2-20 FB Breeding Strategy

A chat about breeding cattle.

Chip Holmes has a beef breeding strategy worth listening to. “There breeds and there are genes out there that have been isolated and if they can be found in these animals and that gene is bred without taking from after things that us fellas in the business, or I should say people because we are not all men, we have to raise a certain sized animal because we sell by the pound and then we sell by the grade, I have Hudgins bulls for a long time,  I know some of Hudgins and they are good friends, they have good beef and I have a number of them, and I am listening to the things that they do but I am also watching, I have been selling my calves at the feedlot now for years and years and I get the carcass information back on all of the steers and heifers that I sell. Carcass information is starting to improve whereas 10 years ago, 35% of the steers that I would send to the feedlot were grade choice. In the last several years I have had loads that are over 60% grade choice. If I can isolate those mamas and breed the bulls to them that do that,  and we can get this breed back up there to around 70% then we have done a wonderful thing for the breed in that we don’t have to go to the stock yard and take a dime or $.15 less.”