ABSORBINE

NEW, REVISED,-— _fll

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AMERICAN-INTERNATIONAL CHAROLAISASSN.

923FFLINCOLN'LIBERTY LIFEBLDG.

HOUSTON, TEXAS77002

At the

first

sign of trouble

reach for

Breakthrough for Hog Producers

RESEARCH OF

the past decade has

made

commercial swine artifi- cialinseminationareality.

At

the start, farmers questioned the feasibility of swine ^artificialinsemination.

Were

con- ceptionrates as good and littersas big as in natural breeding? Research gave theanswer.Inoneof thefirstcompari- sons, conception rates were 58 percent with natural service and 62to 75 per- cent with artificial insemination. Sta- tistically, there

was no

significant dif- ferencebetweenthetwo methods.

One

of the first trials of artificial insemination for hogs under field con- ditionswasin 1959 byBadger Breeders Cooperative,

Shawano,

Wisconsin.

The

cooperative used over

300

sows in the study.

The

conception rates were

49

percent for sows and 37 percent for gilts based

on

first service, and litters

averaged 10 pigs

from

sows and 8.7

from

gilts.

A

^field trial

on

about

250

sows three years later by Tri-State Breeders had about the

same

concep- tion rate

on

firstservice.

Researchers

knew

that a commercial

program

ofartificialinseminationcould not

move

forward very fast until first service conception rates approached those of cattle

—

^{that is, 68 to 70 per-}

cent. Sotheytookcare ofas

many

de- tailsaspossibleto

make

therates better.

There

was

better mixing of the se-

men

extender, and it

was

packaged in individual ampules. Technicians were bettertrainedandlearned better timing.

This combination of

management

de- tails brought farrowing rates at first service

up

to 67-70 percent, a figure that

would

be acceptable to

hog

farm- ers.

The

commercial testswere expanded to

more

herds with continued success.

In 1964-65, 2,764 inseminations were sold. In 1965-66, over5,000 sows and giltswere inseminated. Farrowingrates were 76 percent for sows and 72 per- cent for gilts, and average litter size

was

9.4 pigs

from

sows and 8.4

from

gilts.

The

potential for commercial swine artificialinseminationisalmost unlimit- ed. It has been estimated that 50 per-

The potential for

commercial

swine artificial insemination is unlimited.

cent of the sows farrowed in the U.S.

are within a 150-mile radius of a boar stud.

Willhog

men

acceptartificialinsemi- nation in the years ahead?

They

will, based

on what hog

farmers

now

say about it.

More

than nine out of ten farmers, whether users or non-users,

had

heard about artificial insemi- nation.

The

major reason farmers gave for using swine artificial insemination

was

to improve quality and market value of their pigs. Farmers

who

used artificial inseminationlearned ofitand were convinced mainly through neigh- borsand vo-agadultfarmerclasses.

You'll open up your world

when you own the one with meaning!

A Triumph

is

more than

amotorcycle.

To

a riderit's

an

experiencefar

beyond

theordinary.

A Triumph's

total

performance

ridegives

you

aspiritof

adventure you'd never

expect

on two

wheels.

And

the extra

power

of

Triumph's famous OHV engine

gives

you

a

"take charge"

feelingthatcan't

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ignored.

Open up your world by

riding the

one with meaning. See your Triumph

dealer soon.

October-November, 1967

Steer

A

Steer B

A NEW ^{Look At}

IT

tually

^HAS

developed

^{BEEN SAID} from

^thatvocational

^FFA

^ac- agriculture livestock judging con- tests. It is doubtful that there

would

have been an

FFA

if students hadn't started gathering for these competitive events. But judging, like the

FFA,

is

changing.

FFA

^{must adjust to an}

agriculture that is

more

than farm- ing, and the cattle judge needs X-ray glassessohecan

make

a decisionbased

on

carcasstraits as well as type.

Professor Harlan Ritchie of Michi- gan State University told a

meat

con- ference recently,"Ifajudging

team

were to base their decision

on

five-year-old standards, they

would

not fare very well in today's contests."

At

the

same

meeting, R.

W.

Bray, a University of Wisconsin

meat

specialist, got to the heart of the problem:

"How do you make

a judgment based

on

carcass traitsthe

consumer

wantsand not over- look important production and type traits?"

Clearly it is a question that

FFA

judging teams andcattleproducersmust answer.

A

step in the right direction

was

taken recently byE. A. Kline and Robert Taylor, two

Iowa

State animal scientists.

They

started with the

two

live steers

you

see

on

this page.

Which

one

would you

pick . . . steer

A

or steer

B? Now

that

you

have

made

a visual judgmentyou are going to have a chance to see beef cuts

from

these animals as they actually appeared be- neaththe hide of thesteers . . . undis- tortedby hanging and stretching

from

therailofameatprocessingplant.

