic calves.”

Drought Insurance - “We’ve been tested pretty hard as far as weather the last handful of years,” says Shane Anderson. “Mostly drought and feeding a lot of poor-quality roughages. And they (his Lim-Flex cows) seem to be holding up.”

Anderson, a cow/calf producer from Towner, N.D., says that over the years he’s used Lim-Flex genetics, he sees more consistency in the conformation and disposition of the cattle. “I’ve had a lot of confidence in the Lim-Flex females as far as calving ease and the vigor of the calves when they get up and get going. They’re really a herd that doesn’t require a lot of attention in the spring. And that’s a big seller for me.”

He’ll come back with Lim-Flex bulls on his replacement heifers. “I’m happy with the selection I’m finding in the LimFlex breed as far as bulls that hit my maternal needs as well as ones that hit the benchmark as far as the feeder calves and the performance I expect from them.”

What’s more, he’s impressed with the longevity of Lim-Flex females. Because of drought, he has culled deep but says there are still some females in his herd that are producing at 12-13 years old.

When it’s time to cull the old cows, their condition and yield add value at the sale barn, he says. “I still want some salvage value, and you know what? Even at 12, 13 years of age, they sell just as they would if they were five, six, seven years old. They look good.”

Mark Smith to be Inducted into the North American Limousin Hall of Fame. The North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) is proud to announce the induction of Mark Smith into the NALF Hall of Fame at a ceremony to be conducted at Rapid City, South Dakota, this summer during the National Junior Limousin Show and Congress on July 11.

Bruce Lawrence, NALF President, commented, “We are extremely grateful to have had the expertise and service from a man that has devoted 42 years of his life to the Limousin breed and its members and is very deserving of being inducted into the NALF Hall of Fame. He continues to be involved with the breed through various facets and still operates Grassroots Genetics and Consulting along with Grassroots Insurance.”

Contributions in Mark’s name, along with letters of appreciation and support to be included in the book presented to Mark and his family, can be sent to the NALF office in Aurora, Colorado. Checks should be made out to the NALF Hall of Fame (HOF) account and mailed to:

NALF

6205 S Main St., Suite D-280 Aurora, CO 80016

About the North American Limousin Foundation. The North American Limousin Foundation, headquartered in Englewood, Colo., provides programs and services, including the documentation of more than 25,000 head of cattle annually, for approximately 4,000 members and their commercial customers. The Limousin breed and Lim-Flex® hybrid offer industry leading growth and efficiency while being an ideal complement to British breeds. For more information about NALF, please visit www.nalf.org