Breeding Philosophy
Economic Sustainability is what we strive for!
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.
5. 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.