Limousin-The Ideal Complement To British-Based Cows
by Kyle Haley
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... (continued after chart)
|
Breed |
**Efficiency to 463 lbs. |
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 |
|
Simmental |
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.
