Written by Jarrett L.
The Irricana 4-H Beef members had our beef weigh-in day on Sunday, Nov. 16th. The Wray family generously hosted our club again this year at their farm. Our numbers in Beef Projects have grown again this year, with a total of 32 members, which then breaks down into categories of; 26 Market Steer projects, 9 Heifer projects, 4- Two Year Old projects, 2 – Three Year Old projects, and finally 2 members are registered with a Carcass project.
To start off the day we had a presentation about implants by Lyle Millar, of Highway 21 Feeders. As you probably already know, there are a lot of mixed messages about hormones in beef. All multi-cellular organisms contain natural hormones in animals and vegetables.
Here are some of the things we learned about hormone implants:
– Improves the rate of gain and feed efficiency. 11% more beef from 20% less cattle. It converts feed to more muscle from less feed quicker.
– There are different kinds of implants, slow release, quick release, and some have a combination of both.
– Helps keep the prices down and reduces the environmental impact of production, which will help out the grocery bill.
– Implants are inserted in the animal’s ear, which is discarded at the butcher. Therefore there is no withdrawal time.
– How much hormone is in the implant? Per 3 ounce serving, beef with an implant has 1.9ng vs 1.3ng in beef without an implant.
To put things into perspective: Per 3 ounce serving, potatoes have 225ng, 340ng in peas, 520 in ice cream, Cabbage has 2,000mg, 1 birth control pill has 35,000ng, and a pregnant woman produces 480,000ng per day.
See this link for more information on hormones in cattle: https://albertabeef.org/infographics/Hormones.pdf
We also went over how the implant is given, along with the vaccines and ivermectin and what their purpose was. Our beef leader, Trish, was keeping records of our beef weight, 4-H tags, CCIA tags, brands, breeds, homegrown, etc. All of this information goes into our record books, along with our feed, weight and cost, and updated steer weight, this is recorded until sale day. This information tells us the rate of gain, feed conversion, and so many other things are put into perspective.
Huge Thank you to our Donors and Volunteers: CCHMS for donating the vaccines, invomec and implants. And to Lyle & Amanda Miller of Highway 21 Feeders for the presentation on implants and for putting them in. The Wray Family, for letting us use your wonderful facility again this year.
Shout out to the Organizers & Helpers:
The beef leaders, Trish, Curtis, Lindsey and Rachelle for organizing. All the parents and members for helping, it made the day run smoothly. And Thank you to Katie Peticlerc for taking photos of all the animals for our record books.
Irricana 4-H Beef and Multi Club 