We`re not really stuck in the middle, we're there by choice. It's been said that the middle of the road is a likely place to get run over, but today in cattle breeding, it is the safest place to be...there's no breeder traffic, heck, even YOU are gone, and we proceed alone. There are still many cows in the middle; but the breeders have moved to the sides, taking their cows in the directions of rarity as quickly as genetic movement allows.
The low input crowd to the left of center whose cattle of biological necessity are also low output cattle proclaim the merits of their direction in terms of dollars saved. They then fill the void of their ensuing poorer feedlot performance with promoted promises; all the while breeding to pull their cattle from the "middle"; to their promoted extreme. Some are traveling back 40 years to re-use the bulls their herds were built on...implying that either their last 40 years were, or their current directions are, misguided.
The high output crowd right of center proclaim the merits of their direction in terminal EPD index terms like $ Beef and $ Grid; promoting the by-product cows of their terminal directions as functional on grass while conveniently leaving out $EN and other costs of production. Theirs is a world of single trait and combination trait percentiles that prove their rare directions with cutting edge science; where commercial profit is overlooked in the quest for more production from a cow, not from a unit of feed or land.
With all this motion, commotion, and promotion going on of extreme types; perhaps we would profit more to quit spending money on genetics, and just invest to improve our grass; an immediate and certain return.
We adopted a version of Trumanesque philosophy some years ago that is prevalent throughout this website and all our advertising that we hope you can appreciate as being as rare as the middle position everyone has left to us in maternal selection...
THE BS STOPS HERE!!!
with this in mind, I hope you enjoy our remaining webpages...Mike Keeney
