low input smokies in Nebraska?

[Mark H]

it isn't just areas that have cold winters that do forage based feedlot finishing.  In arid areas like the Central Coast of California also follow this strategy only in reverse.  The grass come in the winter not the summer.  Range and pasture is never sufficient to finish an animal to even to select.  hence they use a forge feeding program in a feedlot.  This is the strategy of the biggest grass fed operation in the U.S. Hearst Ranch:http://www.hearstranch.com/  Thus operation doesn't have to make money and they have vast amounts of improved (irrigated) and range land.  I consider them to have the best range management in California. 
It is not a an easy thing to grass finish versus traditional feedlot.  The grass finisher must be an excellent pasture/ range manager in addition to managing his animals.  You also must have the land base to grow the grass on.  The land cost involved  is no small matter. In times of drought you may have to start feeding like the Hearst Ranch.  To top it off your time to market is longer as well.  So no easy task compared to the traditional system of running a feedlot where land costs are a big consideration and high energy density feed can be bought routinely.
Here is a link to Medicine River Luings.:http://www.luingcattle.com/  They grass finish all the time Iain is a great resource for grassfed beef production.

 

[HAB]

I would suggest just raising Silver dun Galloways.  They have the color and the traits you are wanting.

If that isn't what you want, buy some Angus X Char heifers and breed them Galloway.  Then breed those heifer calves Murray Grey.  I have marketed many of our customers calves that direction.

 

[librarian]

The high price of conventional beef has really eroded the premium price that once existed for grass fed beef. This has simultaneously caused grass fed producers to ask  "why bother" and consumers who resisted grass fed beef due to high price, ask "why not". While the conventional beef price may eventually come down, the grass fed price will probably remain high and the consumer will have been converted.
For this reason, I think it's worthwhile to put effort into experimenting with regionally appropriate crossbred genetics that will grade well in all forage systems. It's convenient that an animal that will excel on forage only should just do that much better with a grain finish.
My own bias is that Galloway is the magic bullet for grain free carcass quality. Another bias I have is that Shorthorn is a catalyst in any crossbred reaction. If the Shorthorn gets in through Murray Grey that's probably good because of the kind of Shorthorn used in developing that breed.
But the knee jerk idea that Continental breeds won't marble could get overturned right at this point with Charolais. The window of opportunity may be short to establish a " New Black" with the more open minded ( briefly) buyers for Forage Feed Yards. I'm on betting Smoke.
But...roan still rules in my heart.

 

[librarian]

HAB, I've been studying on those Silver Duns for a while.
I've had this hackneyed theory that phenotype follows color in Galloway, so I was looking for scientific support. ( my idea being that dun color and my preferred body type of cow were correlated...but wondering if the double diluter gene might have some unwanted side effect)
Here's some links, it's a fascinating subject.

The Effect of a Coat Color- Associated Genes
http://www.academia.edu/11695116/The_Effect_of_a_Coat_Colour-Associated_Genes_Polymorphism_on_Animal_Health_A_Review

Genetic basis and evolutionary causes of colour variation in vertebrates
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
June–July 2013, Vol.24(6):576–586, doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2013.03.014
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10849521/24/6-7

Review
Pleiotropic effects of coat colour-associated mutations in humans, mice and other mammals
Applied Animal Behaviour Science
June 2013, Vol.146(1):72–78, doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2013.04.005
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1084952113000505?via%3Dihub

Icelandic horses with the Silver coat colour show altered behaviour in a fear reaction test
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159113001019

 

[Mark H]

Have any of you grass fed types though of using South Devon?

 

[Freddy]

MARK ---I AGREE with a lot that you are saying about the different cattle and their uses  in the new and changed cattle market .  I think that if you reread what you said  and think about it the 9108 bull was doing his thing 10 years or more before some of these bulls and also laying a foundation for the  new era of bulls ... Did a quick pedigree check  on LEDGER -BLUEGRASS and his sire LT ASSSERTION ,start checking for UNLIMITED EASE 9108 and his sire BCR POLLED UNLIMITED 003 , in the good sires LT has their prefix on like RIO BRAVO and  Wyoming Wind and others you will see the influence by  9108 and his sire  and grand sire ....Got to go my brother in law might buy me a steak dinner ....LATER ...

 

[librarian]

The more I dig around looking at pictures the more 9108 derived females I see that sure look nice. Just need a1400 lb version.
I did my homework on South Devons.
My first bull was North Devon. The South Devon site says they are not related, but a historical review says they are. Supposedly the South Devon had an infusion of Guernsey and they are great butter makers. Good marbling. I heard there was a "Black Devon" that was a great cross of the SD and Angus, but the grass fed people I know are still in the craft beer mentality and don't see the sea change coming, so they regard South Devons as "false Devons". I always understood they came from a more fertile region so they got bigger.

Here's what I found:
http://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/32n2a4.pdf