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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1971)
. • ''A> >:•> .V Vf Page 4 College Station, Texas Wednesday, August 18, 1971 THE BATTALION ‘Fantastic circumstances’ behind beef breed avalanch e The current avalanche of new beef breeds coming into the Unit ed States is the result of the “most fantastic combination of circumstances ever to occur in the livestock industry,” members of the 21st annual Beef Cattle Short Course learned here Monday. Some of these circumstances, listed by Professor J. K. Riggs of the Animal Science Department, were high demand for beef brought on by high consumer preference and purchasing power, and a zooming population. Another factor, he said, is the basically unprofitable commercial cow-calf phase of the beef busi ness. Many commercial cattle pro ducers are also dissatisfied with production levels of a large seg ment of the existing cattle popu lation. “Entrepreneurs are trying the new breeds in an attempt to make some money through ‘first’ sales before competition catches up,” the speaker said. Riggs said acceptance of cross breeding has had much influence High school program will include Science The Superior High School Stu dent Program initiated last Sep tember at Texas A&M by the Liberal Arts College will be ex panded this fall to include the College of Science. Announcement of the expan sion was issued jointly by Dr. W. David Maxwell, Liberal Arts dean, Dr. John M. Prescott, Science dean. “This expansion will provide a greater variety of college courses for academically-talented students chosen in the Bryan and Consolidated High Schools,” they said. Since last September, 28 out standing Bryan and College Sta tion students have attended reg ularly scheduled classes in the College of Liberal Arts. This year, participating stu dents will be allowed to choose from course offerings in the Col lege of Science as well. Students selected for participa tion in the program receive high school credit for the college course work. The Superior High School Student Program is administered by the Honors Program Office of the Liberal Arts College. Interested students should con tact their high school counselor for further details. A&M gets $300 from C of C A $300 scholarship was pre sented to Texas A&M Univer sity’s College of Engineering Tuesday by B - CS Chamber of Commerce President Joe Sawyer. The annual scholarship rotates among the university’s nine aca demic colleges, Sawyer said, and represents the chamber’s appre ciation to the university. Engineering Dean Fred J. Ben son said the scholarship probably will be awarded to a junior col lege transfer. ALLEN Oldsmobile Cadillac SALES - SERVICE ‘Where satisfaction is standard equipment” 2401 Texas Ave. 823-8002 FAST CASH Pawn Loans On Anything of Value. We Buy 8 Track Tapes - Tape Decks - Guns - Golf Clubs. We Have Exceptional Values In New and Used Guns - Radios - Tapes and Diamonds. TEXAS STATE CREDIT CO. 1014 Texas Ave. — Bryan Weingarten Center on the new beef breed trend. Large commercial feedlots forced this acceptance through prefer ence for crossbred feeder cattle. A well developed crossbreeding technology in this country has helped. Other reasons cited were highly developed artificial insemination programs and easy communication and transportation. But despite the improvement of established breeds and the sudden influx of the new ones, Riggs said the industry still suffers from one major bottleneck: Inability to break the 95 percent calf barrier, shorten the gestation period, or control the sex of the calf crop. The professor said the exotic breeds attracting the most inter est are big, growthy and muscu lar. Fast growth and muscling fa vor efficiency, but large size hikes the maintenance require ment and hinders efficiency. “These factors must be kept in mind in the evaluation of breeds and breeding programs if we are to maximize production per unit of land,” he said. “We must not become obsessed with large size in breeding cattle.” A major problem in the beef industry stems from cattle chang ing ownership, Riggs said. Profit able cow-calf production requires a high percentage of heavy calves weaned. But if the grower makes his cattle too heavy and then sells to the feedlot operator, the latter may object because he is unable to take advantage of feedlot gains, the speaker pointed out. This sit uation tends to work against top total efficiency by discouraging optimum continuous growth and finishing to slaughter weight. “If growing and finishing are profitable operations in them selves, it seems logical that at least the better organized and fi nanced ranchmen could improve their profit, position by retaining ownership of their cattle until slaughter. Some are custom feed ing their own cattle, buying oth ers, and hedging to protect their position,” Riggs said. On a short term basis, import, ing beef cattle may seem a sin pie way to provide for increasim requirements. But he said adop. tion of the practice without cot. trol will undoubtedly hamper de. velopment of the domestic bee[ industry, thereby throwing more demand on foreign sources. About 300 ranchers, feedlotvp. erators and animal scientists at- tended the short course. SPEND $1 * GETTING YOUR THE Bi 7: pr at *****% CHILD READY FOR * ^? 0 Vi SCHOOL AND VK \ MAY SPEND $fOOO L^sSENDING HIM THERE [§ N [• i SSSa. DYMO LABELMAKER WITH CUTTER AND TAPE.I Desk Lamp $ HANDSOME HI INTENSITY DESK LAMP— UL APPROVED. m M Am ipa Lunch Kit ii§ii M jk m I 0 m0m ALADDIN SCHOOL LUNCH KIT WITH PINT THERMOS Cassette Recorder $n, 0IM Student Desk Lead Pencils BROXIDENT Tooth Brush Snack Jar Guitar $ $ LlOYn, bOLID SI ATP '■f l C 1 ; Y O P R WITH AU T OM AT 1C L P / E L CON'«Ol ATT RACT I JE MODERN 2 DRAWER DESK WITH SCRATCH RESISTANT MNISH. INTEGRITY NO. 2 PENCILS EOR HOME OR SCHOOL. AU l« -'A TIC ELECTRIC TOOTH BRUSH WITH HOLDER AND 4 BRUSHES. Al ADDIN THERMAL SNACK JAR EOR LUNCH BOXES. STANDARD GUITAR WITH STEEL REIN- H EORCED NECK. H THW.EE I j PL . t -■* * VIUI T | 1111111111111111111111111 iTi 11111111111111111111111111111111111111 Cassettes AUDIO MAGNETIC 60 MINUTE BLANK RECORDING CARTRIDGE Budget Book HOUSEHOLD BUDGET AND INCOME TAX RECORD SYSTEM iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiTTiiiiiiiiiniTirmirnTmiimiimii Spray Iron *tOIM GENERAL ELECTRIC STEAM, SPRAY, DRY IRON MODEL F72. 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