Zimbabwe Beef: Too Good To Be True?

Zimbabwe Beef: Too Good To Be True? LIVESTOCK Beef 27-5-27 The results of feedlot tests with Jim Weaver's "Mashona" cattle were too good to be true - or so the testers thought. In an independent trial at Bar G feedlots, Summerfield Texas, 86.7 percent of Mashona halfbloods graded prime and choice with an average carcass weight of 795 lbs. In a New Mexico State University feeding trial, 90 percent of 71 head graded choice. Industry averages are more commonly around the 50 percent level. "Our selling point is quality, but the numbers are so good, people are skeptical," says Weaver, of Causey, New Mexico. "The university guys had to run the numbers two or three times before they believed them." Weaver first saw Mashona cattle while working in Zimbabwe. He was impressed with cows that could lose weight in the dry season and still drop a healthy calf with no supplemental feeding. In 1995, he began a program of importing Mashona embryos from a donor herd in Zimbabwe. The first Mashonas were born in New Mexico in 1997. Today, there are more than 200 full blood Mashonas on Weaver's ranch, as well as a large number of 3/4 bloods and half blood dams. "We have gone through a drought here for the past five or six years with no supplement for our Mashonas," he says. "Other cattle have been on supplement cake for most of the past two years." The ability to carry a calf under tough conditions and an average birth weight of 52-pounds makes the Mashona bulls the perfect mate for heifers, suggests Weaver. He reports a group of 88 halfblood cows that all calved on the range without assistance or any supplements beyond salt and mineral. "Death loss has been bred out of this breed over the past 3,000 years," says Weaver. What has been bred into the breed, in addition to hardiness, is tenderness. Texas Tech Meat Sciences Lab researchers did a tenderness test, where a score of 3 or less was 100 percent acceptable to consumers. The Mashona cross carcasses ranged from 1.61 to 3.03. Sensory tests on juiciness, tenderness, flavor and mouthfeel also scored very high. Weaver wasn't surprised. "These animals tend to put on intermuscular fat instead of subcutaneous fat," he explains. "The meat is marbled as if carrying an inch of fat on the outside when much less is actually there." Weaver is confident this attribute will ensure Mashona breeding a role in grass fed beef production. He has started working with other ranchers and Texas Tech researchers. Mashona bulls are priced at $5,000. Semen straws are also available. Contact, FARM SHOW Followup, Weaver Ranch, Box 23, Causey, New Mexico 88113 (ph 505 273-4237; email: wrcnm@yucca.net; website: www.American Mashona.com).

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