Grau Ranch Receives Outstanding Genetic Tests Results

     Grau Charolais Ranch, a New Mexico ranch that has been around for over a century, has turned heads regarding Genestar marker profiles. Since 1907, the Grau Ranch has been raising quality cattle that perform well year after year.

     New performance tests from Bovigen LLC back up the Grau Ranch's eye appealing cattle with outstanding genetic results.

     The New Mexico Beef Cattle Performance Association (NMBCPA) agreed in December 2007 to do Genestar Marker Profiles on all bulls at the Tucumcari Bull Test, including several Grau bulls. The Grau's decided to take this decision one step further and did the Genestar Marker Profiles on some of their herd sires.

     The NMBCPA chose Bovigen LLC to do their DNA testing because they are the only company to be USDA Process Verified and also the only company with all tests being independently validated.

     The results were phenomenal for the Grau Ranch. Some of the bulls were five stars for quality grade, six stars for tenderness, the maximum, and eight stars for feed efficiency, also the maximum amount.

     Dustin Dean of Bovigen says this of the Grau bulls: "Grau Charolais bulls are testing very high in comparison to all other Charolais cattle we have tested. One of their bulls is in the top .76% of any Charolais bull we have ever tested for our Quality Grade genes. That is not 76%, but .76%! Another way of looking at it is this bull is better than 99.24% of all Charolais we have ever tested for Genestar Qualify Grade."

     Dean also commented on two more of Grau's bulls saying, 'These two bulls are also very valuable because they are both 2 star, or homozygous, for Quality Grade Marker 3. These bulls are the only Charolais I know of that are a 2 star for QG3. This is the rarest marker of trait. There are almost no animals, other than Wagyu, that are 2 stars for QG3, let alone a 1 star."

     Dean summed up his statement saying, "I can make the statement that Grau Charolais are among the highest Genestar Quality Grade scoring cattle in the United States."

     The Grau ranch intends to continue their tradition of raising seedstock for the commercial cattleman, not only for feed efficiency, but quality grade and tenderness.

     Grau says, "This new information could not have come at a better time- Genetic Progress Differences (GPD's) need to be included in herd sire selections with Estimated Progeny Differences (EPD's). OPD's cannot be adjusted with a pencil. You either have it or you don't Cost of production and cost of feeding is putting cattlemen in an uncomfortable position. They need to know if they are going to meet the consumer demands."

     Grau Ranch has produced cattle under very rigid standards, culling cows under strict requirements.

     "If a cow did not produce a weaned calf each year, she went to "McDonalds". If she had an attitude or was hard to handle, the same applied," Grau says of their standards.

     The first half of the century the Grau Ranch was known for its registered Hereford cattle, but the last half of the century it has been their Charolais cattle that have excelled in the arid southwest.

     Wesley Grau of Grau Charolais Ranch said, "We still have cows that wean 750+ lb. calves and do it year after year!"

     The environment has brought down the size of the Grau cows, but they still have the ability to produce market ready calves at 1250 Ibs. in just twelve months.

     In July 1998, the Grau Ranch received a kill sheet fiom Ed Hanell of Claude, Texas showing 193 of 206 heifers grading choice or better at B3R Country Meats Inc. These heifers were out of Black Baldy cows and Orau Charolais bulls.

     Grau said, "It is nearly impossible to get carcass results back from a major packer, but we knew our cattle had quality, tenderness and, for sure, feed efficiency."