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The cattle industry is changing. Now more than ever, producers
are looking for cattle with carcass excellence. We see this as more
and more packers are offering incentives for cattle with both higher
marbling and yield grade versus the previous standard price per
pound. We now have the technology to evaluate carcass data without
having to send thousands of progeny to slaughter, thus also making
it more cost effective. Through the use of ultrasound we can gain
data on both bulls and heifers at a young age thus helping us make
more informed marketing decisions.
With carcass qualities being moderately to highly heritable we can
see improvements in a very short time. Heritability is not the only
factor in determining the carcass data in an animal. Stress, feed
and environment will all play a factor in carcass data. Therefore
ultrasound is the only perfunctory and cost effective approach to
gaining carcass excellence.
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