The genetics you select for your herd is the one area where you have total control.  At Kallion Farms we have taken control of the type of genetics we choose to add to our herd.  With the use of new and emerging technologies we are able to select the genetic criteria necessary to fulfill the industries needs.  The consumer wants a quality tender product and we can provide what the consumer wants through the careful management of our genetics. The commercial cattleman wants a gentle, high fertility, fast growing, high quality, highly efficient animal that can add that extra profitability to his commercial program. 

At Kallion Farms our goal is to efficiently produce Brahman cattle that are not only visually acceptable to the most critical eye but will also be adequately marbled and guaranteed tender 100% of the time.  Cattlemen have been attempting to achieve these goals since the beginning of time, but to no avail.  The tools were simply not available.  We have taken the “hidden genes” for traits such as marbling, tenderness, feed efficiency, fertility, disposition, etc. for granted since the beginning of beef cattle improvement systems.  Now with current technology and science that has been made available in the last decade, we have a variety of tools available to assist us in our decision making process.  We are now able to select those rare individuals within the top 2 to 3% of our breed and multiply them at rates more rapidly than anyone ever imagined. 

The Brahman breed has long been criticized for a number of deficiencies in the end product . . . the carcass!  At Kallion Farms through the use of the new tools available to the industry, we have concentrated intense efforts to improve the image of the Brahman influenced end product . . . the carcass.  To date, we have documented improvements of nearly one full degree of marbling in harvested steer offspring and 20 to 25% improvement in tenderness through harvested siblings to the bulls and females in our breeding program. 

Presently there are 10 degrees of marbling used to describe USDA Quality grades.  Thus, the gamble is taken out of the Kallion Farms genetics.  You will see a noticeable improvement in not only carcass traits (marbling, tenderness, etc.) when Kallion Farms genetics are added to your herd, but you will reap the benefits of improved feed efficiency, improved fertility and most of all the great dispositions of the bulls and females.  We have identified animals in the top 2 to 3% of the Brahman breed and are offering their genetic excellence to our customers.

1. Fast growth to harvest weight and age

2. Moderate, mature cow size

3. Mild dispositions

4. Easy fleshing and easy doing cattle

5. Increased fertility and optimized reproductive performance

6. Improved feed efficiency of gain and lower net feed intake (NFI)

7. Improved carcass quality, marbling, tenderness, muscling

8. Reduced calving difficulty and improved calving ease

9. Test and compare within large contemporary groups.

1. Increased weaning, yearling and final harvest weights on breeding and feedlot animals

2. Cow size reduced by one frame score

3. Retained for breeding purposes.  In a study that involved more than 13,000 calves from eight states, docile (mild temperament) cattle returned more than $62.00 than aggressive cattle and even the restless cattle were more profitable ($49.00) than aggressive animals.  All Kallion Farms animals must pass a strict disposition evaluation to be offered for sale or to be considered as an addition to the Kallion Farms breeding program.

4. Feedlot animals have reached final market weights and desired degrees of finish at younger ages with less time on feed.

5. Over 90% of our purebred Brahman heifers are cycling by 15 months of age and a large portion of our purebred Brahman bulls have from 36 to 40 centimeters of scrotal circumference by 15 months of age.

6. All bulls and females retained for breeding purposes are evaluated for net feed intake (NFI), a measure of feed efficiency, using the GrowSafe System.  Kallion Farms has used the GrowSafe testing system at the Beef Development Center of Texas for the past 3 years as the sole occupant of the facility and during that time more than 600 head of bulls and females have been tested.  An eighteen unit GrowSafe system has recently been installed at Kallion Farms.  This facility is designed for 3 test pens with each pen handling 50 or more head.  This will allow Kallion Farms a one time minimum test capacity of 150 head with 3 to 4 test groups annually.

7. DNA technology is being used to identify bulls and females for marbling and tenderness gene markers with over 2,000 head tested to date.  Average rib eye area on purebred Brahman steers harvested the past 3 years (135 head) has increased by more than 1 ½ sq. in. to average 13.5 sq. in. at harvest time.  Also Warner-Bratzler shear values for tenderness have decreased by more than 2 pounds per head on the 135 purebred Brahman steers harvested over the past 3 years.

8. Five assisted births at Kallion Farms in the past 3 years with over 3,000 calves born.

9. At Kallion Farms we consider data generated from large contemporary groups (100 to 300 head) to be the most useful information available to today’s cattleman.  Kallion Farms cattle (bulls and females) are developed and tested in the same contemporary group into which they were born regarding specific calving dates and groups.  We encourage our customers to use the animal’s performance EPD values, GeneSTAR markers, ultrasound information and the valuable GrowSafe feedlot measures as accurate and comparable information within the contemporary test groups.