I know this has been talked about before on this site and I think that it is a little bit like argueing wether a blue chevy is better than a red chevy. :wink:

I think it is deceitfull for a Hereford breeder to make blanket statements about horned vs polled herefords.  If you want to discuss one horned bull vs another polled bull then we can have a serious discussion. My opinion is based upon experience, not based on some old stereotype from the stone ages.

I grew up with commercial horned herefords. Dad picked top end bulls from a lot of the well know breeders around the area. I have been around Angus, Amerifax, Charolais, horned herefords and now I use polled bulls on my registerd cows. I would not go back to the days of the cows I grew up with.  Calf vigor, udder quality, fleshing ability, birth weights, and mothering ability aren't even in the same ball park with todays genetics.

Justin,

Don't base your decision strictly on polled vs horned. Instead buy from a program that will help you reach your goals.  I sell polled bulls and some dehorned bulls too and there is more difference within the two gene pools than between them.  My customers see no advantage with horns and actually prefer a polled bull so they don't have to dehorn calves.  No matter how close they check at birth, there are some that slip through.

 A lot of them don't want to have to handle horns on their bulls either. They have one heck of an advantage at the feedbunk in the winter time if they are wintered with Angus or even younger bulls.

I provide complete data on my bulls, from birth  to yearling, carcass ultrasound, individual feed conversions and RFI data and cow weights and bcs scores at weaning. I will also provide the data on the steer mates to these bulls from performance to carcass.  Basically any claim that has been made in previous posts can be disproved with through my data.

Hereford is a great compliment to an Angus based cowherd.

Brian