All About American Limousin Cattle

L to R:  BTAP Zooey and her mother GMEG Jealousy

I snapped this picture of my good Limousin cow GMEG Jealousy and her July 2012 heifer calf, BTAP Zooey.  This is a pretty good representation of the Limousin breed of cattle in the United States, that is to say black and red hided animals, both are part of the American Limousin breed.

The breed came from France in the late 1960's and early 1970's. They are one of the Continental breeds as apposed to the British beef breeds, and produce naturally lean meat. That is to say, their meat is not heavily marbled with fat.   They are traditionally red with cream colored accents.


BTAP Juliette, a 2010 daughter of GMEG Jealousy

This photo of BTAP Juliette, another GMEG Jealousy daughter, shows the traditional red hide with cream accents on the belly, inner legs, nose and around the eyes. 

You have probably heard of Certified Angus Beef.  CAB is one of the all time great marketing programs for selling beef.  Originally it was a program that was meant to reward farmers for producing a better beef animal. CAB set up carcass standards and if a black hided animal's carcass met those standards at slaughter, the producer received a premium price for the beef. Any black hided beef animal can qualify as Certified Angus Beef as long as the carcass meets the CAB requirements. 

Herefords, Charlois and other non-black cattle started loosing ground to Angus because of the CAB program.  The Limousin breed is known for its efficient feeding habits and pounds of meat per carcass. It's tag line in "The Carcass Breed".  To compete with the black Angus cattle, American Limousin breeders began breeding black color into their herds. After a time, the black genetics started changing the breed, so that today's American Limousin come in three types: full blood (the original horned, red with cream accented French Limousin), purebred (crossed with other breeds but still predominately Limousin and red or black) and Lim-Flex which is the cross of a registered Limousin to a registered black Angus. This cross produces a superior meat product that easily grades as Choice.

GMEG Jealousy, BTAP Juliette and BTAP Zooey are all three registered purebred Limousin cattle. BTAP Thor is the son of a Lim-Flex bull and a purebred Limousin cow. He is 88% Limousin and 12% black Angus.


BTAP Thor out of BTAP Locust Grove's Valentine by Logan's Tommy Boy

If you compare the pictures of these two bulls you get a fair idea of the difference between Limousin and black Angus .BTAP Thor has a longer body, a big rump and wide top (or back) and a tighter middle or less depth of rib. You still get plenty of good steaks from the Limousin, but you also get many more pounds of chuck roasts, round steak and ground beef. 

CEH Infocus is shorter bodied, slimmer flanked and deeper ribbed. Most of the meat on the Angus is in the rib section - well marbled steaks. You expect an Angus carcass to have a hanging weight between 500 and 575 pounds. The Limousin hanging weight in well over 650 pounds and most of mine hang in the 800 pound range

CEH InFocus, a registered black Angus bull.

Cross a Limi with an Angus and you get the best of both worlds - lots of meat that grades high - usually Choice.  The result is a strong market for Limousin bulls to breed Angus cows.  If you have ever purchased Laura's Lean Beef, you were probably buying Limousin beef as that is one of their preferred breeds for its naturally lean beef. Laura's pays a premium price for carasses that meet their requirements for lean, all natural beef and competes very well against Certified Angus Beef.