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Cow Market On Fire!!!

Except by baldie cows weith Angus bulls back on them lol. At least in our country A baldie cow winters better than straight blacks-the old intangible hybrid vigour is hard to beat-up here the F1's sell right with the straight blacks-in fac t they sort them together most times. As for these plus 30 milk-uber marbling Angus cattle we have now-the kids old Jersey bummer cow wintered better than the few we used to have. Black is beautiful for sure but not all black.
 
I'll beg to differ with you NR. I do like a black baldy cow, but you have more problems with burnt bags, bad eyes and poor udders than with a straight black cow.

You won't have these problems with ALL black baldy cows, of course, but you will see more of it than with straight black.

And not all straightbred Angus are hard doers or hard wintering cattle.

The big narrow ones probably are. That's why we stay away from Precision and New Design cattle in our area.
 
And not all baldies have bad eyes,sun burnt udders or poor udders. A F1 is only as good as her parents make her as is a straight bred-I honestly think our Angus cattle were better on average 15 years ago-they weren't as popular and the odd bull calf actually got cut. I A'I' a few thousand cows a year all over hells half acre so get a pretty good idea of things as far as the cow side goes. I'm 5'8 and if I got to stretch to breed a British cow she's too damned big.If her sides don't fill the alley she's too damned narrow-if her bag touches my boot tops her udders no good-and if the owner couldn't get her in to beA 'I'ed she's probably an EXT. We ranch almost a 1,000 miles north of you remember so that little bit of hybrid vigour can help in a bad winter. The funniest thing I ever heard was my buddy in Montana telling me he wore knee high cowboy boots to ride in winter because they kept his legs warm-I don't think he's rode in -40 very often lol. To be honest I haven't either but I've fed with a team in that weather more times than I like lol.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Heck we have lots of grass here too-why not run more smaller cows instead of those big behemouths-how far are you from Lucan,Ontario-I sent a set of baldie heifers out there a few years back lol. Sop not verybody in Ontario is crazy lol.
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NR did you send those Hfrs to Gord Hardy?
 
Northern Rancher said:
Heck we have lots of grass here too-why not run more smaller cows instead of those big behemouths-how far are you from Lucan,Ontario-I sent a set of baldie heifers out there a few years back lol. Sop not verybody in Ontario is crazy lol.
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Well if I know where Stratton is, it's a mighty big day's drive to Lucan, which is about an hour south of us. And I really appreciate the big vote of confidence - "not . . . crazy" LOL

Hey NR, what's the problem? :???: You seem a little cross-grained lately! The sun getting too strong for you? 8)

Relax man! :idea: :drink:


:)


Who got the heifers at Lucan?
 
Now I've got to try and remember who it was-some dairy outfit that was switching to beef if that helps lol-it wasn't Gord Hardy-my neighbors send straight Horned Hereford heifers to Ontario every year.
 
Soapweed said:
For the most trouble-free ranching, my loyalty would be with straight-bred Angus. There are virtually no calving problems. They are as in demand as any breed. There are no horns, and other problems such as bad udders, bad feet, prolapses, and bad eyes are very minimal. With the straight one breed system, it is always easy to keep your own replacements. The heifers not retained for replacements are often in high demand from other cattle producers who utilize cross-breeding in their own programs.

Angus are pretty labor un-intensive. For the ultimate in easy living ranching they can't be beat.
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It all depends on what works best for your particular operation. As far as bad udders, bad feet, prolapses, and bad eyes go I've seen as much in black angus as any other breed. I worked on a ranch where we calved out 2000 head of the things and they were far from labour un-intensive. And they were mean.
I think you would have to agree that management is a far more important factor than breed when it comes to accumulating a herd that is easy to have.
And I maintain that they (angus) can be beat.
 
Northern Rancher said:
Aww those black cows wern't all that thin lol-some people still run 12 weight cows out here in the wasties. They going straight to kill I'm pretty sure-some poor guy might of bought a package of those EXT's to rebreed -good luck lol. Usually a big hard fed exotic tops the deal but they weren't today. Eight weight heifers were kind of getting hit hard if they weren't good enough to breed.
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Still gettin over drought -light cows can pull yu through some times-black or not
 
Ok, Silver, name a breed of cow that can beat Angus all the way around. Good maternal, no horns, good growth, steers that top the market, etc. etc.

So many outfits have gone to Angus because of less problems.
I don't see many changing to anything else.

I know a Hereford outfit that ran 3000 mother cows and started using
Black Angus Bulls. They kept the baldy heifers and today, all there are on that ranch is straight black cattle.

Just a friendly little difference of opinion, okay?
 
If you do your homework, it is possible to keep very good bags on angus cows. Other breeds seem to get bags that need attention. With range calving this is a very big deal. Sometimes the angus can be too good of mothers, but that is ok too I guess. :wink:

I am willing to give up some pounds in our home raised, almost straightbred angus herd, vs. crossbreeding, just becuase it allows us to do things with less labor. Can't forget that either. Could someone like rancher run as many cows as he does with no help and have a great calf crop, and use any other breed? Maybe longhorn or beefmasters, but that is all I can think of. Not too many of them around this neighborhood.
 
