July 2012 Issue |
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IN THIS ISSUE: |
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• Subscribe to Meat Goat Mania • Email Us • Onion Creek Ranch • Bending Tree Ranch • OCR Health & Management Articles • MGM Archive |
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This article was written by Pat Cotten of Bending Tree Ranch (www.bendingtreeranch.com), located in Damascus, Arkansas. To see photos of this magnificient breed be sure to visit www.bendingtreeranch.com or wwww.tennesseemeatgoats.com The TexMaster™ Meat Goat is a composite breed developed by Onion Creek Ranch in Lohn, Texas in order to meet the demands for a “premium” commercial goat. Using the genetics of their Tennessee Meat Goats™ which are larger, heavily muscled Myotonics carrying a 4:1 meat- to-bone ratio and crossing these TMG™ goats over Boer and other TMG™/Boer cross does over many generations the TexMaster™ breed was developed. The intention was to take advantage of the Myotonic traits of higher meat-to-bone ratios, excellent mothering skills, hardy, active offspring that are quick to get up and nurse (which is a very important trait especially in cold weather kiddings), higher parasite tolerance (there is no such thing as a parasite resistance breed), better feed conversions than other breeds which makes them an ideal choice in forage situations and just general overall hardiness traits. The TexMaster™ is more heavily influenced by the Myotonic breed over Boer but the Boer influence has its role in adding a faster growth rate over purebred Myotonics, which are a slower growing breed without sacrificing the meatier traits of the Myotonic. An excellent article on composite breeds and their advantages can be found at: http://www.noble.org/ag/livestock/compositebreeding/index.html Special advantages The TexMaster™ Meat Goat is generally larger framed than a pure Myotonic goat. Some of the TexMaster™ Meat Goats do display the Myotonic traits of stiffening, which in no way has a negative effect on the meat quality, rather it gives the animal a higher meat-to-bone ratio than its non-stiffening herdmates. Those that do display the Myotonic traits will tend to grow somewhat slower, yet produce a much meatier animal. The TexMaster ™ Meat Goat should have adequate bone for their frame size, width in the chest, a deep body which allows for more rumen expansion to provide better forage utilization. Shorter, less dense leg bones and thinner hides mean less waste at slaughter which means more money as your buyers learn they are getting more product for their money. TexMaster™ does tend to have the tighter fitting udder than breeds created with dairy influence which means no pendulous udders to get torn on thorns and underbrush as the goats are foraging. The Myotonic udders are small, tight fitting udders which are a “milk on demand” type udder. They tend to have a higher milkfat than dairy breeds but less volume. These type udders refill much quicker but do not produce the volume of milk a dairy or dairy influence breed might. Most TexMasters™ carry the more docile personalities of the Myotonic breed. They are not as hard on fences as Boers. I’ve not known of any TexMasters™ to be fence jumpers (and if they carry the Myotonic trait of stiffening they cannot jump a fence) however, I am sure there are exceptions to this somewhere out there in the breed. These goats tend to have the intelligence of the Myotonics by being very alert at all times to dangers. Does are especially protective of their babies ready to turn and fight any predator. Does tend to produce twins or triplets. Quads are not unheard of and the occasional single will show up now and then. Number of offspring is dependent upon food availability, frequency of kiddings and overall general health of your herd. Good management is necessary in any breed. Without adequate forage, good protein sources, availability of good quality minerals, and clean water no animal will produce to its potential. The TexMaster ™ breed produces a “prime” slaughter kid with less cost to the producer and input of any other breed. We have had excellent experience crossing TexMasters™ over our dairy does and we are still receiving top dollar for these slaughter kids produced from the F1 crosses. If you are looking for the “premier” slaughter animal look no further. We are seeing more and more TexMaster™ influence in the Market show wether production. Show producers are recognizing the greater muscle influence that the TexMaster ™ provides and are using this breed in their show wether production herds. The TexMaster influence is purported to produce the “harder top lines” that the wether judges are looking for. More information For further reading on the TexMaster ™ breed please visit the developer of the breed at www.tennesseemeatgoats.com or the author’s website at www.bendingtreeranch.com Points to remember: • Higher meat-to-bone ratio • Hardy, excellent maternal traits • More parasite tolerant than other breeds • Less input yet produces more product Pat Cotten© 2011 |
