These cattle were composed of 12 groups of both steers and heifers, grown and fed without implants of any kind under normal, commercial conditions. All were sired by Romagnola bulls and were out of native cow herds in the inter-mountain west. The results produced by these 1202 cattle were frankly amazing. All received bonuses paid by B3R to the producers for exceeding minimum standards for the program ranging from $41.59 to $88.82 per-head over the market price for fed cattle on the date of slaughter. The pen of cattle receiving the $88.82 per-head bonus received an award as the top pen of cattle processed by B3R for the year.

The data on this representative group of Romagnola crosses was outstanding. They were killed at an average weight of 1171 pounds and got there with an average daily gain of 3.05 pounds per day for the average 146 days on feed and a cost of gain at 58 cents per pound. They had an average hot weight Yield of 63.35 percent. Their ribeye areas averaged 13.4 inches and they had an external fat thickness of .33 inches. Their average Yield Grade was 2.07. These cattle graded 87.5 percent Choice and Prime.

The top pen, 98 of these cattle, spent 224 days on feed and gained 2.81 pounds per day at a cost of 52.1 cents per pound. They had a dressing percentage ---Yield--- of 64.7 percent, a ribeye area of 14.01 sq. inches covered by an external fat thickness of .35 inches. They posted a Yield Grade of 2.24 and 95.9 percent in the Choice or Prime quality grade.

One pen of 121 head were 100 percent in the Choice grade. Another pen of 98 head were Yield Grade 1.66 and graded 89.8 percent choice with only .27 inches of external fat over a ribeye area of 13.88 sq. inches.