CALF_News_December_2019_January_2020

15 CALF News • December 2019 | January 2020 • www.calfnews.net Continued on page 17  Santa Gertrudis Breeders International 361-592-9357 | sgbi@santagertrudis.com santagertrudis.com | Find us on SANTA GERTRUDIS The Data Driven, Profit Proven choice for today’s beef industry. › Perform profitably in challenging environmental conditions. › Perform profitably in economically challenging feeding conditions. › Adds profitable heterosis to any production system. › Profitable, efficient feeder cattle that grade, hitting all marks. › Santa Gertrudis-influenced feeders hit all endpoint quality targets. › Santa Gertrudis-influenced feeders are efficient, averaging 3.5-lb. ADG. › First Bos indicus -influenced breed to offer GE-EPDs. › 30 years of data collection = comprehensive genetic evaluation. › 11,000+ genotypes in SGBI data set – one of the largest for a Bos indicus -influenced breed. DATA DRIVEN PROFIT PROVEN S A N T A G E R T R U D I S B R E E D E R S I N T E R N A T I O N A L SANTA GERTRUDIS IS SGBI 2019 Feeder ad_Calf News_1-3 horiz, 4c_1219.indd 1 11/15/2019 3:35 :04 PM (YG) was 2.98 with 50 percent of the carcasses scoring YG 1s and 2s. The data showed the steers had an average ribeye area 14 square inches. using Santa Gertrudis sires and Angus females also showed positive results. In his 2017-2018 feed-out studies, Garcia and his team AI’d cows with Santa Ger- trudis semen. There were 160 total cows bred. For 2019, 160 cows were bred with Santa Gertrudis bulls. Utah’s drier climate is less friendly to Angus females, Garcia said, but hybrid vigor from the Santa Gertrudis sires helped produce F1 calves that were better acclimated to pastures with lower quality grass. The Utah trials were held across 14 counties. Some local ranchers balked at the program. Their prejudice against eared cattle was apparent.“But after viewing crossbred cattle in the feeding The Santa Gertrudis World Congress 2019 took in the New Orleans traditions, with a jazz band escorting breeders from 10 countries to a French Quarter Cajun feast.  program, they realized the calves had no appearance of Brahman-influenced breeding,” Garcia said. “In the recent feeding program, we didn’t lose one Santa Gertrudis-sired calf to freezing conditions, and we only lost three of the calves leading up to weaning.” But for Angus-sired calves,“11 were lost” in the cold Utah winter, Garcia added. As in the first two years, Santa Gertrudis-sired conception rates were high. Of 80 cows bred, there was a 98 percent conception rate. Brisket disease, or bovine pulmonary hypertension, has become a bigger prob- lem in more mountainous areas. But not for eared cattle, Garcia said. Santa Gertrudis breeder Alfonzo Sanchez, Belen, N.M., pointed out super performance numbers – ADG of 3.51 pounds per day, 96 percent Choice, with 51 percent hitting the Premium Choice mark. Coping with the cold Most of the Santa Gertrudis breeders on the tour were from warm geographi- cal areas that have always been ideal for Bos indicus cattle. But Sanchez stressed that the Santa Gertrudis breed and Santa Gertrudis-cross cattle also work in colder climates, as was indicated in the Hereford Feedyard results. Matt Garcia, a beef cattle specialist at Utah State University, said heterosis