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Wednesday 22 October 2014

Benefits Of Irish Black Cattle

By Dominique Martin


People who raise beef for a living are usually experts regarding what it takes to breed the highest quality stock to insure profitability. They look for animals that mature quickly and produce the highest ratio of salable beef per head off stock on hand. This ratio advantage is what convinces many to purchase Irish black cattle and integrate them into their current herds.

The advantage gained by using this breed of stock to improve the herd is amazing. One bull is capable of breeding with and impregnating up to one hundred fifty cows a season. They are very fertile and the rate of success is well over eighty five percent. Calves from these bulls will retain the very best attributes of the sire and because of genetics they will all look alike.

When born the male calves will weigh nearly eighty pounds while the heifer calves will weigh slightly less. They can be expected to mature fast and within thirteen months will weigh enough to be slaughtered. Carcasses contain less back fat and the meat is gently marbled giving it tenderness and excellent flavor. They also feature big rumps and produce steaks up to fourteen inches across. The final dressed percentage will be around sixty five percent.

If you plan to increase the size and quality of your herd obtaining one bull and six or seven cows will prove to be effective for short term strategies. The bull and cows will provide very successful mating results and whatever breeding stock you have will produce calves from the new bull. Heifers mature quickly and will pass through estrous the first year and be ready for breeding the next season. The cows deliver without help and the calves are quick to gain their feet and begin nursing.

Their medium size allows ranchers to spend less money on feeding the herd and this in turn allows them to raise larger herds overall. The high quality of the carcass cuts provides a better return on the initial investment made and also provides the opportunity to enlarge the breeding stock herds without cutting profits on the market.

Additionally important to raising this breed of stock is that they are very adaptable to the environment they habituate. They have shown the ability to thrive in over twenty two of the fifty states in America. Breeders in the high altitudes up to twelve thousand feet above sea level have reported absolutely no cases of brisket disease among their herds.

This breed was formulated in the 1960's by Maurice Boney. He imported three Friesian bulls from Europe and began the process of developing what he perceived as a perfect beef producing stock. During the ten years he worked to create his vision he kept records of each calf and the linage of their blood lines. In 1971 he closed the book on the blood lines of his stock and in the early 1990's he obtained a Trademark to protect the breed's genetic future.

This breed of stock has become a standard of quality measurement over the past fifty years and continues to gain respect and popularity from breeders across the nation and from the international cattle industry.




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