This

was made

possible for the first

time because the scientists froze the 56

carcassesina standing, upright position.

The

next step

was

to cross-section the frozen carcasses at six important plac- es.

Note

the dark strips

on

the photos of the two carcasses indicating

where

the cross sectionswere made.

"It

was

like putting

on

X-ray glasses and seeing

what

was underneath the hide,"Kline pointedout.

"Many

of the thingswe'vebeentalk- ing about in type are not too realistic.

With

the perspective gained by look- ingatthe undistorted carcass,

we

should be able to improve a great deal the visual appraisal of the liveanimal," the two animalscientistsagree.

Klinepoints outthat themost

meaty

steers

among

those cross-sectioned

had

a"round"ratherthana blocky appear- ance.

They

were, in aword, muscular.

Depth

of

body may

turn out to be anoverrated type characteristic.

Depth

isachievedatthe flank,chieflybyfilling outwithlargedeposits offat.

However, when

a beef carcass is

hung on

the cooler rail, this deposit is "slimmed

down" by

the stretching of the

warm

carcassasithangs.

This all leads

up

to thefact that if

you

picked steer

B

over steer A,

you

have

made

a mistake.

By many

of the older type judging concepts, however,

it is a

common

mistake.

Here

is

what

the experts saidabout these twosteers.

First consider the side and rear views of thelive steers.

From

theside, steer

A

^islongerbod- ied and

more

upstanding than steer

B

butdoesnothaveasdeepabody. Steer

A

islongerinhis

rump

and hasa great- erproportionofhisweightinhisround and loin.Steer

B

showsexcessivefinish

inthe throat,dewlap,brisket,andflank.

From

the rear view, steer

A

is

more

evenly turned overhis top, while steer

B

israther flat-toppedshowing evidence of shelffatalongthe loinandrib.Steer

A

demonstrates

more

thicknessthrough the middle part of the quarter.

The

widest part of steer

B

is through the middle of his back. His width tapers

from

thispointthroughhis

rump which

isevidencethatthesteerisover-finished.

Steer

A

^^p

\ •*"

*&

1

1

i

-^fBs Wp

1 /»

.

v 'II

^kk

.-.*

B&

ttk ^'' 1

Steer B

N. (

•

y-

\

] 1

i^PLsSI -^^B? 1 i

TheNational

FUTURE FARMER

Judging

Now

^{look at}the firstphoto showing the sideviewof theskinnedfrozen car- casses.

The

side view of steer

A em-

phasizes the trimness of underline,plate, flank, and brisket, and also shows a

more

round shape to the rear quarter.

The

carcass pictures

show

the differ- encesin type, length, depth, andshape, as

was

evidenced in the live pictures.

The

second picture

shows A

^and

B

sectionedthroughtheround. Thiscross

sectionof

A

showstheheavilydevelop- ed muscular area

which was

indicated in the side and rear views.

Note

the

smooth

rounded appearance over the top of the

rump

and the very

smooth

even

turndown

overside of the round.

The

fat covering over the top of the

rump

is minimal, andthe muscleshave a fairly level appearance at the top.

Thereis onlya thinfat cover overthe outside of theround. In

B

the roundis

lacking thickness throughout.

Note

the difference in thickness of the compar- able muscles in each section. In

B we

see a

more "V"

shaped appearance through this section as

compared

to a

more

nearlyround appearanceinA.

In the next photo,

you

see a sec- tion between the twelfth and thirteenth rib.Thissection

was made

atthe

same

place as the dressed beef is normally quartered by meat packers.

The

^loin eye in

A

measured 13.5 square inches

and

is covered

by

0.75 inches of fat.

The

loineyeof

B

measured10.6square inches with 1.5 inches of outside fat.

Steer

A

showsa

good

spring ofrib

and

an overall round appearance, while steer

B

has a

more

flatrib andis

more

nearly oval in shape. Both of the car- cassesgradedprime.

A

sectionat the point ofshoulderis

shown

in the next to last photo. This view portrays the heavily muscled ap- pearance, and especially showsa fairly trim brisket with a good shoulder de- velopment.

The

general round appear- ance continues in all sections of steer A. In

B

there is

more

brisket fat and

more seam

fatthroughout this section.

The

final photo shows the fat trim-

med from

the bulgeof the round.

Only

4%

poundsoffatwere

trimmed

offthis sectionof A,while 10*4 pounds of fat

trimmed from

B.

Note

the full thick muscling of the round of steer

A

as

compared

to steer

B

after the fat has been removed.

When

the entire car- casses were separated into lean, bone, and fat, steer

A

had 60 percent lean, 14 percent bone, and 26 percent fat.

Steer

B had

43 percent lean, 13 per- centbone,and 44percentfat.

October-November,1967 57