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Grassfarmer
Rancher
Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 1002
Location: Central Alberta, Canada
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 Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Soapweed wrote: |
| Sometimes we need to take into consideration that it is not always what we want, but what the buyers are seeking and are willing to pay a premium to acquire. |
True but we also need to do our sums correctly and calculate what the premium really is. I read a few years back a comment by a bull producer (of multiple breeds) in his sale catalog that "for the first time in his life black angus calves were selling for more $cwt than tan charolais calves" This observation was obviously an earth shattering revelation to him because he was selling more Charolais than Angus at that time. I got to thinking afterwards that the statement he made really wasn't all that remarkable.
If you sell 500lb Angus calves at $105/cwt versus Charolais at $100/cwt sure that's $25 advantage to the Angus. However if your Charolais bull is worth his salt his calves will weigh 80lbs more than the straight Angus at the same age, advantage $55 to the Charolais. So much for the Angus outselling the Charolais. I have never seen good black steers outsell good tan char. steers in western Canada by more than 5c/lb.
I don't have a dog in this race as I don't breed either but I think no matter your breed or breed preference you need to be careful not to buy into the BS and fashion influenced trends of the day.
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Soapweed
Rancher
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 11627
Location: northern Nebraska Sandhills
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Grassfarmer wrote: |
| Soapweed wrote: |
| Sometimes we need to take into consideration that it is not always what we want, but what the buyers are seeking and are willing to pay a premium to acquire. |
True but we also need to do our sums correctly and calculate what the premium really is. I read a few years back a comment by a bull producer (of multiple breeds) in his sale catalog that "for the first time in his life black angus calves were selling for more $cwt than tan charolais calves" This observation was obviously an earth shattering revelation to him because he was selling more Charolais than Angus at that time. I got to thinking afterwards that the statement he made really wasn't all that remarkable.
If you sell 500lb Angus calves at $105/cwt versus Charolais at $100/cwt sure that's $25 advantage to the Angus. However if your Charolais bull is worth his salt his calves will weigh 80lbs more than the straight Angus at the same age, advantage $55 to the Charolais. So much for the Angus outselling the Charolais. I have never seen good black steers outsell good tan char. steers in western Canada by more than 5c/lb.
I don't have a dog in this race as I don't breed either but I think no matter your breed or breed preference you need to be careful not to buy into the BS and fashion influenced trends of the day. |
One thing about using just one breed--life is pretty simple. There are plenty of good heifer calves to choose from when it comes to picking replacements. Calving problems are also kept to a bare minimum, which definitely makes things easier. Another advantage is that the little Angus calves get right up and go to sucking, which is often the difference between their life or death on a cold winter night. We raised Charolais cross calves for several years, and they treated us quite well. I have been around them enough to know, though, that they don't bounce up off the ground as quickly as Angus calves.
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cowhunter
Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2010
Posts: 494
Location: williston florida
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject: black or white |
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| Angus and char calfs bring about the same at the market here. Most people sell around 350/400. Anything biger brings about 25 cents a lb cheeper. So why spend more gettin them bigger than 400. Down here most mama cows have a little of everything. But they sure have some ear. Lots of char bulls and angus to. But more angus. So I'll have to go with the old sayin. Black is beautiful and tan is grand, but white is the color of that big boss man.
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MoGal
Member
Joined: 14 Dec 2005
Posts: 927
Location: SE MO
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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What about tarentaise?
They had them on "the cattle show" as a featured breed and I thought they were nice.... they were solid red (and maybe that's the only color they come in, I don't know).
Anyone have any experience with those or crosses thereof?
Also, do the red polls do okay in Canada?
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lazy ace
Member
Joined: 31 Dec 2005
Posts: 597
Location: Grand River Casino
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Just curious but when do people generally calf in Florida? Are replacements purchased or home raised? Is there a lot of AI or mainly natural service.
Like I said just curious about a different area.
Oh and is the grass green now or is it dormant?
Sorry so many questions
thanks in advance
lazy ace
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Northern Rancher
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 12235
Location: saskatchewan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think calving ease comes automatically with straight breeding not even in Nebraska-if you use the right cattle within a breed it can but it can go the other way just as quick.
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Soapweed
Rancher
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 11627
Location: northern Nebraska Sandhills
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Northern Rancher
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 12235
Location: saskatchewan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Ohh you can get big black ones too my friend or you could use the right Hereford and get some easy calving baldies lol. It's all in the bulls you use breed is actually redundant-I had a buddy calve 500 heifers bred Charolais and it all went tickety boo.
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leanin' H
Rancher
Joined: 08 Nov 2007
Posts: 4095
Location: Western Utah Desert
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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| MoGal wrote: |
What about tarentaise?
They had them on "the cattle show" as a featured breed and I thought they were nice.... they were solid red (and maybe that's the only color they come in, I don't know).
Anyone have any experience with those or crosses thereof?
Also, do the red polls do okay in Canada? |
We ran Tarentaise on a ranch I worked at back in the 80's. Real framey cows for this country. We had three Tar bulls and all three were plumb snorty. One took out the passenger side door on the feed truck. Cows were good mothers but kinda flighty like some of the Salers we ran. I did like a cow that was 1/2 angus 1/4 hereford and a 1/4 Tarentaise. Seemed to be pretty mellow, milked well, was a great mother and weaned soggy calves.
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Northern Rancher
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 12235
Location: saskatchewan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Tarentaise are hard to beat for udder quality-there almost seems to be two lines of them -one kind of frailer dairy types and others pretty darn thick. There's some good ones down around Swift Current Sask. They can be ringy little buggers to heel at a branding lol.
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High Plains
Member
Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 656
Location: Nebraska
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Soapweed
Rancher
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 11627
Location: northern Nebraska Sandhills
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| Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Northern Rancher wrote: |
| Tarentaise are hard to beat for udder quality-there almost seems to be two lines of them -one kind of frailer dairy types and others pretty darn thick. There's some good ones down around Swift Current Sask. They can be ringy little buggers to heel at a branding lol. |
I tried a couple Tarentaise bulls a few years ago. The herd they came from were nice uniform cows, with excellent udders. The red Tarentaise bulls crossed with my black cows provided mostly brown colored calves, with a few reds and brindles. Once again, marketing these calves proved tough, so I didn't stay with it past the first year.
For pure buyer acceptance in this area, straight black cattle are hard to improve upon. I will say that the Red Angus probably beat the Angus hands down this past fall through the Valentine barn, but guess I will stick with the blacks. They have stayed the course of time very well, and they are easy to run on a ranch.
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