Minnesota Cattle

at MNcattle.com

Crossbreeding offers two primary advantages: heterosis (also called hybrid vigor) and the opportunity for breed complementarity. When the performance of crossbred offspring exceeds the performance of the purebred parents, the difference is called heterosis. In other words, the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. For instance, if straightbred Hereford and Angus calves average 500 pounds at weaning and Hereford x Angus calves average 525 pounds, the heterosis realized is (525-500)/500, or 5 percent. Maximizing Heterosis Realization of heterosis is the closest thing to a free lunch that can be found in the cattle business. Thus, all commercial beef cattle producers should seek to maximize heterosis in their herds. Some crossbreeding systems offer a greater degree of heterosis than others, and some traits respond more to crossbreeding than others. Heterosis is realized in inverse proportion to heritability for a given trait. In other words, lowly heritable traits offer the most heterosis, highly heritable traits the least. Table 1 lists beef cattle traits of economic importance and their heritability estimates. In general, reproductive traits are lowly heritable, growth traits are moderate and carcass traits are highly heritable. Thus, differences in reproductive performance between herds are virtually all due to environment and management, while differences in growth or carcass traits are due primarily to genetics. Also, reproductive traits will respond the most to crossbreeding, carcass traits the least. Read more...

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CATTLE PRODUCERS OFFERED NATIVE GRASSES INFORMATION
An informational program and station tour of Mississippi State University's Prairie Research Unit will focus on native grass and cattle production May 31.
GROUND BEEF GETS A "RAW DEAL" IN MEDIA COVERAGE
A Mississippi State University meat scientist is describing recent media reports as irresponsible journalism that casts a shadow over established practices that make certain ground beef products healthier and safer.
RECORD KEEPING DOES NOT HAVE TO BE HARD
As calf prices increase and more volatility comes to the input side of beef production, completing the task is more important than ever and some of the loopholes or shortcuts no longer exist when it comes to profitable beef production.
ANTIBIOTICS GIVEN TO CATTLE FOR SAME REASONS AS HUMANS
In Part 2 of this series we will review the use of antibiotics in cattle, both therapeutic (injected and fed) and non-therapeutic (fed – used to address sickness or to improve animal performance), applications.
IT'S THE PITTS -- BACKGROUND CHECK
We met at high noon, she was dressed completely in green from her pilates shoes to her forest green sweatband. She wore spandex leotards, an Audubon pin and a Sierra Club tee shirt with John Muir's face on it.
HUNTIN' DAYLIGHT -- TWO SIDES OF CONSUMER RESPONSE
Consumers and the mainstream media are a fickle lot, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad.
USE CAUTION WHEN RESTOCKING AFTER DROUGHT
Experts with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are advising beef cattle producers to use caution and strategic planning when thinking about restocking herds after drought.
LIPSCOMB HONORED BY ALABAMA BCIA
The Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association recently honored William “Bill” Lipscomb as the 2011 Richard Deese Award recipient during their Annual Meeting and Awards Program held in conjunction with the 69th Annual Alabama Cattlemen's Association Convention in Huntsville on March 31st.
CHECKOFF RELEASES BEEF TENDERNESS SURVEY
With funding from the beef checkoff, the industry has been tracking beef tenderness for 20 years with the first benchmarking survey conducted in 1990. In more recent surveys, foodservice cuts were added and a consumer sensory panel was substituted for previously used trained sensory panels because the consumer's perception of tenderness is the ultimate determinant of a cut's success.
PRODUCERS FACE SCRUTINY FROM PUBLIC OVER ANTIBIOTIC FEEDING
The use of antibiotics in food animal feeding has been a common practice for years. It has also been under fire from a variety of scientists, doctors, consumer groups and the media for years.
BLACK INK -- FAMILIAR OR LOADED WORDS
By its simplest definition, a cliché is something you have heard before. Writers are taught to avoid using them unless it is with a twist or to “shine new light on” something previously unexplored or even imagined.
IT'S THE PITTS -- OR SO I HEAR
I am one of the 10 percent of adult Americans who don't own a cell phone. It's not that I think cell phones are the work of the devil, or that they aren't handy, it's just that I am far too busy listening to other people's conversations to have one of my own.
BLACK CREST FARMS HOSTS ANNUAL SALE
The Black Crest Farms Annual Sale was held February 11, 2012 in Sumter, S.C.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HOOTER MCCORMICK...GULLY'S BAPTISM
If you've ever been a pallbearer, fighting to keep hold of your part of the precious cargo, lest your slip sets loose a chain reaction that ultimately upends the proverbial applecart, then you have some idea how desperate Thomas Terwilliger was becoming.
PROPER DEVELOPMENT LEADS TO PRODUCTIVE COWS
Finding common ground when it comes to developing the next generation of productive cows has always been a challenge for the beef industry.

Minnesota Cattle Links

Ag Universities

University of Minnesota
We are a landgrant college whose mission is to teach, conduct research, and share our findings through outreach efforts.
http://www.coafes.umn.edu/
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