Livestock Notes
Despite Obstacles , Cattle
Industry Thrives
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. “The
cattle industry has survived,
despite the efforts of man,” said
Dr. Harlan Ritchie of Michigan
State University.
His tongue-in-cheek observa
tion captured the attention of
about 400 Limousin breeders, uni
versity people, and beef industry
leaders gathered November 30 to
December 2 at Kansas State Uni
versity for the Leader’s Edge
Limousin Directions Breeder
Symposium.
Ritchie offered a historical per
spective of beef cattle type to
Limousin breeders who had
gathered to discuss specific trait
and type recommendations for
their breed traits which were
considered for fine-tuning in an
effort to better serve the commer
cial industry. Although the
Limousin breed has posted four
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consecutive years of record
growth, its breeders are looking
for ways to open up expansion
even more.
As breeders prepared to consid
er variqus recommendations,
Ritchie urged them to consider
what man has done to cattle
throughout history in terms of
type often type is defined to a
great extent by frame size.
Ritchie showed slides from
cattle in the 1800 s, when frame
size was relatively moderate.
From there, cattlemen chased ear
ly maturity so far past equilibrium
that history saw the “stocking
stuffer” models of the 1940 s and
19505. The penchant for small
frame size spawned the advent of
dwarfism, a genetic defect Ritchie
termed the holocaust of the
purebred beef industry.
Reluctant to learn the lessons of
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history, cattlemen swung the pen
dulum of frame/type back the
other way, again past the point of
moderation in the 1970 s to the
giants of the 1980 s, many which
possessed more leg than meat.
Today, an air of moderation
seems to be wafting across the
industry once again. Recognized
as a moderate framed Continental
breed, Limousin producers at the
conference endorsed the idea that
current frame size in Limousin
cattle should be maintained
neither increased nor decreased
as fine-tuning takes place in other
trait areas.
Perhaps Gene Raymond, past
president of the North American
Limousin Foundation (NALF)
and Limousin breeder in Garnett,
Kansas best summed up the mis
sion of the Limousin breeders at
the symposium and the mission of
the symposium itself, as far as the
breed is concerned; “The breeder
that culls the hardest, selects the
hardest, and tries the hardest will
be the most successful, the same
with breeds.”
“In order lo make progress, we
must be critical of our product.
We need to seriously accept critic
ism,” he said.
Beginning with a type task
force meeting last summer which
established trait recommenda-
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tions, and culminating in the
three-day symposium, that’s
exactly what the Limousin breed
has done: invite critique from out
side their fraternity as well as from
within it in the name of
improvement.
Such an invitation makes the
symposium unique in modem-day
purebred history. The record
shows individual breeds are pre
disposed to guarding against any
one who would proclaim that
breed less than perfect. The breed
way has been to steamroll critic
ism with promotion, rather than
open the gates to it.
“We must excel in our virtues
and be adequate in all other traits,”
said Raymond, explaining no
single breed can be all things to all
people.
“Limousin is known as the car
cass breed,” said Raymond. “It’s
important we don’t lose sight of
that.”
Commercial cattleman Jim
Thccck of Brenham, Texas,
underscored the need for breeds to
understand their use within the
industry. He offered a theory
which doesn’t allow for second
chances: “We’re (the commercial
industry) not going to continue
dealing with 60-80 breeds of
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cattle. We’re going to get down to
8-10 breeds, which will be cither
maternal or carcass.”
What’s more, Theeck specu
lated his predicted handful of
breeds would not include one
which attempted to excel in both
areas. He doesn’t think it’s possi
ble for a single breed to excel in
both, given the inherent antago
nistic relationship that exists
between the two types.
Presentations by many of the
speakers at the symposium illus
trated the harsh realities of the
beef industry. That is what Limou
sin breeders wanted as they are
developing their trait recommen
dations with an eye as much on the
total industry as on their own
breed.
Dr. John Edwards of Texas
A&M University emphasised beef
consumption is on the increase
again, thanks to retail response to
consumer concern over fat. While
retailers have been trimming away
the fat, cattlemen have been laying
it on because the marketing sys
tem still rewards them for it.
Limousin’s genetic leanness and
high cutabihty has helped spur its
rapid growth.
And too, Dr. Bill Mies of Texas
A&M said the current marketing
system is the reason cattle feeders
are more likely to look for good
weigh-ups and poor management
in feeder prospects than they are to
pay a premium for heavy muscled,
lean cattle.
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Excavating 1
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Owner-Operator
215-445-4667
Fivepointville Road
■HR.D. 1, Box 439, Denver, PA 17S17MH