FULLBLOOD LIMOUSIN ALLIANCE.
2023 National Fullblood Show
June 10, 2023
Mayes County Fairgrounds
2200 NE 1st Street
Pryor, OK 74361
THE BREED.
Is the high cost of feed, fuel and equipment making you see red?
The costs associated with raising cattle are a significant challenge for today's cattlemen. The ability to minimize costs and maximize gain is something everyone is looking for.
Turn your red into green...use Limousin!
"The amount of feed required per unit of retail beef produced is the ultimate biologic measure of beef production efficiency. Limousin calves produced the same amount of trimmed retail product with roughly one-half as much feed from weaning to harvest as compared to Angus and Hereford calves."
Gregory et al, J. Arim,
Sci 72:1154
Muscle Growth Efficiency
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"Because Limousin had a higher dressing percentage, higher percentage of retail product and lower percentage of bone than the other breeds, it was the most efficient in measures of efficiency where the endpoint was retail product gain"- MARC 1999
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Limousin cattle with approximately the same live weight as Angus and Hereford produced approximately 100 lbs. more close-trimmed retail product.
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When contrasted with Gelbvieh, Simmental and Charolais, Limousin weighing 100 to 130 lbs. less live weight produced the same quantity of retail product. - MARC 1994 (JAS 72:1152)
Calving Ease
Calving and weaning rates, birth weight, calving ease, and 24-h calf survival were evaluated in a four-breed diallel of Simmental (S), Limousin (L), Polled Hereford (H) and Brahman (B) beef cattle in five calf crops. Limousin dams tended to have the highest calving and weaning rates because they were able to have heavier calves with less calving difficulty and higher survival rates. - University of Georgia, Athens.
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THE CARCASS.
North American Limousin Foundation (NALF)
PRESS RELEASE
1/12/2021
Contact:
Limousin Media
Mallory Blunier,
LimousinMedia@gmail.com
303-220-1693
Limousin Leads the Way in Collecting Carcass Data
Carcass trait EPDs for Limousin and Lim-Flex® cattle are now among the most accurate and predictable in the industry, thanks to a cooperative effort between the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF), Aurora, CO, International Genetic Solutions (IGS), Bozeman, MT and Feedlot Health Management Services, Ltd., Okotoks, Alberta, Canada.
The leap forward comes with the inclusion of more than 45,000 actual harvest data phenotype records from pedigreed Limousin and Lim-Flex influenced cattle into the IGS national cattle evaluation.
“An ongoing challenge in estimating carcass EPDs is the lack of carcass phenotypes,” says Randie Culbertson Ph.D., IGS lead geneticist. “Considering carcass phenotypes measure the attributes of the actual end-product we are focused on producing in the beef industry, improving accuracy of our carcass EPD’s is imperative to making genetic improvement in these traits. However, the collection of carcass data to be used in genetic evaluations remains an ongoing challenge. The implementation of more than 45,000 carcass records into the IGS genetic evaluation represents a 52% increase in actual carcass phenotypes in our entire IGS database and will have a significant impact on the accuracy of our genetic prediction for carcass traits.”
“Incorporating this amount of actual carcass data, directly into the National Cattle Evaluation at IGS, is unparalleled,” says Mark Anderson, NALF Executive Director. “What’s even more exciting is the large volume of data we plan to add on a quarterly basis. The carcass phenotypes generated will greatly enhance accuracy, not only on the EPD’s of sires in the NALF herdbook, but also on related cattle throughout their pedigreed bloodlines. This will also greatly enhance carcass progeny equivalents when genomically enhancing cattle and will result in improved predictability in the mating decisions our breeders make, especially as it relates to highly heritable carcass traits.”
Wulf Cattle, Morris, MN made inclusion of the unprecedented number of carcass phenotypes possible. Wulf Cattle is one of NALF’s largest producers of Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle. Besides producing seedstock, the operation also feeds cattle in commercial yards throughout the central United States.
Wulf Cattle has long made a significant commitment to capture carcass records from fed beef cattle purchased from commercial cow/calf operators using their Limousin and Lim-Flex bulls. This same commitment applies to collecting carcass records from the firm’s BeefBuilder™ cattle1.
Other NALF members engaged in cattle feeding are also providing carcass phenotype records for the enhanced genetic evaluation.
“With the initial data set and the expected large monthly flow of new records from the BeefBuilder™ program, Limousin and Lim-Flex cattle are among the best characterized carcass genetics on the planet,” says Robert Weaber, Ph.D. of Kansas State University, a noted industry geneticist. He worked with the IGS science team to usher in this new era of carcass evaluation for NALF and Limousin breeders.
Weaber explains each Wulf Cattle bull in the genetic evaluation represents at least several hundred progeny carcass records, with some having 1,000 or more.
“The new carcass evaluation provides Limousin and Lim-Flex breeders the information necessary to make more precise and predictable breeding and selection decisions than ever before as they continue their quest to increase profitability throughout the beef value chain,” Weaber says.
“Enhanced data-sets like the one we’re creating, enable our breeders to not only create better cattle at an accelerated rate, but provide more consistency and predictability to commercial cow/calf operators and the entire beef value chain,” says Curt Wieczorek, NALF President, a second-generation Limousin breeder from Mount Vernon, SD. “This effort is a win for the beef industry and will certainly help solidify our breed’s long-standing position as the Carcass Breed,” Wieczorek says.
“The current marketplace demands cattle that can hit consumer-driven targets in terms of quality grade while achieving a higher percentage of Yield Grade 1-3 carcasses that deliver improved red meat yield,” Anderson says. “As importantly, current market signals are asking us to do that while simultaneously taking cattle to larger out-weights without sacrificing feed efficiency.”