GB, I really like your input on these topics as you bring the commercial sector to every discussion. For me, this is a good thing, as the Shorthorn breed especially in the US seems to have decided that commercial acceptance is too hard a row to hoe. I applaud your efforts to raise cattle that can have commercial acceptance. I do think you can have cattle that work in both the show ring and in the commercial world. As the old saying goes, there is oftentimes a difference between breeding show cattle and showing breeding cattle. All we need to do is go back to showing breeding stock. Here in Canada, I think we are much closer to acheiving this, but that is just my opinion.
You made reference to the Irish cattle and I thought I would take you back in time a little. At the time of the first Irish imports into North America, in the very early 70s, we made a trip to Kansas to see the original Irish cattle that were brought into the US by Beef Genetics Research, Inc, at Mankato, KS. Dick Judy toured us around his ranch and showed us all his cattle, not only the Shorthorns he had imported. ( I still think the Beef Friesen cattle we saw there were some of the best cattle I ever saw of any breed that came from Europe. If the had not looked like Holstiens in color, I think they may have been more readily accepted in the cattle industry) I remember seeing Deerpark Dividend as if it was yesterday. Few bulls have impressed me in my lifetime, as much as this bull did.I remember saying when we left that day, that we had just seen the best bull we had ever seen... but we had also seen the worst bull we had ever seen. We tried to by Dividend that day, and Dick Judy told us he was not for sale. A few weeks later, I received a letter from Dick Judy, in which he offered us Deerpark Improver, Deerpark Dividend and all the semen he had collected from both bulls, for $30,000. My partners and I talked this offer over and decided to bring some other cattle from Ireland rather than spend this much money. We purchased Highfield Irish Mist, in Ireland for a grand sum of $300, and it cost us $1800 for the flight over, a 30 day quarentine in a government quarentine station on an island in the St. Lawrence River, a 2000 mile trip across the country and another 30 day quarentine at another quarantine station in Alberta. I often have wondered what this would have cost today!( Alden's bought Dividend and Improver from BGR a year later).
One of my partners went to Ireland and brought back an pile of pictures and info. What we felt that the Irish strain could do for Shorthorns of the day were....(1) improve udder quality, (2) improve testicle shape and size and (3) improve muscling, (4) improve the rump structure, especially between hooks and pins.
It was hard to find a Shorthorn bull without Chryporchid testicles in this era. I travelled to many sales in the US looking for a herd sire and simply could not find a good bull without this problem. The reason this was so important to me was that the large bull sales here in Canada culled extremely hard for testicle shape and size, and we could not chance using a bull with poor testicles. We never saw an Irish Shorthorn bull with poor shaped testicles. The defects you are referring to, IMO, have come from other genetics in the breed. I also think that many of the Irish strain, helped us correct the udders on our cattle. There were also a few Irish bulls that did not help in this regard. We were fortunate in that Irish Mist cleaned up even the worse udders in one generation.
Another thing I want to point out is in regards to carcass quality. We were operating a feedlot at the time we imported the Irish cattle. We were also collecting individual carcass data on every animal we fed in the feedlot. The Canadian government had a " blue tag" program in which these special blue tages could be purchased for $1 each and the packing plant had to send the carcass data to the owner. Many of the Irish cattle appeared to be lacking in ribeye by visual appearance, however, to my surprise, Irish sired cattle had a signifigant larger ribeye than animals sired by any other US and Canadian sires we used. I still have the records and Irish Mist sired progeny averaged 2.15 sq. inches more ribeye muscle than any other Shorthorn sire we used. We also tested lots of other breeds as a comparison. Personally, I think the Irish lines did much to help carcass quality in Shorthorns.
We all knew that the Irish cattle also had some poor qualities. We used them to bring improvement is a few areas, and I think they did that. Like many other bloodlines, they worked best when combined with others. To me, this is what breeding cattle is all about. It is identifying cattle that are superior in a given trait(s) and using them to improve that trait, then moving on to find improvement from others.
. Needless to say, he and I don't see cattle just exactly the same way. I guess it all makes the world go 'round...
