Breeding Philosophy
Economic
Sustainability.
Talooby bases its breeding primarily on economically sustainable
practices. It believes that for beef enterprises to be
economically sustainable the herd must be solid in the
following areas:
1.
Fertility.
Seed stock sold from Talooby come from a long line of
fertile breeding families. The breeding herd of 350, come
from 15 superior family lines. All of Talooby's main proven
sires appear in the top 100 lists for at least one fertility
trait (some 1,200 sires are registered in 2004)
2.
Adaptability.
Talooby animals perform in a range of climates and produce
for a range of markets. The ability comes from structurally
sound, moderate framed cattle that do not solely rely on
high performance feed to be productive. Talooby cattle
are evaluated on grass performance to ensure that when
Australia’s variable conditions turn dry and hard
(which they appear to do so more often than not lately)
they will still provide the commercial cattleman with
functional and marketable cattle.
3.
Longevity.
Talooby prides its self on structurally sound animals
that have a softness of coat, excellent temperament and
high fertility. These traits have been selected for over
50 years ensuring that your Talooby purchase will remain
a valuable investment for many years.
4. Balanced EBV’s.
Talooby does not single trait select for any particular
EBV. We believe that for economic sustainability, a
balance between Growth, Carcase and fertility EBV’s
should be kept.
Talooby began using EBV’s
in 1987 to complement its existing herd recording which
commenced in 1964.
“The annual EBV packages
we sell with our bulls are by design. Single trait selection
for one particular EBV without keeping the other EBV’s
in balance, in our opinion, will only impact negatively
on other important economic traits. Our bulls are designed
to give a greater rate of return by covering all aspects
of the breeding system rather than single trait selection.”
Peter grieve.
Growth.
Talooby selects for low to moderate birth weight cattle,
with the highest growth possible consistent with our
policy of avoiding unsustainably high mature cow weights.
In our view excessive mature weight may result in diminished
fertility and finishing ability.
Sustainability is a function of
moderate size, fertility and doing ability ie: we avoid
the extremis.
Regarding
IMF ( marbling ) - it is our view that the majority of
markets, with the exception of the long fed japanese
B3, require very moderate marbling and will be enhanced
by an increase in yield, achieved with our stripping the
carcass of fat genetically.
BALANCE
BREEDING = OPTIMUM ANGUS
