Paper on the Fullblood Maine-Anjous in France

Help Support Steer Planet:

red

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
7,850
Location
LaRue, Ohio
I have some copies of a presentation written by Professor Harlan Richie from 1971 when he toured France to see first hand the Maine cattle. He saw many of the founding cattle that began the Maine-Anjou breed in the USA.

If anyone would like a copy, PM me your mailing address & I'll get them out as soon as I can.

Red
 

red

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
7,850
Location
LaRue, Ohio
Also, if anyone that wants one & is going to KS City, let me know & I'll bring yours there.

Red
 

knabe

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
13,639
Location
Hollister, CA
the observations by harlan ritchie touched on a few concerns prevalent in the full blood maine breed.  calving difficulty, with avg bw of 110, lots of c-sections visible in many herds, a pretty consistent break behind the shoulders, low fertility, ie 80% calves on the ground from natural breeding, an average calf crop of 5-7 calves, high twinning percentage of about 5%, lots of soundness problems, some from being too fat from being shown coupled with their already large size.

in france, in 1971, there were 650,000 total maine's.  200,000 adult cows, 27,600 registered animals, 10,000 annual births, 4800 final registrations (which must be viewed by committee) and 1500 members.

also of note, there was a huge difference in milking ability ranging from a low under 5000 lb milk to over 12,000 /yr with the average being somewhere around 5,550, and good herds around 7500.

atan's dam only produced 5500 lb/lactation.  atan was 3150 pounds and stood 64 " as a 3 year old at withers.


good little paper.  vainqueur was probably the thickest bull they saw.  and............... the breeder of cunia and the owner of cunia's dam, had him.

anybody know anything about Valentin?  an extremely thick bull but a calving ease bull.  he was 60.5 inches and weighed 3305 and was NOT double muscled.  was a little sloppy in his makeup and nowhere near compared to vainqueur.

capone was mentioned and when the guy sold him, he used the proceeds to install an irrigation system.  capone may have been a carrier of double muscling.  they fed to 1300-1400 lbs at 16-18 months wth the last month on grain.

heifers were bred at 2 years or later.
 

red

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
7,850
Location
LaRue, Ohio
I liked how the practically lived w/ the cattle in their homes. It was a fascinating paper. He had a slide show presentation. I'd love to get my hands on it.
Maybe DL knows where it is?

Red
 
Top