Improving Carcass Merit while maintaing profit

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Improving Carcass Meritwhile maintaing profit
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Industry Challenge
Muscle weight as a of LW Muscle weight as a of LW Muscle weight as a of LW
LW Muscle as of LW
Cattle 1300 32
Deer 220 39
Pig 200 32
Sheep 81 28
Dwarf goat 31 35
Rabbit 4.4 48
Data from various sources quoted by Fowler, 1980 Data from various sources quoted by Fowler, 1980 Data from various sources quoted by Fowler, 1980
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Profit

• Income expenses
• Pounds sold per ewe
• Control feed costs

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What is your market?

• Niche/direct sales
• lambs
• carcass whole or half
• piece at a time
• Light slaughter lambs
• ethnic channels
• Traditional
• sale barn, terminal, pool, packer direct,
  alliance

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Client taste and budget

• Upscale versus cheap
• Flavor intensity
• Mild, coarse wooled, hair or meat type
• Strong, fine wool or prolific
• Age younger is milder
• Sex more influence on old lambs (gt10 mo)

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Selecting Terminal Sire

• Growth, growth, growth
• Livability, longevity
• Carcass merit

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Selecting Terminal Sire

• Options

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Crossbreeding

• Capitalize on breed complementarity
• Polypay ewes breed to Suffolk Rams
• not
• Suffolk ewes breed to Polypay Rams

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Marketing Lambs when Ready

• to 70 of ewe weight
• Average weight of sire breed females
• Average weight of dams breed females
• 175 lb Polypay 250 lb Suffolk
• (175250)/2 137.5

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Seedstock producers

• Improving your genetics to improve carcasses
• NSIP, Lambplan, ultrasound
• Carcass traits are highly heritable
• rapid progress is possible
• example swine industry
• Indirect selection via growth
• fair comparisons

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Correlation between carcass and growth

• ?

Growth Genetic Phenotypic
lean 15 8 subcutaneous fat -47 3 lean to
fat 28 4 ultrasound fat -30 -8 REA 38 3
-

DGMISU
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Current Lamb Market YG QG Distribution

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Backfat lt.16 .16-.24 .25-.34 .35-.44 gt.44 YG
1 2 3 4 5 Prime 0 1.2
3.8 1.2 .4 Choice 5.2 27.0
49.2 11.0 1.2 Total 5.2 28.2
53.0 12.2 1.6
DGMISU
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Lamb Performance Div. Summary Statistics

• Ave. start weight 78.3
• Ave. final weight 131.2
• Average daily gain .55
• Std. deviation on gain .14
• Average live score 17.6
• Std. deviation on LS 1.66

• Ave. carcass weight 77.9
• Ave. dressing 59.4
• Ave. back fat .20
• Ave. bw thickness .87
• Ave. ribeye area 3.33
• Average BCTRC 47.5
• Std. dev. on BCTRC 1.34

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Seedstock producers

• Sire selection schemes
• Cooperative efforts
• Multiple flocks
• Increases selection differential
• Increases rate of genetic progress
• Example Siremax, Western Suffolk Referencing
  Scheme

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Questions