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WHAT ARE TEXMASTER™ MEAT GOATS? Four years after I had begun raising fullblood Myotonic meat goats and about nine months after I imported a trio of Boers from New Zealand, I began to wonder why people were so excited about Boers as "meat" goats. My Myotonics had far more meat on them, were much easier to manage, kidded easily, and were cheaper to feed. I asked myself this question: Why can't I take the more heavily muscled fullblood Myotonic bucks that I trademarked as Tennessee Meat Goats™, breed them to Boer does, and begin the development of a new meat goat breed that put more MEAT on the offspring (coming from the TMG sires) and with a bit faster growth rate and frame size (contributed by the Boer females)? So in 1995, I began the multi-year process of creating the superior commercial meat goat breed that I trademarked as TexMaster™. A new breed was in the making. A minimum of seven generations of breeding is required to produce animals that breed "true." Breeding "true" means that breeding pairs reproduce offspring with consistent characteristics, i.e. they produce traits that replicate themselves from goat to goat enough to be called a BREED. I have been producing TexMasters™ for over 17 years. That's a lot of breedings and cullings. Important: TexMasters™ are not simply a cross breed of Myotonics and Boers. TexMasters™ are the result of many years of crossing, evaluating, re-evaluating, re-crossing, and heavily culling in every generation. More importantly, TexMasters™ are the product of Onion Creek Ranch Tennessee Meat Goat™ genetics and specially-bred Boer and TMG-Boer cross does produced at Onion Creek Ranch in Texas. Over the years, I've improved the TexMaster™ breed by removing much Boer influence because I learned that it didn't take much "Boer" in the mix to reduce the meat produced on the offspring. Only Tennessee Meat Goat™ bucks were used as foundation sires. I used just enough of the Boer on the maternal side to increase slightly both the growth rate and frame size of the offspring. The precise formula is proprietary, i.e. Onion Creek Ranch's trade secret. The MEAT on the TexMaster™ comes from Onion Creek Ranch Tennessee Meat Goat™ sires; the meat does not come from the Boer females. The TexMaster™ breed retains the hardiness of the Tennessee Meat Goat™ with excellent mothering instincts, ease of kidding, lower maintenance, and most importantly higher meat-to-bone ratio than any breed other than fullblood TMGs. TexMasters™ are in use in many commercial herds across the USA. Go to www.texmastermeatgoats.com to read testimonials. Pedigree International currently operates the TexMaster™ registry. You can breed and register percentage TexMasters™ by using fullblood TexMaster™ sires. You can breed up to purebred status but you cannot produce fullblood TexMasters™ without breeding fullblood TexMaster™ to fullblood TexMaster™ -- just like any other breed. I created TexMasters™ to be the meatiest commercial meat-goat breed by using specific genetics that I carefully selected and evaluated in every breeding. If you want to produce commercial goats, you should buy and use these specific genetics as herd sires. You should not use "bred-up" crosses as sires because you will be using genetics of other breeds and you will lose the MEAT advantage provided by Tennessee Meat Goat™ sires that make TexMasters™ so desirable as a terminal product. Example: If you buy a percentage TexMaster™ buck because a producer is close to you or it is cheaper than you can buy a fullblood TexMaster™ buck from Onion Creek Ranch genetics, you will be getting a goat that is the offspring of a TexMaster™ buck and does that are not the specially-developed Onion Creek Ranch genetics that produce superior meat-goat offspring. Such offspring would be a 50% TexMaster™ since the sire is a fullblood TexMaster™. But that 50% TexMaster™ isn't going to have anything close to the amount of meat on it that a fullblood TexMaster™ out of Onion Creek Ranch or Bending Tree Ranch genetics has on it. Crossing with other breeds decreases the "meatiness" of the offspring. This is acceptable for terminal animals but not for use as breeding stock. Pat Cotten and I are constantly fine tuning the TexMaster™ breed, thereby improving it. You should buy your TexMaster™ herd sire out of genetics that we have developed to breed to your other breed does. Your buck is at least 50% of your herd and more likely 75% if you keep any replacement does. I recognize that costs and distances affect goat purchases but you should always be working towards acquiring better genetics, especially for your herd sires. Don't be cheap about buying your herd sire. Buy the best you can afford. Stretch a little financially and you will get more "bang for your buck." Quality never comes cheap. If you are interested in purchasing fullblood TexMasters™, come to the source. Contact Suzanne W. Gasparotto at Onion Creek Ranch in Texas or Pat Cotten at Bending Tree Ranch in Arkansas. Suzanne can be reached at 325-344-5775 or email her at onioncreek@tennesseemeatgoats.com, and Pat can be reach at 501-581-5700 or bendingtreeranch@cyberback.com. If you cannot reach one of us, contact the other. We are in contact daily, share information about inquiries, and work together to fill orders. Suzanne W. Gasparotto, Onion Creek Ranch 7/7/12 |
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