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A Breed Apart
Distinguished Breed
Calving & Fertility
A Cut Above The Rest
A Healthy Choice
Excellent Calving
Efficient Breed
Gentle & Economical
Breed For All Seasons
Profits & Bottom Line
Breed Standards.htm |
Efficiency
and British White Beef Cattle
Efficiency is a concept that all farmers are familiar with, especially
given the difficulties facing the agricultural sector in the twenty-first
century. Every penny spent on feed, medicine, or veterinarian bills are
pennies off the profit margin, a lesson that many ranchers have had to
learn the hard way. Many farmers and ranchers have turned to British White
Cattle because of their remarkable efficiency in turning feed into weight.
This is also a breed known for its easy calving and ability to survive and
thrive without human intervention. All of these factors can save money for
both short and long-term.
British White cattle enjoy a feed to weight gain ratio that is unrivaled.
The University of Missouri tested a British White bull recently, and over
a 140-day test period, it gained more than 4 pounds a day. The bull
converted feed at a rate of 5.5 pounds of feed per pound of weight gained.
The British White is also the product of several hundred years of natural
selection, as the breed was wild from 400 A.D. to around 1800. In the
wild, the British White endured droughts and feed shortages, so that only
the strongest examples of the breed were able to survive. Thus these
cattle can still gain weight when facing short feed or lean pasture. They
are excellent foragers when left to graze, and the breed has great
hardiness to help it survive extreme heat and cold.
The British White calves very easily, with a small polled head and birth
weights averaging around 75 pounds. Baby calves typically grow quickly and
thrive in part because British White cows produce generous quantities of
milk. The British White was used as a dairy cow in England in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries because of this milking ability. The
cow's ability to wean a 500-pound calf after eating only grass means that
ranchers can save money on supplementing with feed.
Another area that the British White helps save money is the breed's
natural resistance to some difficult bovine diseases. Because of its long
history in the wild, the breed has screened out many of the weaker traits
found in other breeds. That and several hundred years of selective
breeding have ensured that only the strongest British White genes have
been retained. The British White has particular resistance to viral
pneumonia and tuberculosis, two contagious diseases that can quickly
decimate a herd and run up massive veterinarian bills.
Today's rancher needs a breed that makes money at sale time. Saving money
on the way to sale can increase the profit margin by decreasing growth and
maintenance costs. The British White is a breed that combines many aspects
of efficiency to provide an "easy keeper" that will save money on feed,
medicine, and veterinarian bills, which are the three largest expenses
facing ranchers and farmers today. |