Our Philosophy on Breeding Stock Selection
Whether we are buying cattle to add to our own herd, or selling cattle to novice as well as experienced producers, our philosophy about breeding stock selection boils down to these salient points.
We welcome visual appraisal and the recommendations provided by resource persons:
Before Buying any Cattle, Know Thyself! In other words….
Know your personal goals in life.
Know your surroundings in the environment. In other words, consider the environmental factors that might affect the type of livestock compatible with the community.
Selection Criteria for Herd Additions
Veterinarians in our home and surrounding regions, and at The Ohio State University
OSU Extension Beef Team, FSA, NRCS, and other agency specialists
Impartial appraisal by livestock judges, both in the show ring and on the farm
We assess conformational correctness and gentle temperament:
Visually, by looking for balanced, moderate frame, well-muscled seed stock, with good growth potential, without sacrificing size, scale, and structural soundness
By appraising the total animal, rather than focusing on a single characteristic or trait
By choosing females with correct pelvic structure, and bulls that will impart ample pelvic area to their daughters, for calving ease
By choosing bulls that will impart fertility and puberty by age 12 months to their daughters, and
desired traits of ribeye size, plus tenderness and marbling, to their offspring
By choosing cattle that walk easily, that can forage all day without leg or foot problems, that are neither post-legged nor sickle-hocked
By selecting and keeping docile, reliable, problem-free animals that will be an asset to any producer's herd
Listed in the next sections are the performance expectations, for an animal to be a breeding sire prospect, or to be retained as a replacement female and mature brood cow in our management system.
We expect cattle in our herd to meet these criteria, and we won't sell an animal to a buyer if we don't expect it to meet these same benchmarks.
Weanlings or yearlings that don't meet the criteria are retained until about 14 to 18 months of age, then sold as custom freezer beef, never for breeding
Performance - Bulls
+ Weanling must have minimum unadjusted-205-day weight of 600 pounds, and minimum frame score of 4.0
+ Yearling must weigh a minimum of 1000 pounds actual weight at 365 days of age
+ Yearling must display minimum scrotal circumference of 32 cm at age 12 months, although 36 cm is more typical and perferred
+ Yearling and older, must display continuing libido, despite weather or forage conditions, and must score well by American Society for Theriogenology standards on annual breeding soundness exam
+ Weanling must have minimum unadjusted-205-day weight of 550 pounds, with the exception of twins, with each twin needing 450 pounds minimum unadjusted-205-day weight
+ Yearling must weigh a minimum of 700 pounds actual weight at 365 days of age
+ Yearling must display puberty by age 14 months (regular heat cycles), although the beginning of heat cycles is expected by 7 months of age
+ Two-year-olds must calve by 30 months of age, and must breed back within 90 days
+ Mature cow must breed back within 90 days after calving unless she will become an ET donor prior to next breeding for natural calf
+ Actual scale weights taken at 180 days of age must show that the calf is 40% of the cow's body weight
Performance - Females
Tools We Use to Monitor if Performance Expectations Have Been Met
Weigh and record…at various points in the growth period of young cattle, and also periodically for our mature animals, throughout an animal's lifetime
Numerically check for correctness via the linear measurement approach of Gerald Fry
Periodic enrollment of test animals at recognized bull or heifer test stations
Annual ultrasonography for measurement of yearling ribeye area and fat thickness for all of our yearlings participating in the Ohio Beef Expo
EBV
's - In 1994 Spectrum Farm was one of only two Murray Grey producers in North America invited by the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society of Australia to enroll directly in BREEDPLAN®
and we have continued our membership and animal assessment with MGBCS
GeneSTAR® DNA marker
testing
for the favorable forms of the known tenderness and marbling genes in the bovine genome, used to evaluate our new herd sire, Katuna Courageous (Corey)
The Results --
EBV Example --
Cattle within our own herd
Sire lines we offer under semen sales
Females available next year as embryo donors
Bulls and females remembered in the heritage section
Last but not least, the cattle listed in the for sale section
Check out the various pages of our web site:
Top Quality Murray Grey Beef Cattle & Genetics