frame score

[knabe]

you are right justme, rademacher's test for tenderness genes and PHA and TH, though results aren't there for every animal.  i'll look it up, but rademacher's sold a couple of really nice epd animals with outstanding REA, IMF, tenderness, no PHA, TH.  i'm thinking about tracking down one bull.  i think he sold for 4400.  he's probably heterzygous solid patterned, as is another bull he sells semen on called SAR he's a lad.  i'm pretty sure GVC momentum is homo solid.  momentum is heterozyous for the tenderness genes, and he's a lad is hetero for all three and i can't remember which one's he's homo for.  he used total package 1p (from derouchey's) and sold some bulls at his recent sale by this bull.  decent numbers on those, but he throws white on your hetero solid patterned cattle.  hmmm

 

[TJ]

Frame, hair, breed, color or tenderness: doesn't matter which in the end if it has to taste good or you can forget it. I have seen some really silly things substituted for in the ring that have nothing to do with the plate. I have said it before but when it comes to the ring in the market class how does the particular trait, in this case, frame score, relate to the plate? How does it relate to the breeding class? And how does that impact our operations? I have had steaks from one breed (won't mention it for fear of offending someone) but it was hyped as being from this champ and that winner but honestly tasted flat, no matter how I tried to fix it. BTW, small frame, black color, lots of hair, 3 star tender. Found a small frame, red, short hair, 2 star tender which tasted great. Taste, Taste and more Taste. If the consumer doesn't like it, it won't matter what the cost of corn is.

No doubt about it, different breeds & even within differrent breeds, different bloodlines DO taste different.  Also, the way an animal is fed & what it is fed, can have a BIG influence on taste!  Barely fed beef tastes different than an animal fed mostly corn.  Grassfed beef tastes different than grain fed beef.  I'm sure the amount of by products & waht type of by products also play a role in taste.  Anyway, not enough emphasis is being put on the final product & taste is a big part of the final product.  If it doesn't have appeal on the plate, it doesn't matter if it is an Angus, Lowline, Chi, Maine, Shorthorn, Simmy,Red Angus, etc., or if it is tall or short or black or white or has pink polka dots,  ,  it has missed the mark.   However, cow/calf producers are often not rewarded for producing premium carcasses, that is, unless they retain ownership, so many have no concern about taste.   But, if you sell your own freezer beef, your customers will let you know if an animal tastes good & is tender or if it's not.  And if it's not, you wont be in business too long.     

 

[jimmyski]

To me one important concept that I would include in when talking about frame size is environment. I have grown up in eastern Colorado in hard, short grass country. We have had everything from 4.5 to 7+ frame cattle and the ones that have consistently done the best job of producing (i.e. breeding and maintaining adequate body condition without milking down) for us have been the 4.5 to 5.5 frame score cattle. They have done a good job of doing what we ask in terms of breeding, weaning a calf at over 50% of their body weight, and then rebreeding. We have also tried to maintain this through selection of bulls that are of similar type and kind. However, I will say that I have 6.5 to 7 frame Limmy cow that also has done a very good job of doing this exact same thing. But, back to the environment, I think a lot of what should be said, is that cattle should fit your environment not fitting the environment to the cows, which happens to be done a lot of the time. If I lived in eastern Nebraska instead of eastern Colorado, I think the majority of my cows would probably be of the 6 to 7 frame variety based on the availabilty of forage.