xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Hello Friends. My name is Gearld Fry, After developing, managing & running Fry’s Reproductive center for 25 years I become much aware of a great lack of knowledge that exists in the cattle/livestock industry. There is no method of standard that exists today for selection, breeding & development management of livestock. All method begin dying around 1950. From that point until today, the fertility conditions of our bulls has continued to deteriorate and beef has become very tough especially at the commodity market and grocery store. All animals today require supplemental input for production & table food. The show ring, the EPD system & the teaching institutions all support the grain feeding feed-lot system that pays more for substandard cattle that can’t finish on grass than high standard or gourmet quality animals that will give a good return for your grass. Today you need a bull for every 25-30 cows, more cows per/bull and you have many cows your bull leaves opens. Today, there are, for the most part, no gene pools that will consistently produce gourmet quality meat, milk & fat on grass. "Open cows" is a bull & management problem more than a cow reproductive problem. An optimal breeding herd bull will impregnate 70+ cows in 45 days getting 80+% pregnant the first 21 days of the breeding season. Each and every breed of cows was developed by a people who had no scientific equipment except a milk bucket and a glass jar. The glass jar was used for visually viewing the butter-fat that rose to the top in the jar. All cows that were kept would produce at least ¼ of total production in fat. That fat is as important to us today as it was then for many health issues, but more importantly, to the calf today for proper gland, gut and growth development. With the development of the feed-lot system the American cattleman ceased selecting for quality milk. When the selection process changed to single trait selection, we lost the quality traits our forefathers had selected for, and built genetically into our many breeds. Therefore, our own health, longevity and intelligence has deteriorated substantially, because of the quality of the beef and many other foods. In 1957 two brothers in New Mexico begin weighing their calves and their momma cows to determine which of their cows were producing a quality of milk (largest calves) from their grass and breeding back for the next calf. All calves were weaned at 205 days because of drought conditions. The second years those weights & adjustments were turned over to the breed Association, entered on the registration papers and the rest is history. And now there is EPD’s for every trait except butter-fat. Today, people think they must wean at the 205 day mark. EPD’s, science & education has eliminated all common sense in both the seed stock & commercial industry. We have completely lost our way in grass production and producing & developing cows that give us the greatest return from the grass we grow. I know very few beef producers who make their entire living from their beef business. Your first argument is "the commercial markets won’t pay me enough for my cattle to maintain a decent life style" or "it is to hard of work for the return for my labor, too much drought, time consuming, winters too tough, no fun." At this point I will announce to you that we you and I are not in the beef, dairy or any other livestock enterprise or farming business. We are in the business of producing food. All of you are all too familiar with the depth of sickness, diseases, baby born with crippling disorders and cancers that exist in this country today especially from hormone and drug laced food. It has been this way for far too many years now. You need to realize that every time you deliver a cow, sheep, goat milk, vegetables or fruit to the market place that you just became responsible for the consumers health, longevity and intelligence. Your argument may be "the processors are more to blame because of preservatives, coloring and other chemicals they use." I won’t argue with you there. One thing the processor can never do is add one ounce of wholesomeness, quality or tenderness to any product you delivered to him. In livestock quality and tenderness is about genetic selection and management of those genetics and that responsibility belongs to you and I alone. We will not have holistic food until you and I return to genetic selection and management of those genetics and create paternal gene pools that produce wholesome food and then we feed ourselves out of the disease & sickness we have created. I mentioned earlier there are no standards and, for the most part, no artisan knowledge for selection, breeding and development of livestock. For the most part we just roll the dice when selecting & breeding our livestock. We allow more myths to rule and govern our decisions than seeking for truth and reality. The feed-lot system has demanded and paid the most for the more fragile animals so long now and the older producers who remembers what a grass-functional animal looks like have died and that knowledge died with them. There is hope though. Many of our forefathers realized their wisdom would be in needed today and they left us a legacy in writings and maps for genetic selection, breeding and management of our livestock. After many years of reading and research from books written by men who knew the standards for grass-type animals that could produce healthy meat, milk & fats and how to develope them, their standards was for paternal genetics and reproduction performance of their bulls. I have made a number of films demonstrating how to select for genetics first and then how to measure and select cattle that will get pregnant, produce and reproduce on grass consistently with the high quality gourmet meat, milk and fats that are so desperately needed today. Many of our cows only have a calf every 14-16 months. We have sold open cows and heifers for the past 30-40 years. So for the most part there is no reproductive problems with our cows. Therefore, the problem with open cows must lie in some other place. That problem lies within our so called herd bull and the volume and quality of their semen. Most other quality problems with tenderness, quality of meat, milk and fats can be fixed when we fix the reproductive problems we have allowed to creep in our herd sires. The requirements for repairing our herd bulls is fixing the low butterfat genetics that exist in our beef cows herds. All quality "herd-bull changers" only come from great cows that produce high butter-fat. And, you will only have a bull like that when you create him from your own cow herd unless you can find someone like myself who understands the requirements for a herd bull. I invite you to watch a 15 minute video on linear measuring and selecting a quality bull for your herd. The volume is a little low. So turn up your computer speakers. If, after the video, if you are still confused please contact Gearld Fry @ 501-454-3252 or gearld.fry@gmail.com or Steve Campbell @ 208-315-4726 or trianglec3@gmail.com. May God bless you as you learn, select, breed & manage your livestock. Together we can bring change to our food and save our families & friends from sickness & diseases and live. | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx |
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