The consumer is in the driver's seat and what they are demanding is leaner, more tender meat that is guaranteed. If you want to stay on top, then simply breed your cows to Romagnola bulls. They have been bred for centuries to produce heavy muscling, and in the last two hundred years much selection and research has gone into producing animals with fine hides, lean, flavorful meat and refined muscle texture. We have ultrasounded many fullblood Romagnolas at Cherokee Ranch, both heifers and bulls, mostly between 10 to 14 months of age. We have never had an ultrasound measurement of over 2/10 inches of backfat. Most are less that 1/10 inch and many read at 1/100 of an inch backfat, which is basically a layer of fascia covering the muscle. In fact, we have never seen any calf sonogram, fullblood or Romagnola cross that went over .35 of an inch of backfat at 15 months of age or below, no matter how much condition was on the bull, steer or heifer. This says a lot because it means no trim to the packer, and the average kill age for your top beef is between 12 and 15 months. The muscle texture of a Romagnola is so refined that a steak from either a fullblood or Rom-cross will melt in your mouth. In the past, we owned and operated a steak house and served hundreds of steaks each weekend. We have hung many a Romagnola and Romagnola cross carcass and have compared it to other breed crosses. The hamburger meat from Romagnola is pure lean and we served it in our restaurant. There is little “shrinkage” to the burgers, and they are so flavorful and juicy that we get rave reviews from our customers. We have sent some well known meat scientists samples of the fullblood meat and asked them to look at the muscle fiber under the microscope. Dr. Curtis Melton, meat scientist and professor from the University of Tennessee told us that indeed he was impressed with the unusually fine texture of the muscle fiber, and that the meat was delicious, lean, and very juicy. He didn’t expect that since he thought the lack of fat would completely dry the meat out when it was cooked. The meat has excellent moisture retention ability. These comments are repeated time and time again from all who experience the wonderful qualities of this meat.
So increase your bottom line and put the carcass quality into your calves. Breed Romagnola bulls. We call them tender-lean machines and we are raising quality bulls that you can predict with confidence that your calves will be lean, tender and high yielding when you cross your cows with them. On top of this they are an easy calving, very fertile breed. Come by and see for yourself or call us about our bulls. We’ll be proud to show you anytime why we are so enthusiastic about this breed!