A34-lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17, 1993 Santa Gertrudis Cattle Have The Hardiness, Flavor, (Continued from Pago A 1) bucks,” said Gene. For years the Mooses have been trying to convince beef producers and retailers otherwise. They’ve been trying to help educate the pro ducer, retailer, and consumer about the advantages other types of beef have, particularly the Santa Gertrudis cattle. Gene, with wife Linda, daughter Sue and her husband Doug White operate a 90-brood cow purebred and commercial beef farm a few miles south of Gettysburg. Their 400-acre Chapel-Ridge Farm also finishes and prepares about 20 head of freezer beef per year using specially fed Santa Gertrudis crossbreds. A purebred Santa Gertrudis is premium for their freezer beef operation, according to Gene, because it tastes better, with improved marbeling, better lean ness, and better palatability. However, the diverse Chapel- Ridge Farm (in the Santa Gertrudis business since 1981) knows the importance, in these tough eco nomic times, of diversity. In addi tion to their purebred and finishing cattle farm, Chapel-Ridge also sells special round bale carrier/ stacker equipment Overall, what’s most important to the Mooses is helping to educate the buyer and the public about the greatness of the Santa Gertrudis cattle. Develop breed Santa Gertrudis are made up of % Milking Shorthorn and 3 /. Brahman. At the turn of the cen tury, the King Ranch, near Kings ville in southwest Texas, was try ing to develop a breed that was hardy and could withstand the severe weather patterns (from severe cold, to drought, to flooding rains) which hampered the survi vability of the known breeds of cattle. After they crossed the Shor thorns with the Brahman cattle, A comparison of conventional fatty crossbred beef, bot tom photo, and Santa Gertrudls purebred beef, top photo. The Santa Gertrudls beef tastes better, with improved mar beling, better leanness, and better palatabllity. they let them loose for an entire year and to their surprise, not only did the cattle survive, but they thrived and reproduced. According to Linda Moose, the ranchers, who wanted to keep the breed closed and market them on their own, found out that not only were the cattle alive, but they had calves that were weaning off at half their mother’s weight The mothers “were as mean as a snake,” said Linda, “but they had protected their babies, gotten themselves bred, had a calf unas sisted, protected the calves from preditors... and had enough milk to wean the baby off at half the mother’s weight, “And that’s what any of us are looking for in a cow,” she said. Looked down For years, beef buyers have looked down upon the Santa Ger trudis because of the navel flap, which tends to hang low, and the characteristic horns. Today’s San ta Gertrudis cattle come polled and homed, according to Linda. “In the Santa Gertrudis breed, the one thing that the commercial cattleman has been afraid of was horns,” said Gene. “Another thing was the large navel flaps (a Brahman influence).” Breeders of the cattle are making great strides in cleaning up the underline. The marketing of Santa Gertru dis in this country was dealt a bit of a setback years ago, after about 1910, when the breed was deve loped. Sometime between 1910 and 1940, several bulls “got out” of the King Ranch, according to Linda. Before that time, the cattle were known as “the rich man’s cow,” said Linda, “because only rich people could afford them.” But now, the cattle are priced near ly equal to other beef. Far too many considered the Santa Gertrudis a southern cow that would not be able to withstand the cruel northern temperature For years, beef buyers have looked down upon the Santa Gertrudls because of the large navel flaps, which tend to hang low, and the characteristic horns. Today’s Santa Gertrudls come both polled and horned, and the breeders are making great strides In cleaning up the underline. Here, Doug White poses with the Hunner bull. HTt' * Santa Gertrudls are made up of % Milking Shorthorn and % Brahman. At the turn of the century, the King Ranch, near Kingsville In southwest Texas, was trying to deve lop a hardy breed that could withstand the severe weather patterns (from severe cold, to drought, to flooding rains) which hampered the survlvabpy of the known breeds of cattle. After they crossed the Shorthorns with the Brahman cattle, they let them loose for an entire year and to their surprise, not only did the cattle'survive, but they thrived and reproduced. Here is a heifer calf from the herd. extremes, mostly because few had experience with them, according to Linda. Also, the northern far mers didn’t have the thousands of acres to allow free-roaming cattle as they did in the Midwest and Southwect. But the cattle are viable for the breeders because they will do well in northern climates. Loaded up A woman by the name of Helen Groves, a lady whose families had ties to the King ranch, purchased Buck Doe Run Ranch in Coates vil le to house Santa Gertrudis cattle. Santa Gertrudis were loaded up using helicopters and cattle cars, prodded with electric sticks, and set loose. All trouble broke loose when these free-roaming range cattle, who had never known a fence or any kind of confinement, nor had they dealt with human beings on foot, were allowed in the fields. “They went straight through fences, and they went straight over people, they went through bams, and they got a reputation of being wild, mean animals,’’ said Linda. But because beef producers know how important it is to treat an animal right, feed it, and acclimate it to the conditions of the farm, the v *s Santa Gertrudis (which became an official breed in 1940) thrived. Treat them right Linda said Chapel-Ridge Farm’s cattle “are better than a lot of the European breeds,” she said. “Because if you treat them right, they become pets. They’re the gentlest creatures you’ll ever find. But if you hurt them, they will remember it and they will get you.” Gene said, “They’ll eat out of your pocket But if you get to hoo tin’ and hollerin’ at them, and start clubbing ’em, I’ll guarantee they’ll hurt you. They will get you. They’ll gang up and get you.” Linda said the cattle’s gentle ness and their calving ease, together with their rate of gain and feed-to-meat conversion, make them highly marketable. The calf “is built right and the cow is built right to have an easy calving,” said Linda. Some characteristics of' the breed are the narrow shoulders and head of the calves, in addition to the wide pelvic area to the cows. Linda also said, “when that calf hits the ground, it’s small.” The calf is weaned off, by their projec tions, at half the mother’s weight —if not, the cow is culled to make Leanness way for better stock, Raised naturally She said the cattle they process for freezer beef are raised natural ly. “We do not feed them any anti biotics none of our animals get any steroids or growth stimulants. We feel we have the natural growth stimulants that we need within our breed, that we don’t need to use any implants of any kind.” Also, Chapel-Ridge doesn’t castrate the bulls. They believe when bulls are castrated, it takes away their natural growth hor mones, and the trauma will keep them from finishing as quickly and as well as they are capable of, according to Linda. “We’re continuously bringing in new bulls and new bloodlines to maintain our purebred sales,” said Gene. The finishing cattle are fed a special total mixed rations com prised of hay, speltz (a Russian form of wheat), oats, soybean meal, minerals, and molasses. The grain feed is used instead of graz ing to keep out the garlic-like, grassy taste common to feeder ani mals put on pasture. (Turn to Pag* A 35) N >
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