Braunvieh Perform in the Feedlot

t the sale barn or feed them out, performance in the feedlot and carcass results matter.To those who sell at the sale, weaning weights and color (in most parts of the country) effect your price.Higher weaning weights come naturally with the Braunvieh cattle: more bone, more milk equals higher weaning weights.But feedlot and packing house buyers are also looking for consistent contemporaries and cattle that perform in the feedlot as well as grade well at the packing house.If your cattle have the reputation that they meet these criteria, professional buyers will pay premiums for your cattle at the sale.Braunvieh in general, and our genetics specifically, have proven to meet these criteria.Braunvieh are proven to be feed efficient. On average, our cattle convert 1 pound gain to just under 5 pounds of feed.The Braunvieh tend to have minimal back fat while maintaining good intramuscular marbling.This combination results in high carcass and quality yields.The page “Gene Scivally results” quantifies typical results on our genetics.The spreadsheet “bull test results” illustrates the high carcass values our genetics can demonstrate.

Whether you sell your calves at the sale barn or feed them out, performance in the feedlot and carcass results matter.  To those who sell at the sale, weaning weights and color (in most parts of the country) effect your price.  Higher weaning weights come naturally with the Braunvieh cattle: more bone, more milk equals higher weaning weights.  But feedlot and packing house buyers are also looking for consistent contemporaries and cattle that perform in the feedlot as well as grade well at the packing house.  If your cattle have the reputation that they meet these criteria, professional buyers will pay premiums for your cattle at the sale.Braunvieh in general, and our genetics specifically, have proven to meet these criteria.  Braunvieh are proven to be feed efficient.  It is not unusual for our cattle convert 1 pound gain to just 5 pounds of feed.  When killing Braunvieh you can expect 80% choice or better, very low back fat, resulting in high yield grades.  As you know we have been adversely affected by drought.  We have lost 80% of our modified grass and our native pastures have been infested with thrion grasses.  All bad news and greatly reduces carrying capacity.  As a result, we are carrying less cows and do not have the pasture to develop the number of bulls we once did.  So as God closes one door, he opens another.  Some investigation turned up a feedlot in Gage Oklahoma (only 2 1/2 hours from here that has a business model that fits our needs.  They feed cattle and have agreements with packers that allow them to give us the carcass data per animal.  It is my expectation that this will allow us to capture some very lucrative premiums they have negociated, as well as provide the data that we all should be looking for.  So, we are changing our program for a couple of years it is our intent to keep only the creme’ de la creme’ of the males and put them on test at Navasota.  We believe strongly that performance data, including the RFI data, while costly, is a key part of the puzzle for breeding.  It will increase the cost of the animal, but those buying this quality of animal are willing to pay for that information.  The remaining (and we cut some dandys this fall) will be cut and fed.  The data we get from the packer will be extremely valuable and provide the hard info that prospective bull buyers need to make a good decision for the future of their program.  Studies show that the right bull can move a program forward in a big hurry.  It is our mission to provide the kind of bulls that will do that for our customer.  View a press release about Braunvieh Cattle winning the 2009 Beef Empire Days Steer Trial.

Whether you sell your calves at the sale barn or feed them out, performance in the feedlot and carcass results matter.To those who sell at the sale, weaning weights and color (in most parts of the country) effect your price.Higher weaning weights come naturally with the Braunvieh cattle: more bone, more milk equals higher weaning weights.But feedlot and packing house buyers are also looking for consistent contemporaries and cattle that perform in the feedlot as well as grade well at the packing house.If your cattle have the reputation that they meet these criteria, professional buyers will pay premiums for your cattle at the sale.Braunvieh in general, and our genetics specifically, have proven to meet these criteria.Braunvieh are proven to be feed efficient. On average, our cattle convert 1 pound gain to just under 5 pounds of feed.The Braunvieh tend to have minimal back fat while maintaining good intramuscular marbling.This combination results in high carcass and quality yields.The page “Gene Scivally results” quantifies typical results on our genetics.The spreadsheet “bull test results” illustrates the high carcass values our genetics can demonstrate.