Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

What is the liveweight of a yg 1 or 2 steer?

What is the liveweight of a yg 1 or 2 steer?

more than a similar sized yg 3 or 4 due to density of fat vs muscle.

Right, I realize that- but Sue's point was to imply the sister mates out of yg1 or 2 cattle would mature larger than she would prefer.  I was just curious the avg live weight of cattle that grade yg1 or 2.

why would they be larger maturing or later maturing? if they have IM fat, but mature the same, isn't that a good thing? they of course won't look the same bcs.


i wish there was a large data set on scanned cattle at two week or monthly intervals, also with the cattle at different starting weights throughout the year.  anecdotal evidence is that cattle marble more in the fall due to photoperiodism. would like to see that with scans with cattle at different ages on the same date with enough cattle to control for variance.

Nate,

A large part of the basic answer is the fact that the Angus breed has a broader gene pool and much greater numbers.  With their CAB program and other marketing they have found ways to effectively utilize and market cattle of many diverse types and traits. 

What for me would be important to know is, for those cattle with the highest marbling potential, what impact does that have on other traits like muscling, growth rate and size, feed efficiency, etc. as many of these are antagonistic.  So can these Angus cattle with the ability to grade Prime also produce carcasses with acceptable muscling and external fat, while converting at an economically viable rate or are we talking about 1050 lb. steers with 9" REA? One thing that previous data has shown is that our cattle can compete across almost all breeds when put on a constant end point basis (i.e. 1250 lb, 16 months old steers with .5 in fat).

I'm glad you raised the question -- it's an issue we need to look at and something the breed should pay attention to.  Good luck in your search.

The other thing to keep in mind, due to numbers, is that Angus breed has far more 2-3 frames (and they had more 8-10 frames when we were all liking them big), has more genetic mutations, more high WW and YW cattle, etc.  No matter what trait your looking for (outside color) the Angus breed will have more.  That's not an indictment on Shorthorns, it's just a reality.

Quote from: -XBAR- on March 28, 2014, 12:30:03 PM

Right, I realize that- but Sue's point was to imply the sister mates out of yg1 or 2 cattle would mature larger than she would prefer.  I was just curious the avg live weight of cattle that grade yg1 or 2.

Ryan,

To some degree their weight would depend on how they were fed and managed.  I was part of a USDA project that proved that across type (frame and muscle) feeding and management was responsible for more than 50% of the outcome.  By manipulation of feeding time and energy level we could "burn up" the later maturing larger cattle and get them to an acceptable YG, QG and slaughter weight.  At the same time, by "slow walking" the little early maturing ones, we could stretch them into a similar category.  The biggest variables were time and financial considerations and neither the larger cattle or the earlier maturing cattle excelled in total $ return.

Makes sense.  I went to a feedlot a 2 summers ago and they were feeding Holstein steers and commercial steers all the same ration which was over 50% roughage.  The commentator made several references to the Holsteins taking so long to finish and faulted them for how big they were they finally did get enough cover.  I couldn't understand why they wouldn't put the steins on a much higher energy ration than the beef calves.  Dairy calves can and do grade as good as anything- but they have to be fed right.  I've finished out Holsteins that were fat as a tick and ready to kill at 1100lbs.  But they were on free choice whole corn feeders and a protein/rumensin supplement for 7 months.   --I can't imagine what the COG was--  And that's where you run into the financial consideration you're talking about, whats the cost of gain on a Stein that grades high choice but only converted an 80% corn ration at 10:1?   The more I think about it the more my head spins.  There are so many variables to take into account- most importantly grid spreads. 

What bull or bulls are at the top of the breed for marbling?  Birthweight needs to be reasonable (less than 95), docility needs to be excellent, moderate growth, capable of siring a high percentage of prime calves (choice is not good enough to qualify).  A more terminal animal, maternal traits would be nice but not necessary.  Ideas?

This is also something I have also been trying to identify. We have used The Grove Kookaburra W735 and have a couple of ET bull calves by him. He is a trait leader in Australia for BW and CE, milk as well as for Ribeye and Marbling. Accuracies in these traits are 83 to 95%.
We also have a QH Questing DSTNY OQ11 bull calf(95 lb BW recip is a black commercial cow)
DSTNY is in the top 2% of the breed for marbling and top 1% for REA, top 1% for MCE and top 3% for MCE. His BW and CE however are at the bottom of the breed. We have actually had 4 calves by him and never had a calving issue. If everything goes well all three of these calves will see service in a commercial herd that retains ownersip on the steers to slaughter. Identifying animals that are good across all traits is a challenge.

I'm most familiar with Western Canadian genetics herds like ourselves, Crooked Post, Eionmor, Glenford, Horseshoe Creek, Northern as well as many others. 

I would think that A&T Renegade would be a bull that would have outstanding marbling due to how his sire was bred and selected for. He definitely has the BW from what JTM has been posting.

Thanks Jaimie and you are right on with your prediction. Renegade was scanned in a group of 12 bulls at A&T. He was number one with a 115 ratio and 11.0 adj. Rib Eye Area. He had the most rump fat among all the bulls and was second in Rib Fat.  % IM Fat he had a 96 ratio at 3.48 adj. We were very happy with the results.