The Folly of Following Fads

[Brad S]

I've seen the straight bred fad fading in favor of crossbred cattle in some major auctions - long overdue.

Funny story: near 20 years ago I placed 200 home raised 4 way crossbred steers in a yard in Lyons ks almost to the day my neighbor placed about the same number gardiner ai sired (on angus cows) straight angus calves. We're all friends, but the manager insisted unless we agree to share data about each others calves or he wouldn't share. So we were all good and we're sharing ration step, pulls, 45day eval. When we went to 90 day weights, my crossbreds had gained nearly 5# on 5#. Well anytime you get high daily gain, your conversion is going to be good - and your 90 day numbers are your best if they went in healthy. The manager had to inform me after the 90 day weights, we weren't sharing data any longer. And my neighbor still breeds black on black. That fad is going to start costing money.

 

[Denny]

I'm at the Stock Show in Denver right now and it's tough to know what's being judged as everything has went black for the most part. I picked up some semen catalogs and it has some Simmental bulls in it they Are 3/4 to 15/16ths angus in my opinion if those breeds are so good why can't they stand on their own merits.

 

[Silver]

The last couple of years I have noticed in this area that black hides are once again selling for the same or generally less than red or "other" hided cattle. Not sure what's up with that, but very glad not to have felt the need to switch colours. Often times staying the course and improving what you already have as best you can is the best and safest course of action.

 

[graybull]

VERY True......Silver..........work on making true genetic improvements. Cynically........I often say that I can teach me 5 year old grandson to select cattle as well as many.........if not most.......currently in the cattle business......

Just pick the biggest blackest ones

 

[Angus 62]

I used a few Gardiner Bulls AI over the years and always wished they would of been bred by the cleanup bulls instead.

 

[Faster horses]

I thought it, you said it, Angus 62. No nuts and no butts in Gardiner cattle, IMO.

Lots of good Angus out there and here, they still bring the most money.

 

[Nesikep]

All the points made there are totally true....

So when is the black hide fad ending?

Man you have made 2 posts and you go to a poking a bear with a sharp stick, Who do you think you are?

Leonardo DiCaprio? :lol: :lol:

For those of you not up to speed, Leo played Hugh Glass in Revenent and was mauled by a bear.

I've been lurking here for a very long time... I'm just getting tired of the forced political correctness of CT.. I may show up here more often as my frustration grows.. I gotta yap about cattle somewhere!

 

[Soapweed]

Poking through my old diary from 1968 reminds me of why I now run Angus cattle, and I have no regrets with this decision. My cattle aren't the best in the west, because I don't buy high dollar bulls or do any AIing. The Angus cattle are fairly trouble-free to run. They give enough milk, but not too much. They are naturally polled. Most have fairly agreeable dispositions. We try to maintain a rigid culling program, and this has paid off. Uniformity seems to be easy to sell. This is my story, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

All the points made there are totally true....

So when is the black hide fad ending?

Man you have made 2 posts and you go to a poking a bear with a sharp stick, Who do you think you are?

Leonardo DiCaprio? :lol: :lol:

For those of you not up to speed, Leo played Hugh Glass in Revenent and was mauled by a bear.

I've been lurking here for a very long time... I'm just getting tired of the forced political correctness of CT.. I may show up here more often as my frustration grows.. I gotta yap about cattle somewhere!

I never got into Cattle Today, seems like I fit in here as good as anywhere. :cowboy:
Welcome to Ranchers, been kind of quiet around here but we still get going once in awhile.

 

[Nesikep]

Thanks.

About poking the bear after only 2 posts..
When you want to get a dog.. or car, or whatever.. do you wait until you've had it for a year before you see if it will do what you want it to? or do you test it first I know Tamarack from CT, and I'm sure there's a few others... Turns out there's even some people from relatively close by (gcreekrch is probably 100 miles or less from me)