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Soapweed ????

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I live at almost 6000 ft and everything in our country here on the high desert gets PAP tested. It's pretty rare to visit with anyone here who has Brisket Disease issues anymore. It never ceases to amaze me how the cattle business continues to evolve and the advances we have made. From PAP testing, DNA stuff, EPD's, ect. my Grand-dad would sure smile to see the tools we have to use. :D And then he'd say, "Those Herefords are sure pretty cattle compared to your Angus cows". :cboy:

This has been a great thread, with lots of great opinions and generations of successful ranchers to back up each opinion! One size never fits anything! :wink:

I am waiting to hear from Gcreek to brag on his empire of crossbred wolverines. You think rolling out hay is tough, try trapping, skinning and feeding 2100 head of squirrels everyday! :shock:
 
leanin' H said:
I live at almost 6000 ft and everything in our country here on the high desert gets PAP tested. It's pretty rare to visit with anyone here who has Brisket Disease issues anymore. It never ceases to amaze me how the cattle business continues to evolve and the advances we have made. From PAP testing, DNA stuff, EPD's, ect. my Grand-dad would sure smile to see the tools we have to use. :D And then he'd say, "Those Herefords are sure pretty cattle compared to your Angus cows". :cboy:

This has been a great thread, with lots of great opinions and generations of successful ranchers to back up each opinion! One size never fits anything! :wink:

"I am waiting to hear from Gcreek to brag on his empire of crossbred wolverines. You think rolling out hay is tough, try trapping, skinning and feeding 2100 head of squirrels everyday! :shock:"
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'H', shouldn't you at least tell him he should leave the skins on those squirrels, since it would entertain and keep survival skills sharp in those wolverines as well as feeding them? After all, a goal for successful 'ranchers' is to increase sustainability of our animals. Wouldn't want Gcreek to be at a disadvantage, now, would we?????

mrj
 
He'll chime in sooner or later about his trait selection priorities:
1) Athleticism to outmaneuver wolves;
2) Webbed cariboo-like hooves for staying afloat in the swamps;
3) Hide like wear leather to resist horseflies and blackflies;
4) +257 EPD on weaning weight.

;-)
 
We have approximately 400 head of Black Angus cattle, my father in law says " around here you either raise Angus cattle or you have pet cattle". Inferring that if your in the business of cattle...you almost have to have Angus. We occasionally put Angus/ Gelbvieh Balancer bulls on our cattle ...they give the steers a real punch of muscle. We aggressively cull for "attitude" and I can honestly say we really don't have problems.... but we have had the same genetics for 40 or more years. We do buy some registered Bulls at local sales. Our last set of crazy offspring came out of a son of "Quaker Hill Rampage" ...the word Rampage Should have gave me a heads up!!

We tried Limousine once, I am sure it was just the cattle we bought but they were hard keepers and flighty.
 
leanin' H said:
I live at almost 6000 ft and everything in our country here on the high desert gets PAP tested. It's pretty rare to visit with anyone here who has Brisket Disease issues anymore. It never ceases to amaze me how the cattle business continues to evolve and the advances we have made. From PAP testing, DNA stuff, EPD's, ect. my Grand-dad would sure smile to see the tools we have to use. :D And then he'd say, "Those Herefords are sure pretty cattle compared to your Angus cows". :cboy:

This has been a great thread, with lots of great opinions and generations of successful ranchers to back up each opinion! One size never fits anything! :wink:

I am waiting to hear from Gcreek to brag on his empire of crossbred wolverines. You think rolling out hay is tough, try trapping, skinning and feeding 2100 head of squirrels everyday! :shock:
Click to expand...

Most of the bulls here were raised here. Our cows are sound of feet and udder and breed or they don't stay. Although most of our cows are Angus based, I care not what color they are, just make them so they grow and don't require a lot of maintenance while they are doing it.
We know our steers will do over 4.5 lbs. per day on feed with a good feedlot. They want them to grow first, worry about color later. We have already sold over half of our calves for Oct 31 delivery. Looks like we might have the highest priced calves in North America this year. Time will tell.

I still am not in love with Herefords, longhorns or Limousins. Or Chianinas, Watusis, Highland.....

Gotta have cows around.
 
If they have buyer acceptance Welsh Black might work pretty good for you. Tuned my 5 yr old WB bull out with the big herd this year, he weighed 2320 in good working condition.and he is not real extreme except maybe in length.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Soap since you run black cows and grew up raising Hereford I thought this might be a good question for you and any other reading this that want to ad input.
Do you keep your herd straight bred Angus for a reason or would you consider throwing in some Hereford bulls?
I guess other breeds could count as well but I was just curious what other think.
I have run straight Angus for quite a while but did try a couple Welsh Black bulls and a couple Hereford bulls. I like the WB cross but didn't see big difference in the calves and I like the BWF cow and the str calves.

Remember, no right or wrong answers and I'm not wanting to start a fight. We are ranchers we can be different if we want. :D
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Yesterday we moved a hundred cows and their calves to a new pasture. They are spending the summer on land owned by a neighbor a few miles from home. We took all cows with heifer calves to that location, so they can be managed accordingly. Before we trailed down there, any substandard calves and cows with blemishes were left at home. Out of the hundred pairs that were moved yesterday, there were probably only three or four baldy cows, with the rest all being solid black. Wouldn't you know it, a nice seven-year-old baldy cow has developed cancer-eye just since being trailed to that pasture in late May. Her white-faced heifer calf has no pigment, and also looks like a prime candidate to have eye problems at some time in her life. She won't be kept as a replacement heifer. When the bulls are pulled around the 1st of August, this pair will have to come home. The cow will be sold before she gets any worse (at a significant financial discount), and the calf will be an orphan for the duration of the summer. I am pretty well remembering why I prefer straight Angus.
 
I was just thinking about this thread today while I was cutting hay and I realized that nearly all the reasons Soap has for going to straight Black Angus are the same as my reasons for not. Funny how we can all come to different conclusions even when given many of the same types of experiences.
 
Watched some long strings of yearling steers sell today. Anything not black was sorted off and sold cheaper. Still the biggest driver in Angus genetics. Horns were even worse.
 
Baldy calves always seem to top the market here. I firmly believe it is eye appeal in the sale ring.the sale barn has a Hereford influenced sale first week of January it's a sorted sale and those herfs bring within 2dollars a hundred of a load of black calves
 
scout said:
Baldy calves always seem to top the market here. I firmly believe it is eye appeal in the sale ring.the sale barn has a Hereford influenced sale first week of January it's a sorted sale and those herfs bring within 2dollars a hundred of a load of black calves
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So what is the advantage to running Herefords if you can get $2 more for blacks?
 
Not really one we get a few herfs out of are baldy cows every year and 2dollar hit is a lot better than the 15 20 dollar hit at a regular sale buyers around here are very color bias but they like the baldys so I breed for are market
 
In my neck of the woods straight Hereford calves sure take a beating at the sale barn .10-.25 back in cases. Sure would make me think twice about a straight Hereford herd.
 
I wouldn't have a straight Hereford herd but I do like the bulls sometimes I keep a Hereford hfr now again but we also have angus bulls we use the Hereford more as a terminal cross they seem to inject more frame and bone in to the calves. Angus bulls seem to be a dime a dozen and it is hard to find one that really jumps out at me then when I do they are way out of my price range.just what I like I know it doesn't work for everyone but that's what I do right or wrong
 
Big out fit running grass cattle , black steers every year, they sort of 10 differing sizes when shipping. Well the boss said black but put a white face on then , really evened up size come shipping time.
 

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