OLDS, Alta. – Every April for 21 years, students at Olds College have faced a tough room of beef producers who want nothing but the facts.
This year, 20 students at the agriculture college in Olds volunteered for the Steer-a-Year program, where they have learned to analyze performance data, compile it into useful information and present it to breed representatives who sponsor the program.
Initiated as a Canadian Hereford Association steer performance test, the program now includes 19 breeds, which each contribute five steers. Galloways are the only breed to return each year.
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Purebred associations find producers who are willing to sell cattle to the program. The associations are also responsible for selecting the cattle.
“We don’t want to get into the buying of cattle and have them say we bought the wrong kind,” said college farm manager Trevor Hamilton, who works with the students. “It is completely up to the breed association.”
Students are responsible for contacting breeders for information. They study breed history and traits, monitor feedlot progress and compile the final results on a spreadsheet.
Data includes ultrasound tests for marbling score, ribeye area and back fat depth. The steers are weighed regularly and monitored for average daily gains. Students do not care for the animals unless they are in the feedlot practicum course.
The cattle are sold to packers, which supply the students with carcass results.
Comparisons aren’t made between breeds because each performs differently and has been raised for different purposes.
For example, Murray Grey steers were the only ones to all grade AAA. However, other breeds, such as Piedmontese, are not expected to achieve such a high marbling score because they are raised for extremely high dressing percentage and high lean meat yield.
All Piedmontese yielded high in this year’s test. Charolais steers graded from A to AAA.
The college wants the program to showcase the breeds, because with so few on test, the data is not representative.
“We’re not a feedlot situation, so it is not very significant data. It is significant to the producer because he can get carcass data back,” Hamilton said. “If we had 100 steers of one breed, that would be significant data.”
Cattle arrive the second week of October for a warm-up period and the trial starts Nov. 1 when they receive a 70 percent barley ration. All the steers are implanted with growth hormones except the Dexters, whose owners don’t want the hormones.
The college evaluated the program five years ago and decided the animals must be at least half-bloods in a particular breed. They usually have a registered sire. That decision made more breeds eligible and was more representative of commercial production.
“A lot of the breeds like to send straight bred, but over half are crossbreds,” Hamilton said.
Individual carcass data is often different from the college’s ultrasound tests. In particular, marbling scores are often lower than predicted.
While the college uses ultrasound as a tool to see how long the animals should be kept on feed, they are not necessarily kept on feed as long as a professional feedlot might do to produce more intramuscular fat.
The college wants all steers gone by the first week of April to accommodate the students’ year-end schedules.
“A lot of these calves are slaughtered quite young because they are put on the ration so fast,” Hamilton said.
“It works for us, but it may not be the best for grading.”
