Shartzennegger Super Cows

[farmboy]

http://www.builtreport.com/bovine.html

 

[knabe]

a couple of those pics are by browarny in that book at the agribition with people in candid shots with their animals.  There is no caption information in the book about who is in the picture as intended by the author over sugguestions by browarny.

 

[farmboy]

THOSE THINGS ARE MASSIVE.

 

[genes]

Belgian Blues.....double muscling from the myostatin mutation (basically, the gene that usually tells muscle development to stop, doesn't do it).  Much better suited to a more intensive type of management (like say, on a small European farm)...they need to be watched at calving.  Cool pics!

 

[OH Breeder]

Every now and then you will see a club calf at a jack pot that has Belgium Blue in it. What happens to that gene when crossed?  Does it get diluted?Also, did you know the hard back of Good Breeding is over 120 bucks!

 

[genes]

The purebred Belgian Blues are homozygous (have 2 copies) so the crosses are heterozygous (one normal copy, one double muscle).  The heterozygotes tend to be very variable in their expression...some you would only be able to tell if looking for it very closely, others show it quite a bit.  We have piedmontese in the research herd here (same gene mutated) and some of the crosses you can pick from a mile away, others look almost like half limis, and some you almost have to look at the tag.

 

[OH Breeder]

THanks Gene's. I appreciate the info. I saw a calf a couple years ago. Was a out of Belgium Blue cow and WMW or one of the club bulls. My memory evades me. Anyways, he was as wide as a truck and hairy as an ox. It was unusual maturity on a calf of that age. SO, if I understand this, it takes two copies to get the excessive muslcing, one copy might give you slightly exaggerated muscling.  ???

 

[genes]

Yup that's about right.  Think of it like a spectrum, where on one end there is the extreme double muscling like in those pictures, on the other end is normal, and then the crosses end up somewhere on the spectrum in between.....question is then, where?  That's the chance element. 

The year we took steers to a prospect sale there was an old guy with some clubby X Belgian Blue crosses.  You could sort of tell there was something "different" about them, but without reading the breed, you might have had a hard time putting your finger on what it was.

 

[jason]

Is the muscle still usable?  It  looks like they are extremely stiff and would have almost no flexibility.   

Cool pics, by the way.

 

[farmboy]

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE CROSSED BELGIUM STEERS, IT'S NOT FROM A BIG CLUBBIE BULL IN AMERICA BUT STILL COOL LOOKIN

 

[Show Heifer]

When I was in England, I saw these full blood "blues" up close without being "american-ized". They are indeed spectacular animals to look at, and every breeder I talked to said fullblood cows have their calves C-secion, regardless of what the calf is. Half bloods can calve on their own, but 3/4 bloods depends on how extreme the cow is.

The meat quality is like the limi breed. Even with the apparently big muscle appearance, their muscle FIBERS are smaller, therefore more tender than the "angus" cattle even when they don't marble. They are super lean, with very little backfat or marbling, but like I said, still very tender. The Amercian grading system can not handle such an animal and therefore their bad rap.

And yes, they are fine boned yet sound and can walk MILES!!!

 

[farmboy]

CAN THEY NOT HAVE CALVES BECAUSE THE CALVES ARE DOUBLE MUSCLED OR BECAUSE THEY CAN'T POP ONE OUT OF THEIR MASSIVE "CHEEKS"

 

[Show Heifer]

The cows pelvic area is so packed full of muscle that the opening is just too crowded, plus the natural square shape of the calf make it difficult. But mainly, lack of pelvic area in the cow.

 

[farmboy]

THANX FOR FILLING ME IN. I (as DL says) CAN CONSIDER MYSELF SMARTER NOW

 

[NHR Shorthorns]

Yes its nice that we can have an animal that just freaks us out when we see them. But for me its just too much of a freak show. Keep um sound and keep um red!!!

 

[shortyjock89]

Yes its nice that we can have an animal that just freaks us out when we see them. But for me its just too much of a freak show. Keep um sound and keep um red!!!

or Roan!!! I'm right along with ya, but those ol Belgians are fun to look at sometimes!!

 

[OH Breeder]

Yes its nice that we can have an animal that just freaks us out when we see them. But for me its just too much of a freak show. Keep um sound and keep um red!!!

Great looking heifer....what is she

 

[red]

Yea on the sound & Red!

(welcome) NHR Shorthorns!!!

 

[genes]

The meat quality is like the limi breed. Even with the apparently big muscle appearance, their muscle FIBERS are smaller, therefore more tender than the "angus" cattle even when they don't marble. They are super lean, with very little backfat or marbling, but like I said, still very tender. The Amercian grading system can not handle such an animal and therefore their bad rap.

And yes, they are fine boned yet sound and can walk MILES!!!

I guess I can explain this too.  The way double muscling develops is that back in early early development, when the cells are there but have not differentiated into what they are going to be yet (muscle, fat, bone, connective tissues), the gene causes more than normal to become muscle cells.  That leaves fewer to go to other tissues - hence the fine bone, thin skin, and lack of marbling and connective tissue in the meat.  So like Jen said, while the meat is not marbled, it is actually very tender.  From working in the meat wing here at school, it was often easy to pick out the piedmontese (another double muscled breed) steaks....they tended to be light in colour (some you could mix up with pork!) and of course, no marbling.  I'm told that the taste was generally milder.  So you guys that are used to eating delicious beefy steaks probably wouldn't like it, but there could definitely be a niche market (brand) to the health conscious who would actually prefer a milder meat (because they're so used to eating chicken. maybe)


Jason - the muscles themselves work just fine.  If these guys are going to have issues, it's more likely to be in things like calving ease, calf vigour, sometimes fertility.


Oh and since I've mentioned them a couple of times, here are what piedmontese look like.  A little less extreme than Belgian Blues, but still awfully muscular.
http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/images/photos/Breeds/Piedmontese.jpg
http://www.beavercreekpiedmontese.com/hugo2003.jpg

 

[farmboy]

THE PEIDMONTESE LOOK LIKE THEY LOST A FIGHT TO A BELGIUM(black eyes) (lol)