lundi 20 octobre 2014

Benefits Of Irish Black Cattle

By Dominique Martin


Raising beef for sale takes a lot of effort for most people. The rancher must remain on the lookout for blood lines that can improve the quality of the herd being maintained for breeding and to raise the ratio of salable cuts of meat to pound of living stock. Many beef ranchers have incorporated Irish Black cattle into their herds to achieve this goal.

Improvements to the herd will be noticeable with the first calving because the off spring will carry the genetic markers of the bull. A single bull from this breed is able to service a herd of over a hundred cows in one season. These bulls are exceptionally fertile and can remain working for up to ten years.

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.

Increasing the size or quality of a herd becomes an easier task when these cattle are introduced into it. The bull will mate with any breed of cow available and adding a few head of Irish Black heifers can help with blood lines when older cows are removed from the herd. The new heifers will mature in less than a year and be available for breeding during the next season. The cows can deliver in the field without assistance and the resulting calves will be vigorous and healthy.

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.

Environmental adaptability is another benefit of this breed of cows. During the past fifty years their numbers have spread to twenty plus states and reportedly thrive in all of them. They reportedly do very well in mountainous areas with altitudes high as eleven or twelve thousand feet above sea level. They are not susceptible to diseases that affect other breeds of beef in high altitudes.

After creating what he considered the perfect cow, rancher Maurice Boney imported three Friesian bulls from Europe along with sperm from other Friesians from Spain and Italy. He then set about breeding and documenting the heritage of his special stock. In 1971 he closed the books on linage and today all of this breed can be traced back to the original five cows and three bulls. In the 1990's he obtained a trademark for the line and started the non-profit organization that controls the purity of the breed.

The popularity of this breed has spread throughout this country and is making fast inroads into European markets because of its superior quality, fast growth and ability to thrive in nearly any environment. It maintains a standard of quality that is difficult to surpass on any level.




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