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By Doyle Sanders, BBU International Committee
Lukasz Karmowski and his dad, Jacek, are now the proud owners of the first Beefmaster ET calf born in Poland. Beefmasters are a unique American breed with leading feed efficiency and heterosis for strongest weight gains for all American and European beef breeds.
The bull calf was born on 11 August 2017. The Karmsowski’s Radzicz Ranch is near Radzicz, in western Poland. The calf is a DBL D BAR Ranch “D’Vinci” son with the Dd-1112 donor dam. The recip used is from their Limousin herd.
This family has been raising Limousin cattle on their farm since soon after Poland received independence from the Soviet Union- around 1990. They annually market about 200 bulls into Germany and Romania from their farm. And they knew they needed to improve their product. In 2014 they read about Beefmasters in their National Polish Beef Breeder Association journal. After some research into [...]
Dear Beefmaster Nation and Family,
A few days ago we were delivered unfortunate news regarding the health of our Executive Vice President. Bill Pendergrass suffered a stroke the night of August 10, 2017 while he was in Tennessee visiting his mother, who was in the hospital. His timing of being in the hospital during the stroke proved to be a blessing because he received immediate medical attention. The last few days have been filled with texts and phone calls with updates from the family and through God’s will, Bill is continuing to improve. To date, the swelling in his brain continues to recede and his numbers continue to stabilize with the passing of each day. The outlook, as described by the neurological team, is promising.
Currently Bill is in an ICU in Johnson City, Tenn., where he will remain until the physicians are confident that he is strong and stable enough to [...]
BOERNE, Texas – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) conducted a feed efficiency evaluation at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., on 18 beef cattle breeds. The feed efficiency test results ranked the Beefmaster breed second for Average Daily Gain (ADG) and Dry Matter Intake (DMI) in both steers and heifers.
The USMARC study evaluated a group of 5,606 head of cattle and the group was composed of both finishing steers and growing replacement heifers. The study collected data for DMI, ADG and Post Weaning Gain (PWG). DMI and ADG data was recorded over 62 to 148 day periods for both steers and heifers. PWG was calculated by dividing gain from weaning to yearling weights by the number of days between the weights. Individual animal feed intake data was measured daily, as a key component of the evaluation. All animals used [...]
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) conducted a feed efficiency evaluation at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., on 18 beef cattle breeds. The feed efficiency test results ranked the Beefmaster breed second for Average Daily Gain (ADG) and Dry Matter Intake (DMI) in both steers and heifers. Only one other breed ranked in the top five in ADG and DMI for both sexes in this study and they were below the mark set by Beefmasters.
Ranking
Breed
Steer
Ranking
Breed
Heifer
ADG,DMI
ADG,DMI
1
Limousin
0.206
1
South Devon
0.203
2
Beefmaster
0.203
2
Beefmaster
0.096
3
Chiangus
0.13
3
Hereford
0.094
3
Maine Anjou
0.13
4
Maine Anjou
0.031
4
Santa Gertrudis
0.119
5
Charolais
0.03
5
Gelbvieh
0.107
6
Shorthorn
0.025
6
Brahman
0.1
7
Limousin
0.017
7
Hereford
0.099
8
Santa Gerturudis
0.012
8
Braunvieh
0.073
9
Chiangus
0.008
9
Charolais
0.07
10
Salers
0.002
9
Salers
0.07
11
Angus
0
9
Shorthorn
0.07
12
Simmental
-0.004
10
Tarentaise
0.05
12
Red Angus
-0.004
11
Simmental
0.027
13
Brahman
-0.023
12
Angus
0
14
Gelbvieh
-0.027
13
Brangus
-0.002
15
Brangus
-0.049
14
Red Angus
-0.014
16
Braunvieh
-0.078
15
South Devon
-0.041
17
Tarentaise
-0.081
Details about the evaluation:
The 18 breed USMARC study evaluated 5,606 head of cattle (composed of finishing steers and growing replacement heifers) for DMI, ADG and Post Weaning Gain (PWG). DMI and ADG data were recorded over 62 to 148 day periods for both steers and heifers. PWG was calculated by dividing gain from weaning to yearling weights [...]
BOERNE, Texas – Over two hundred Junior Beefmaster Breeders Association (JBBA) members and their families traveled to the MPEC – J.S. Bridwell Agricultural Center in Wichita Falls, Texas for the 33rd Annual JBBA National Show and Convention from July 16-22. This week-long event hosted Junior Beefmaster breeders from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. Along with the cattle shows and convention, money was also raised to support the JBBA program.
