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Our breeding program is actually pretty basic. We are looking for four things:
Ease of calving: Cows should be able to calve unassisted, with little trauma. The only time they might need help from us is if the calf is not presented correctly.
Growth: An animal that grows quicker, will also finish quicker.
Marbling: Marbling is the single biggest influencer in eating quality. Cattle are raised to be eaten – so why wouldn’t you want this? Marbling requires good feeding, but also marbling genes in the animal’s makeup.
Docility: If animals are relaxed the eating quality will be better. But bad docility can efect others in the herd, and also be potentially dangerous. We cull for poor docility
This lady, here, is Jenna – one of our most special cows
Her docility, from the day she was first born in the farm, was simply amazing. Add to that a great carcass and you have the makings of a great animal.
She was short on marbling genes, which is below our goals. But sometimes, you can forgive a little.
Jenna gave us an incredible 11 years here. We are eternally grateful!
High marbling is a prerequisite to our long term breeding goals.
There are many influences that affect beef eating quality – but the single biggest influence is from marbling. Marbling is the small flecks of fat that reside inside the steak (not the fat on the outside of the steak). When the steak is cooked, this fat melts and enhances the flavour profile. Once the fat is melted, the result is meat that is more relaxed, more tender and more succulent.
One of the other major attributes we are looking for in our breeding is docility. We want nice, happy cows, who don’t get stressed (and therefore stress the other cows).
We are confident that the best steaks come from relaxed animals, but our driver is well beyond simply the eating quality, We genuinely want our animals to be relaxed and enjoying life on Lake Farm. The more docile the animal, the better chance we have of achieving this goal.
