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Limousin-The Ideal Complement To British-Based
Cows
by Kyle Haley
Maternal efficiency may be Limousin's best kept secret.
Over the year's Limousin have been touted as one of the best in
terms of the ability to combine calving-ease with growth and carcass
merit. While the Limousin breed continues to excel the competition
in each of these important trait areas, the Limousin female, when
utilized in a crossbreeding system, has done an admirable job of
proving herself in the commercial cow-calf arena.
 Commercial
cattlemen, in a variety of production environments, who have given
the Limousin female a chance to succeed, know firsthand just how
profitable a percentage Limousin female can be.
In addition to this real-world performance, respected industry
research proves the Limousin female has among the lowest maintenance
requirements and is the most efficient over a wide range of available
feed resources. Two of the major reasons Limousin are among the
most efficient can be attributed to their moderate milk and moderate
mature size.
Table 1 also eludes to what cattlemen have said for decades, Limousin
is the leading major Continental breed for low birth weights as
well as calving-ease... (contnued after chart)
| Breed |
**Efficiency
to 463 lbs.
Retail Product |
Carcass
Weight |
Dressing
Percent |
Fat
Thickness |
Ribeye
Area |
Percent
Retail Product |
| Hereford |
24 |
675 |
60.3 |
0.46 |
10.5 |
60.1 |
| Angus |
26 |
697 |
61.3 |
0.46 |
10.5 |
61.5 |
| Limousin |
57 |
728 |
63.4 |
0.17 |
13.4 |
72.3 |
| Gelbvieh |
49 |
750 |
59.9 |
0.14 |
13 |
70 |
| Simmenta |
46 |
767 |
59.8 |
0.16 |
12.6 |
68.4 |
| Charolais |
50 |
767 |
60.7 |
0.14 |
12.5 |
68.7 |
Furthermore, by studying the Limousin genetic trends it becomes
apparent that while birth weight has shown very little increase
since 1990, docility, milking ability, scrotal circumference, gestation
length, weaning weight and yearling weight have all demonstrated
positive trends. These positive genetic trends in a variety of economically
important traits indicate Limousin seedstock producers are as committed
as ever to producing problem-free genetics with the ability to excel
in a variety of environments up and down the beef production chain.
Couple this with Limousin's inherent carcass advantages see accompanying
table and it becomes apparent that Limousin is the best adapted
Continental breed for the rapidly expanding case-ready beef industry.
And as the third largest beef cattle breed and largest Continental
beef breed, Limousin is positioned at the top of the industry as
a breed capable of supplying large numbers to producers interested
in using Limousin as their secret weapon.
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May
13, 2008
