To the Victors, Belong the Spoils
Written by David Carter
Competition has been around since the dawn of time and it mattered not what the prize may be. Sometimes it was a friendly wager to see who was the strongest and other times it may be a battle for love, in most cases riches were at hand for the winner. From ancient medieval times to present day, the need for competition has not changed. Valiant Knights would tirelessly prepare for their centuries-old Tournament of Games in hopes of finding favor with the crowd, but more importantly their King. Athletes train for years to be the very best they can be. Governments around the world sequester and train their athletes around the clock in order to bring home a gold medal for their country. So what happens when you enter competition with your very best and you still can not compete and win? As it has always been, people take a dishonest route in order to gain an advantage. The ultimate end is to win at any cost. To the victor belong the spoils.
As with other competitions, the livestock industry has not been immune to the scandals and the shady dealings that thrive with competition. In recent times, the Boer goat show industry has had to deal with unethical practices in which breeders have falsified birth dates in order to gain an advantage in the show ring. The result is a larger, more mature kid to win a blue ribbon or maybe a championship for the exhibitor. This translates into dollars as these animals or their offspring are sold off to the highest bidder at an auction, another type of competition. Although this in itself is very disturbing, I feel there is a much greater threat looming on the horizon which will have a much more devastating effect on the entire Boer goat industry for years to come.
The history of steroids takes us back to ancient Greece. This part of the history of steroids is when Olympic athletes were thought to have used plant derivatives, all meat diets and animal testicles as performance enhancers. Norse warriors (The Berserkers) ate hallucinogenic mushrooms to gear up for battle. (1) The use of anabolic steroids by athletes is relatively new. Testosterone was first synthesized in the 1930's and was introduced into the sporting arena in the 1940's and 1950's. (2) In more recent times, weight lifters may have started the craze, but Major league baseball has certainly had to deal with it. The modern Olympic Games are not immune, and neither is the livestock industry.
In livestock, certain steroid hormones have been approved for use at very low concentrations to increase the rate of weight gain and/or improve feed efficiency in beef cattle. No steroid hormones are approved for use in poultry. All endogenous steroid hormone products marketed in the U.S. for beef growth-promotion are formulated as implantable pellets and are designed to deliver the hormones at a slow, constant rate when injected subcutaneously under the skin of the animal's ear. (3)
Another feed additive on the scene today is Ractopamine Hydrochloride, more commonly known as Paylean® for Swine or Opttaflex for Cattle. . Paylean® is a feed ingredient that increases the amount of quality meat in high-value cuts, improves production efficiency and decreases backfat. Paylean® directs nutrients away from fat deposition and toward lean deposition. Paylean® increases muscle protein synthesis, muscle protein accretion, and muscle fiber diameter. It adds about 15% to the pig’s genetic potential to produce muscle. Thus, higher dietary protein levels are needed to meet the increased capacity to produce muscle.(4) Optaflexx is a feed ingredient fed to cattle during the final stage* of the finishing period to increase live weight gain, improve feed efficiency, and increase red meat yield.(5) Neither Paylean nor Optaflexx are approved for use in breeding animals.
How you may ask does any of this relate to the Boer goat industry? Simple, these products along with many others, that have been introduced and approved for more efficient weight gains in other species, have been introduced to Boer goats not only for showing in market shows, but breeding shows as well. The one thing you must keep in mind, these products that have been introduced and approved for more efficient weight gains in other species are not meant for the breeding animals of those species, only animals going to slaughter. The key phrase is not intended or approved for breeding animals.
Research on these products and their effects on breeding animals are overwhelming.
“Heifers intended for breeding should not be implanted. (Although most of the data has been obtained with Ralgro®, the following recommendations likely hold true for Synovex® also.) An implant at yearling age may have serious consequences, and repeated implants from birth to puberty will severely reduce fertility in heifers. Compudose®, with its long effective period, probably should never be used on breeding heifers.
In a Kansas study, bull calves were implanted every 100 days (Ralgro®) from birth to 15 months of age. Compared to unimplanted bulls, the implanted bulls showed a 50 percent reduction in testicle size, impaired semen quality and a virtual absence of sex drive.” (6)
“Paylean® is only approved for use in swine. Although studies are underway to evaluate the effects of ractopamine in other species, the FDA has not approved its use in any other species. Use of this product in other species, including beef cattle and sheep is therefore illegal.
Paylean® is not labeled for use in breeding swine. Since gilts that are bred to produce show pigs
tend to be leaner and more heavily muscled than most commercial gilts, they are often not as reproductively sound. They may take more services to conceive, tend to have small litters and are poorer milkers than their commercial counterparts. Increasing muscling and leanness with Paylean® may exasperate the potential for reproductive problems in these extremely muscled gilts.
Bottom line: if you plan on breeding that gilt, do not feed her Paylean®.”(7)
You may still ask how this affects the Boer goat industry. There are two main ways this will affect the industry.
1) Young show does or bucks that are offered in auctions touting their records to command big prices. The unsuspecting buyer, looking to improve their herd, buys an animal expecting great things. The animal bought ends up loosing condition, falls apart, or even worse has reproductive problems. Any of these scenarios are not good for the buyer, seller, or the Boer goat industry.
2) Bucks have a farther reaching effect over the nation, especially through frozen semen. Take a Boer Buck who becomes very well known as a show winner, maybe goes on and becomes a National Champion. If he is fed, implanted or in anyway is exposed to growth enhancing substance, steroid, or hormone, his true genetic potential will be misrepresented. So you take an inferior animal, market him all over the United States and tout how he will improve your herd, what have you got? An entire industry based on inferior genetics that has the potential to wreck the entire Boer goat industry. The short term gain based on one exhibitor’s greed, is the long term destruction of the industry.
Is there a way to correct this before it gets out of control? The answer to this lies within the powers of our Boer Goat breed associations. If testing is done at both State, but especially National Shows for the kind of growth enhancing products mentioned, we could curtail this epidemic before it grows out of control. True livestock breeders will not submit themselves or their livestock to steroids. Breeders have the long term goals of breeding for better structures, muscle development, reproductivity, and general efficiency within their herds. These breeders are the true victors and will be revered throughout the ages.
In today’s society, many practices have been accepted as the norm just to stay competitive. Everyone seems to get in mind set of saying, ‘well everyone else is doing it, why shouldn’t I?’ Do two wrongs really make it right? Do you really want to sacrifice all your hard work with a breeding program just to have it spoiled? Some may say that this is an idealistic type of thinking, that this world we live in is not that naïve anymore. Well maybe so, but from the words of Alexander Hamilton, “those who stand for nothing fall for anything”.
References
(1) (www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/)
(2) http://www.ianabolicsteroids.com/index.htm
(3) http://www.fda.gov/cvm/hormones.htm
(4) http://www.umbargerandsons.com/swinedirect.cfm
(5) http://www.elanco.us/products/optaflexx.htm
(6) Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1931/ANSI-3268web.pdf
(7) Texas A&M U/ Cooperative Extension Service http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/4hyouth/ASWeb-89-Payleanuseinshowpigs.pdf