01/15/09 Charolais test

One cattle breed is launching a long-overdue research project to answer some important economic questions. I'm Jeff Keane' I'll be back right after this to fill you in. The American-International Charolais Association is in the process of finalizing a trail to research the efficiency and profitability of Charolais and Charolais-influenced cattle in the feedlot and for the packer. The Charolais cattle originated in France and are muscular, white colored and used in many crossbreeding programs. The Charolais Feedyard Performance Field Study will not be a pop quiz variety research project but more like a major test as data will be collected on a minimum of 10,000 to 15,000 head of the breed or breed crossbreds. Professional Cattle Consultants will be conducting the two-year research project. The PCC has been providing data for the feeding industry for 40 years, which adds credibility to the trial. Ten to twenty feedyards will be selected to feed steers that will have placement weights within 25 pounds of each other and will have similar starting and finish dates. The test group will be Charolais and Charolais-influenced steers with above average muscularity, frame size and body length. The control group will have similar placement weights and placement dates and fed the same as the test group but will have no Charolais breeding. The length of the study will allow data collection in all four quarters of the year to reflect performance and profitability against different seasonal input costs. This sounds like a very informative study. I'm looking forward to the results. I'm Jeff Keane. Charolais Edge January 2009