We run alot of Angus cows too are they perfect -I guess if I looked at them through rose coloured glasses-you can breed a trouble free profitable herd in any breed if you know what you are doing. Angus are a great breed of cattle but even me who ran them when Angus weren't cool haven't been able to B.S. myself that they aren't fault free. Are they the perfect base to build an F1 cow from-your damned right. Good crossbred cows aren't any more labour than straight Angus cows-the range we calve in at times means they are totally unattended-our straight black cows don't bring any more or better calves than our baldy cows do. I'm sure there are outfits doing fine with straight Angus cows but there are just as many doing just as well with a good cross breeding program.
 
Faster horses said:
Ok, Silver, name a breed of cow that can beat Angus all the way around. Good maternal, no horns, good growth, steers that top the market, etc. etc.

So many outfits have gone to Angus because of less problems.
I don't see many changing to anything else.

I know a Hereford outfit that ran 3000 mother cows and started using
Black Angus Bulls. They kept the baldy heifers and today, all there are on that ranch is straight black cattle.

Just a friendly little difference of opinion, okay?
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Firstly let me remind you that I have angus bulls, so I feel like I can talk freely about angus with a bit of credability.
If all you want is polled, you can get that in nearly any breed so it's a moot point. My idea of the best all around cow is the one that makes me the most money and in my area at least it's not angus. The simple truth is that angus are a long way from being capable of weaning the biggest calves. I get paid by the pound for calves so bigger calves mean more money..... pretty hard for a 500 lb angus calf to top a 700lb 'other' calf of the same age.
There are plenty of angus traits I like, and Northern Rancher just made some pretty good points in his post that I agree with.
I'll take a good blonde cross cow any day for all around 'lack of problems' and make more money per head at the end of the year than higher percentage angus every time. Thats just the way it is in my neck of the woods anyway. :wink:
 
You'd have to travel far and wide to find any Blonde cattle in the US.

We are back to about 4 or 5 breeds as was predicted a long time ago.

Basically trouble free cattle; once you go black you'll never go back. :wink:

Oh, and we do get 700 lb. steers out of Angus cows. Not us, because
that's not what we are after, but I guarantee you some of the folks that
think heavy weaning weights are everything, get 700 lb. calves out
of Angus.

Like I say, we are too old for that business. We just want them alive and with not much work into it. And they still weigh over 600 lbs. easy.
 
Faster horses said:
Basically trouble free cattle; once you go black you'll never go back. :wink:

.
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been black, and now I'm back. Thank the lord! :lol:
 
I think some of you are missing the point. Yes you can get hevier weaning weights with some breeds - - - - I bought a herd of registered Charolis with this in mind. I'm now moving back to Angus cows as pounds of beef per acre is more important to me than pounds per calf.

These Charolis just eat to much and my stocking rate went way down. I would rather have 50 650# calves ( 32,500#) than 30 750# calves (21,000) and the 650# calves will normally bring slightly more per pound.

I thought I wanted to move away from Angus and I did so and now I'm glad I tried it or I would always wonder but I'm going back to black. I will still breed to a Charolis bull for the smoky calves that have been topping the market here for decades.
 
The best cow might be a regional thing. Where they have a lot of vigorous grass growth, maybe a continental breed is best. In a place where the pickings are very slim, look what the natives are running, and that is probably what works best. I know in places like the Great Basin, they have tried to introduce high performing cattle, and it just won't work. I read an article just this week where they tried to introduce a herd of high performing angus cows into that area north of Las Vegas. They had the highest weaning weights they had ever seen, but the breedback was horrid. I understand that the ranches that left natural selection to do their breeding have found a cow that fits well down there and breeds up ok too. In the areas where they get more snow in the Great Basin and feed some hay, they can get by with a little higher performing cow.

In this area our grass is short, but powerful, so you can use about whatever breed you choose. I still maintain that you have only so many acres to operate on, so you should use a breed that is the most efficient. I agreed with what George wrote. And our angus cows can winter out on native grasses with minimal supplement most years. That wouldn't work with a big continental cross animal. They might make it, but you would pay down the road.

Just a matter of personal preference.
 
In Canada the exotics have been given a free ride based on carcass quality. Marbling doesn't bring a premium like in the States. A single A (Utility) marbling score was still saleable. Quebec was buying all that dry beef they could get.

I have been told that is changing, but haven't been selling fats to the packers to know. Direct to consumer takes some info out of my loop.
 
In harsher environments it is hard for a cow to do everything. Have a calf, save it, raise it, breed back on time and stay in good flesh.

Usually the first thing that suffers is reproduction.
Cows just have to give up something when all their requirements
are not met. And bigger cows have higher requirements. They
have to. Especially in cold winters because they have a bigger
house to heat. If you don't meet her requirements she/you will
pay later.

Bottom line, if you are happy with what you are doing, by all
means keep on doing it. You really don't have to answer to anyone.
That's what makes this industry so interesting.
 
On the grid up here an A1 CAB gets a 23 cent premium over an A1-A.An A1-AAA gets a 17 cent premium. The premium pretty much stays at that throughout the yield grades 2 and 3. I just got it off my last settlement. It has all the weight breaks and premiums for the grid omn a chart in the back.
 

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