June 2015 Issue

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WHAT ARE TEXMASTER™ MEAT GOATS?
The Superior Commercial Meat-Goat Breed

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

Subscribe FREE now! Monthly issues with new articles and other educational information on meat goat health, nutrition, and management written by Suzanne W. Gasparotto of Onion Creek Ranch and Pat Cotten of Bending Tree Ranch. In all cases, it is your responsibility to obtain veterinary services and advice before using any of the information provided in these articles. Neither Suzanne Gasparotto nor Pat Cotten are veterinarians. None of the contributors to this website will be held responsible for the use of any information contained herein.

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TexMaster™ coming yearling doe OCR Swoozie

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TexMaster first freshener OCR Mallorie with her buckling out of OCR Milo (born June 13, 2015) Photo taken at two hours of age. Dam has already cleaned and fed him and been brought in from pasture to bonding pen for observation.

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Mature TexMaster™ Sire OCR Milo

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Adult TexMaster breeding buck. Ignore the color. Look at the MEAT.

BendingTree Ranch TexMaster Goats

Contact Bending Tree Ranch in Damascus, AR

Contact Pat Cotten
Bending Tree Ranch
located near Greenbrier, Arkansas
501-581-5700

www.bendingtreeranch.com
bendingtreeranch@cyberback.com

Raising TexMasters™, TMG’s™ and Myotonics.
Let us help you improve your herds.


“like us” on facebook………….Bending Tree Ranch

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Breeding age TexMaster™ bucks available at Bending Tree Ranch in Arkansas.
Featured today is Bending Tree Ranch Mark, 2 yr old TexMaster™ buck.

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For available bucks please visit www.bendingtreeranch.com

 

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All information and photos copyright © Onion Creek Ranch and may not be used without express written permission of Onion Creek Ranch. TENNESSEE MEAT GOAT ™ and TEXMASTER™ are Trademarks of Onion Creek Ranch . All artwork and graphics © DTP, Ink and Onion Creek Ranch.Webhosting by Khimaira

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