Igenity testing

[Cedar]

All great conversation, however, has anyone ever bothered to ask the consumer? I guess that is supposed to be Cargil/Tyson's job, or maybe Safeway.
I cannot personally understand why triple A carcasses are seen as such a superior product. Other than the fact that Cargil/Tyson have created a neat little market where they pay a little bit more to the producer and get a whole lot more wholesale or retail.

The demand from our Calgary customers through our two meat shops, and numerous restaurants is more for cut size than marbling. A nice double A with a size to allow thickness in a New York Strip is far more important. Of course some of the specialty restaurants demand triple A, but once again try to convince those Chef's to make a 1/2 cut medalion out of naturally shaped piece of meat.

There is room for every breed of cattle in this industry, and we need not fear not having a Leptin gene to succeed.

Practical thinking, raising beef cattle, not Oxen, and looking at eliminating growth hormones (no hormones means earlier marbling) makes far more sense than worring about a gene marker which I agree with smcgrath76 is only the tip of research in this area.

[nerves]

I wonder all this discussion on testing how many people out there use ultrasound on thier cattle? Seems to me that there is alot of purebred cattle breeders use this site. Does anyone ultrasound thier replacement hiefers and yearling hiefers both? Some people do yearling bulls just to have more information for thier bull customers. Seems to me that we have all this access to technolgy it may explain why that favorite old cow that never misses is your favorite. EPDs are one thing that I have never made work very well some of the best EPD cows produce scrubs while some of the moderate EPD cows produce at the top end. They don"t say that little 1300 pound cow produced a 750 pound calf while that 1800 pound cow did the same. Yet go to a bull sale and people buy and choose on EPD traits. We use ultrasound and have had some interesting results on our cow familys. The leptin test help prove to me what was going on so in my mind I can feel more confident in what we are raising. people talk about branded beef products is that not in essence what these technolgys lead up to.

[nerves]

That should read replacement hiefers and yearling bulls both.