Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with the Executive Director of the North American Limousin Foundation, Dr. Mark Anderson, about the Limousin breed’s involvement at the 2023 Cattlemen’s Congress show, including the national Limousin sale held in conjunction with the event.
Anderson said the 2023 National Limousin Sale and Ken Holloway Genetics on Ice Benefit Auction were both extremely successful. The sale jumped over 60 to 70 dollars over last year, and Junior Genetics on Ice Raised over 100,000 dollars, which he said was a record.
Around 20,000 dollars worth of scholarships are issued each year with the funds raised in the Ken Holloway Genetics on Ice Benefit Auction.
Anderson talked about the vision for continued progress in the Limousin breed over the next few years. This vision, Anderson said, starts with continuing to grow commercial demand with quality cattle.
“I know they work,” Anderson said. “We have had to battle back through some issues and at one time, we had a knock on docility, but this breed was the first one to start tracking it on EPD 20 years ago, and now they rank right at close to number one on docility. That is proof EPD’s work when you sort and cull cattle right.”
The Limousin breed has also increased in marbling over the last few years, Anderson said.
“We don’t want to make them too ripe,” Anderson said. “We know who we are. We bring ribeye-better yield grades.”
One of the keys to that growth in the Limousin industry, Anderson said, also involves the Limflex breed, which is a Limousin and Angus cross.
“The two breeds compliment one another- actually three, because we can make them with Angus and Red Angus,” Anderson said. “But you put the two together from the standpoint of what we bring for ribeye and what the Angus side brings for marbling, you put that together, and we can produce pretty good females.”
The Limousin breed consists of a large portion of structurally correct cattle, Anderson said, and the soundness of the breed is a big advantage. Another lead in the Limousin industry has been that most of the breed is black-hided, which Anderson said brings white a bit more revenue.
“Being able to be making that cross out there and retaining that black hide so feeder cattle can achieve that extra premium through these, whether it is superior or out in the auction trade, or in the country,” Anderson said.
This is an advantage because those black-hided cattle can qualify as Certified Angus Beef. While there was a time the Limousin breed had many red cattle, Anderson said, the breed is now almost 90 percent black-hided.
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