Today’s technology is ever changing and at Kallion Farms we utilize the most current technology to produce the best end product possible.

Bovigen LLC, has the exclusive rights in the Americas for the GeneStar, SireTrace, SureTrak and Elite Tenderness DNA technological products. Their mission is to promote excellence in the beef industry through the discovery, validation and commercialization of genetic tools that add value and enable producers to positively impact the economics of the beef industry. At Kallion Farms we GeneStar test more Brahman Cattle than any other seed stock producer. By utilizing this DNA test, we are able to make better management decisions that will improve the quality of our herd and create a long-term positive economic impact for our customers.

Kallion Farms readily endorses Bovigen test results since all procedures and genetic tests are committed to an extensive third party verification before the tests are made available commercially. 

A Kallion Farms GeneSTAR report received 08/27/07 involving 156 purebred Brahman bulls and females contained the following results:

There were 8 animals that were homozygous for both the QG1 and QG2 markers.

There were 8 animals that were 5 STARS for tenderness with the following arrangement:

      T1        2 STARS
      T2        1 STAR
      T3        2 STARS

In the combined QG1, QG2, T1, T2 and T3, there is a total of 10 possible STARS.  In the 156 head, 35% of the individuals were 6 STARS or higher with the following breakdown:

      6 STARS         40 animals
      7 STARS         10 animals
      8 STARS         3 animals
      9 STARS         1 animal

In the feed efficiency analysis with a total of 4 categories for 8 GeneSTAR markers in the panel, 82% of the animals had all 8 of the feed efficiency GeneSTAR markers resulting in the following breakdown:

      6 STARS         1 animal
      7 STARS         26 animals
      8 STARS         129 animals

To Read more about BOVIGEN and the GeneStar test, please visit their website.

GrowSafe product innovation includes:

• Feed intake data acquisition systems
• Animal behavior monitoring systems
• Pasture supplement feeding systems
• Cannulated pH data logging systems
• Advanced software and database solutions

GrowSafe offers Kallion Farms the ability to measure net feed intake (NFI) & feed conversion on all replacement heifers and potential herd sires. We utilize NFI because it measures feed efficiency of each individual animal, rather than on a group of animals. 

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.

To Read more about GrowSafe and their program, please visit their website

Ultrasound technology is a very useful tool in collecting valuable carcass information. At Kallion Farms we have found it to be more cost effective, faster and efficient than the old standard of collecting actual carcass data in the field.  We are, however, continuing to feedlot and harvest our excess male animals to verify  tenderness results through the use of Warner-Bratzler shear value testing conducted at Texas A&M University.

Recent ultrasound results received 11/07/07 from the National CUP Lab and Technology Center on 82 purebred Brahman heifers off test were as follows:

• Average weight                                   789 pounds
• Average backfat thickness                  0.19 inches
• Average ribeye area                            9.7 sq. in.
• Average ribeye area per cwt               1.23 sq. in.
• Average intramuscular fat (IMF)         3.32%

 

 





Genetic Resources International, located in Navasota, Texas, is a premier semen collection and embryo transfer facility. As GRI grew their company to be a leader in cattle reproduction, marketing and distribution around the world, they realized the importance of investing in future technologies.

In the 1980s, a breakthrough in semen-sexing technology was discovered by USDA researchers and the patents for this technology were licensed to XY Inc. GRI began following the progress XY Inc. was making in the sorted semen technology and decided to create Sexing Technologies Inc., with the goal of producing and providing Sexed Sorted Semen to breeders around the globe.

Purified sperm is sex sorted at Sexing Technologies into X-bearing chromosome (female) and Y-bearing chromosome (male) populations. These purified subpopulations are frozen for future use in artificial breeding. The sorting technique is proven to be routinely 93% gender accurate.

Kallion Farms utilizes Sexed Semen in our genetic decision making process. Additionally, we currently have 700 heifer calves that have been born from our use of sexed semen.

To Read more about Sexing Technologies and their program, please visit their website