Hi ED:

I am reluctant to become engaged in the discussion saga involving NADA and noted Colorado Seedstock producer Kit Pharo for none of the foci Kit mentions namely Function, Form or Pedigree and the fourth, which I mention, that of a focus on the numbers, taken in isolation provide a solution to the complicated business of breeding useful beef animals.

It does not matter what section of the beef industry that one engages in there will always be a place for composites as much as there will be a place for pure bred animals.

How else could a composite breeder maintain his brand without the steady imputs of reliable, predictable pure breeds?

It seems that everyone involved in Seedstock breeding plays just about an equal part in the whole scheme of things.

Most of the cattle industry in Australia has been recently affected by the millennium drought. Large framed cattle have battled badly in this drought yet medium sized cattle (4 to 5 frame score) have continued to reproduce and survive. America we see has come through a very cold and wet winter and we note that most large framed cattle shook their weight off and struggled.

It would seem that the moderately framed animals with traits that emphasise reproductability and do- ability are rising to the occasion- an occasion, which is characterised by higher imput costs. Hence the need for efficiency!

The ability to do well on grass favours the Devon breed, for selection on this trait over the years has led to the superior functionality of the breed on this relatively cheap and environmentally sound imput.

However to savoir the moment when I have your attention I have posted pictures of 2 animals who have the same pedigree background- obviously because they are Father and Son. The Sire is Mount Lookout Ranger MLTY12 (2003 drop) and the son is Mount Lookout Paris MLTD139 (2008 drop) and by the way both are related to the Bull, Belmur Clay that Jeremy Engh makes mention of in the article about his embryo program.  (See “Raining Devon” by clicking here.)  We have had Lookout Ranger scanned and his Eye Muscle area was greater than 130 sq.cm, which put him in our Elite section of the mob for EMA.

The maternal side of both these bulls is as long as you could expect going back through the tried and tested Havilah Weekday and Brassy females. The Paternal side is equally impressive running back through the Havilah Ranger and Overseer lines with long linkages to Wombramurra Ranger bloodlines.

 Such talk on generations of pedigree I know will be enough to bring a Spring smile to battle-hardened Gearld Fry’s face. To his credit Gearld gave us the now celebrated speech during the 2004 World conference at Mt Vernon on the attributes of a bull’s Rod and Tackle that certainly left an indelible impression in the delegates’ minds of the need to study their bulls’ functionality.

However given that we all “eye” our animals constantly and weed out the non do- ers it is no wonder that successful breeding of superior animals is a combination of a focus on Functionality, Form, Pedigree and the Numbers.

 

Yours in Devon,

Bob Crawford. Australian Devon Cattle Breeders Society President. 2010