Page 40 - DVAuction Online Catalogs

40 A Diamond in the Rough
February 2012
Recently, Kris Ringwall, North Dakota State University, Dickinson Extension Research Center, spoke at
the American Lowline Annual Meeting during the National Western Stock Show. The Research Center has
used Lowline cattle as a part of their crossbreeding system in their commercial cow herd. Here’s some of
the things Kris had to say;
“There are a lot of great things going on in the beef business right now. I hope to stimulate some thought
from everyone with the discussion and the story I have to tell.
What is right in the beef business? That is a really big question. There are lots of things that are right in
the beef business,” states Kris. There are a lot of different environments and a lot of different production
systems in today’s beef business.
“There are a couple of questions that get asked periodically in the beef business: How big? How small?
How much muscle? We ask these because we have to raise them and they have to give us something to
eat.” Kris is quick to point out, “I come at this from the commercial side of the business. Where do things fit
from the commercial side of the business as it relates to beef production?”
Kris gives more input on the commercial approach to the cattle business, “I look at things from a Beef
Cattle Systems Evaluation. What kind of system works? Where do certain types of cattle fit within a
system. In order to answer these questions, I like to establish usage – is there a use for the cattle, do
the cattle have something to offer? Once we have established that there is a use for the cattle, I like to
establish a use – where do they fit?”
The carcass data from our commercial herd really points out that there is a use for the Lowline cattle. The
research center used Lowline cattle from 2004-2007. “You’ve all been there, you have the Lowline cattle
standing next to the larger, conventional cattle and someone asks – what are those?” And people begin
to question if they are big enough. We used Lowline bulls on conventional commercial cattle to produce
the F1, first cross cattle and followed them through the feedlot. The F1 progeny were frame 4-5 and had
finished weights from 1100-1300 pounds. If someone says ‘they will never grow up’ they are wrong, don’t
believe them. With final weights of 1100-1300 pounds they can definitely fit in the industry.” The cattle
graded 69-100% Choice so they met the quality grade requirements of the industry very well in addition to
the market weight.
Carcass Data Summary - NDSU Dickinson Reserarch Extension Center
F1 Lowline Steers
2004 2005 2006 2007
Arrival Weight 945 994 830 786
Frame Score 4.4 4.7 4.8 5.2
Number of Steers 22 26 38 24
Harvest Weight 1186 1297 1179 1309
Days on Feed 85 95 110 138
ADG 2.85 2.73 3.03 3.81
% Choice or Higher 77% 100% 68% 88%
%YG 3 or Better 86% 76% 97% 75%
“So you can’t just walk away from cattle with this kind of data and say they don’t fit, that they don’t have a
place in the industry. They will fit and they offer some options in the industry. If you look at the industry –
we are in the cow business,” Kris continues, “It is a forage-based business, a grass-based business. The
cost of doing business probably triples when cattle go into the feedlot with the cost of grain. So, we really
have to look at the cows producing on grass.”
“We, the research center, took a couple of years off from using Lowline. We went back to using calving
ease bulls from some other breeds. We had some people looking at us funny – asking what are you do-
ing? People walked by your cattle and asked what is this? Then we had something happen that really was
one of the things that turned our heads. We were using these calving ease bulls and ended up pulling lots
of calves. A lot of them were hard pulls. So, after not using Lowline for 2 years, we got back in. We looked
at those F1 Lowline females and they had grown up and were pretty productive cows. We had been using
Red Angus on those F1 Lowline females. One of the things we were constantly watching was ribeye area.
We had tried to moderate frame on the cows one time before and absolutely lost muscle. That is the easi-