them.’” In recent years, buyers for Kirk’s cattle have come
from Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
“We sell by the truckload, and each one can hold 48,000
lbs.”
When Kirk added Angus cattle to his herd, AI (artificial
insemination) became an important part of his operation.
“An embryologist comes with a portable lab with all the
petri dishes and microscopes. He separates the fertilized
eggs collected from the donor cow, which in turn will be
placed in a good surrogate mother.” A good bull can cost
$200,000, according to Kirk. “Some folks can do that. I
can’t just go out and pay that kind of money, but I can take
a heifer and a bull with good numbers and develop a donor
cow.”
Kirk talked about heterosis (crossbreeding cattle),
flushing (obtaining the embryos from the donor female),
and embryo transfer (removing one or more embryos from
the reproductive tract of a donor female and transferring
them to one or more recipient females). How times have
changed since Kirk’s grandfather’s day, I thought, as I
struggled to keep up with all the scientific terminology.
One of the more surprising facts I learned was that
certified Angus just means a cow that is “black-hided”
according to Kirk. The other myth buster I learned was
about “hormone-free” beef. “No human or animal is
hormone free,” he said. “Hormones are naturally produced
and are vital for growth development and health.” According
to an online article posted on July 8, 2017, for meatscience.
org, “…when we see a meat product that claims to be
‘Hormone Free’, in reality it should be that those animals
were raised without added hormones.”
The article also addresses “antibiotic-free” labeling.
“Even if an animal is given an antibiotic, farmers and
processers must allow a specific amount of time to pass
before that animal is legal to slaughter. This ‘withdrawal
period’ allows time for the animal’s body to metabolize the
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