“A big thank you to the auction donors, live auction buyers and Calcutta auction buyers. The auctions held last week raised over $16,000 for the Junior Beefmaster Breeders program,” said Collin Osbourn, Beefmaster Breeders United Chief Financial Officer.
During the convention JBBA members elected the following individuals to represent them as the 2017-2018 JBBA Board of Directors and Officers.
President: Cristian Samano of Decatur, Texas
President Elect: Raleigh Scherer of Brenham, Texas
Secretary: Emily Martin of New Ulm, Texas
Treasurer: Seth [...]
The previously scheduled judge for showmanship classes at the 2017 JBBA National Show had to cancel due to unforeseen schedule changes and the new 2017 JBBA National Show showmanship judge is Dr. David Roper of Tarleton State University.
Dr. David Roper currently serves as the Judging Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor within the Department of Animal Science & Vet Technology at Tarleton State University (TSU). Prior to arriving at TSU in September 2016, David served as the Virginia State Extension Livestock Specialist where he had the opportunity to coach the 2015 National Champion 4-H Livestock Judging team as well as manage several state wide youth events. He and his wife, Jennifer, and three boys (Ty, Kase, and Lane) now reside in Gorman, Texas. They are actively making preparations for the start of their youth show careers and look forward to being in the ring soon.
David received his Bachelors in Animal Science [...]
Raising cattle is not for the faint of heart, and this is especially true in the harsh brush country of South Texas. There are years of extreme heat and drought, so only the toughest cattle and the toughest people can survive. Rancho Tres Hijos is tucked deep in the brush just outside of Tilden, Texas and this ranch has not only survived in years of extreme drought but has thrived under the ownership of Arthur “Bub” and Nancy Epley.
The Epleys have been raising Beefmaster cattle on Rancho Tres Hijos since 1996. Over the past twenty years of being in the Beefmaster business, the Epleys have become well known for their dedication to breeding solid, performance-based cattle, while also being large contributors to the Beefmaster breed and Beefmaster Educational Endowment Foundation (B.E.E.F.).
Bub Epley grew up in Magnolia, Ark., and he currently resides in Houston, Texas with his wife Nancy. When the [...]
By Bill Pendergrass, Executive Vice President
Genetic improvement in the beef industry is moving at warp speed. The recent Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) meetings at Athens, Ga., were truly eye opening. BIF is composed of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Meat Animal Research Center researchers, breed associations, animal scientists from every major animal science university in North America, beef extension specialists, bull studs and individual progressive commercial cattlemen. The mission of BIF is to share research among these various groups and establish guidelines for collecting and evaluating performance data for the purpose of making genetic improvement and improving profitability for the beef industry.
The slow process of genetic improvement has been amped up thanks to technology. For decades, the only tool cattlemen had to gauge genetic progress was simply scoring or evaluating the visual or phenotypic traits. In the 1960-1970 era, the first significant technology was implemented to help cattlemen improve [...]
By Bill Pendergrass, Executive Vice President
By the time you read this, everyone will have learned that President Trump has closed a trade deal with China that will re-open their market to U.S. beef. The U.S. has been blocked out of the Chinese market since the infamous. “cow that stole Christmas” in 2003. The positive repercussions of the Chinese market opening is great for all U.S. cattlemen.
Over the past several months the U.S. market has been steadily building again. All classes of cattle, especially replacement females, have been increasing in value. Some of this is because of herd rebuilding in the southern plains and Midwest. What I think we will be seeing over the next few months is a robU.S.t market for feeder cattle, finished cattle and replacement females. This is because once we begin shipping product to China demand will increase across all classes of cattle.
Since news of this trade [...]
By Lance Bauer, Field Representative
The past couple of weeks have been full of travel. I have gone from Athens, Ga. for the Beef Improvement Federation conference and to David, Chiriqui, Panamá for Feria De La Carne Bovina (Cattlemen’s Convention). In Athens, there were academics, as well as producers, represented and many informative presentations were presented about the future of the cattle industry in the United States. It was very evident from these presentations that we need to produce more efficient and maternal cattle. There was also a big push to use crossbreeding and take advantage of hybrid vigor. I believe that all three of these topics are strengths of the Beefmaster and make us a viable option for producers.
In Panamá, I visited the government operated experiment station called Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria de Panamá (IDIAP) and learned about their crossbreeding projects. They have recently incorporated Beefmasters into this project and [...]