M4 Beefbooster

[cowman]

There is a guy in my area that has a Beefbooster M4 herd. They sure are a good looking set of cattle! The cows are big and stout and look like they can really milk. The herd started calving around the first of April and they sure have some big husky calves on them. I would estimate the cows weight in that 1600 lb. range?
These cows spent most of the winter out swath grazing and apparently go to a big lease somewhere out east for the summer.
Not sure of the genetic makeup of these cattle but they look like peas in a pod! I think the guy told me a couple of years ago any calf born over 100 lbs. had to be cut and they have to be born on their own or they get turned into steers? I would sure think they might do any commercial cattleman a whole lot of good?

[whiteface]

Make him an offer cowman! Maybe you'll get into the purebred game (I'm actually not sure if Beefbooster is an "official" breed yet that records their cattle with pedigrees), always nice to get a great start with some great sounding cows. I will say though that I think all breeds of cattle are capable of looking as good as your neighbors though with a little management and not putting up with any crap. I'm guessing that the red angus group your son bought are a decent bunch too...your beefbooster neighbor probably envies them!
Good feed and a little cash to operate with go a long way in making a herd "look good." Have a good day all!

[cswilson]

M4's are made up of mostly red angus,gelbvieh and limousin-there's a few beefbooster customers in our area-they work best if you retain ownership-there is some resistance from cattle buyers to beefbooster cattle or there was when I used to video cattle for satellite. I was offered the job of being their Sask. salesman years ago so got to tour the foundation herds over west of Calgary with Roman Hrysiak. We couldn't come to an agreement but I got to see some real good cattle that weekend. Like anything else the cows are only as good as the guy who runs them.

[grassfarmer]

Very much down to the management I guess, there is a beefbooster herd in my area that looks pretty rough. They run cows with no grass and feed for 8 months a year and the cows turn in scrawny mismatched calves that would embarass me. I don't know if he makes money with his cows or not. They would be 1300lbs if they were fit but are usually about 200lbs short of that.
Who the h### wants a herd of 1600lb cows ?? I don't know about anyone else but the beef returns I see are not good enough to justify the luxury of a commercial cow this size.

[cowman]

grassfarmer: I believe Beefbooster has different lines? I do know one big local ranch ran a couple of Beefbooster bulls with their heifers that were pretty sad to look at. Scrubby little runts with stripes like tigers! However the owner told me those heifers just spit those lively little calves out without a hitch!
I'm not so sure about the 1600 lb cow thing? I see some pretty big cows in most purebred herds? A couple of local Angus herds come to mind? I wonder how many bull buyers specify they want the momma of their bull to be a 1100 lb. runt? I also wonder how much John Rawes cows weigh? Saw his herd about twenty years ago and they were pretty big...didn't you buy a bull from him?
I also note that at the bred heifer sales in the fall, the ones over 1200 lbs. usually ring the bell? Now I would suspect a heifer that weighs 1200 lbs. at 15-18 months might very well hit 1600 lbs someday? Probably unenlightened ranchers intent on losing money, buying them?
Anyway this M4 Beefbooster breeder has always been quite an innovator. Probably one of the first to swath graze and definitely the first in my area to graze corn. I have attended "Pursuing Profits" seminars where he was one of the speakers and he definitely runs a profit oriented operation! Has a masters degree in agriculture and was quite high up in a large corporation until he came home to take over the family farm about twenty years ago.

[sundance]

M4 Beebooster DO NOT have any Red Angus in their strain. Red Angus has been used in the M1 strain. I am a M2 (HerefordSimmental) Beefbooster seedstock producer. All Beefbooster calves most be born & nurse unassisted to go into any breeding program. The breeding season is a maximum of 50 days. The only time their feet are trimmed is at the packing plant. My average mature cow weight is in the 1250 - 1300 pound area. This is with a condition score of 4 on a 1 to 5 range.
The M1, M2, M4 seedstock herds have a similar mature weight. When the bull calves are put on test they are fed to reflect easy keeping traits. They must pass a visual exam re: feet, legs & temperment.They are also semen tested at less than a year of age. Thus, only the most fertile bulls are made available for breeding.

[cswilson]

Hmmm don't make me get out their proganda I'm sure the stuff they sent me said the M4's were bred up from a Red Angus base with infusions of Gelbvieh and Limousin-but if you say not.

[grassfarmer]

sundance, it sounds like a good program - I didn't think beefboosters were supposed to be 1600lb cows. I don't mind Charolais being big cowman that is their role as a terminal sire. We have baldies weighing as little as 1000lb and they still calf unassisted to Rawes Charolais bulls. We have 3 of them now with calves off two of them - zero calving difficulty other than malpresentations. But that goes for our whole herd heifers and all - i don't find it hard to feed and manage cows for zero assist calving other than malpresentations.

[cowman]

Well I never got out and weighed those cows or anything! But they sure are big stout cows and they are in excellent condition. With the mild winter we had it was hard to keep the condition off the cows in a swath grazing situation...I expect? This guy feeds absolutely no "filler"(straw) nor does he use any bedding!
I suspect those cows have a lot of Gelvieh in them...don't know about Limo? A few of them have white spots on their faces...sort of brockle face.
I kind of like the beefbooster philosophy? The idea of selecting for commercial traits has to be good? And getting rid of the razzle dazzle of the show ring is a good thing in my opinion.

[FRENCHMAN]

Heres the website see for your self.http://www.beefbooster.com.