What breed (s) do you run and why?

[CattleRMe]

We have a mixed commerical herd that consists of mostly angus genetics. There are a few of those big eared white monsters in there tooo :roll: . Then we have a herd of PB Black Angus that we take pride in. And also cant forget about the buckers!! :wink: We run 10 Limo bulls with the comericial herd and are trying a Maine X Angus bull this year as well.

The little girl that has cows on this place prefers the white ones for some reason so there are a few of those here too. How she ever started is one of the neighbor's chalaios (sp) bulls got her angus cow bred and she wanted that kinda cows.

Her cow weighed off a 850 pound calf. The neighbors all had bets on how much he was gonna weigh. The rest of the calves averaged 600-650 that year. I've asked my Dad this and now I'm asking you all if we make our profit off of weights why aren't we cross breeding angus and charlaios?

From that time on she's had the white cows and ends up with monster calves. I get for keeping heifers it would mess up the angus herd but to just sell the calves why not go for weight? Anyone raise that cross if so I'd be interested in comments.

 

[CattleRMe]

We have a Registered Red Angus herd and a few Reg. Black Angus (Like the Reds better). We also have a few registered South Devon cows and Red Angus x So. Devon commercial cows that we breed to both Red and Black Angus. We like the So. Devon x Red Angus calves real well and the Red Angus herd the best.

I have a question do you see that much more profit in the registered herds to warrent them. We were involved in some registered and didn't see enough profit to make up for the cost of saying they were registered.

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

Here a commercial black angus herd that spring calves is run and a commercial red angus fall calving herd is also found.

I've always thought that if I ever got into a purebred deal, I'd look pretty hard at Red Angus. What do you think about the differences of the two?

Go red. BRG and Turkey Track got some good ones too. Never seen Andy's but I hear he's got some good ones too. Hope I ain't leaving anybody out?

Thanks Mike...they're Lazy Ace's too....We do appreciate the complement!

Cheers---

TTB :wink:

 

[Mike]

I've always thought that if I ever got into a purebred deal, I'd look pretty hard at Red Angus. What do you think about the differences of the two?

Go red. BRG and Turkey Track got some good ones too. Never seen Andy's but I hear he's got some good ones too. Hope I ain't leaving anybody out?

Thanks Mike...they're Lazy Ace's too....We do appreciate the complement!

Sorry! Full apologies to lazy ace.

Cheers---

TTB :wink:

 

[Northern Rancher]

To be honest our homeraised commercial black cows are better than most purebreds we've had-the guys I sold bulls too weren't hung up much on papers.

 

[coulee]

CattleRMe,

I reckon it is always dangerous to criticize a breed, so I will qualify by saying I think charolais make a good terminal cross. I have a good buddy veterinary who read a report out of MARC saying that an angus charolais cross was the most efficient cow. He took that to heart and started breeding them. The thing was he could afford to hire someone else to calve em out. So he never really had to face the disposition issue. They were crazy. :?

In all seriousness, weaning weight is not a major predictor of profitability for several reasons;
First there is a price slide and a 600 lb calf is worth less per pound than a 500 lb calf. So an increase in pounds should be figured as the difference in total dollars between the 2. For example if 6weight steers were bringing $90cwt and 5wt steers were bringing $100cwt, the 6 weight calf would bring $540 and the 5cwt calf would bring $500, the extra 100lb are only worth $0.40 not .90. The price slide can really get extreme in certain classes of cattle.
Second is that an increase in ww is usually not free and the increased costs associated with increased ww.

For those who have an academic interest, Alan Miller and others looked some financial records and found that weaning weight accounted for only 5% of the variation between low and high profit herds. The most important factor in profitability was feed costs.

 

[Northern Rancher]

When we ran Charolais bulls I had alot of smokey cows-they were pretty good critters not too big and pretty good disposition wise. Their calves were good deals in trhe feedlot too.

 

[CattleRMe]

Yes I agree feed costs do make the impact in profitablity. How many here just yank their calves off of the cow and go to the sale barn and how many ween for say 45 days??


Here we ween for the 45 days but I see this as more cost. However so far there has been a repeat buyer who pays for the trucking. Yet we swallow feeding them for 45 days and bunk breaking them.

To me it would appear that those who just go to town make more money. Not sure if at the sale barn if people really get paid for weened calves as in bunk broke.

 

[Andy]

Yes I agree feed costs do make the impact in profitablity. How many here just yank their calves off of the cow and go to the sale barn and how many ween for say 45 days??


Here we ween for the 45 days but I see this as more cost. However so far there has been a repeat buyer who pays for the trucking. Yet we swallow feeding them for 45 days and bunk breaking them.

To me it would appear that those who just go to town make more money. Not sure if at the sale barn if people really get paid for weened calves as in bunk broke.

I take my calves all the way to finish, in my operation that seems to make the most money. If you have a repeat buyer why do you take them to the salebarn? Have him bid on them off the cow or after weaning.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I have a question do you see that much more profit in the registered herds to warrent them. We were involved in some registered and didn't see enough profit to make up for the cost of saying they were registered.

It'll depend on the breed, and how long you've been at it for. It takes some time to develop a reputation and develop a proper herd, but once you have, there is money in registered stock.

Rod

 

[CattleRMe]

Yes I agree feed costs do make the impact in profitablity. How many here just yank their calves off of the cow and go to the sale barn and how many ween for say 45 days??


Here we ween for the 45 days but I see this as more cost. However so far there has been a repeat buyer who pays for the trucking. Yet we swallow feeding them for 45 days and bunk breaking them.

To me it would appear that those who just go to town make more money. Not sure if at the sale barn if people really get paid for weened calves as in bunk broke.

I take my calves all the way to finish, in my operation that seems to make the most money. If you have a repeat buyer why do you take them to the salebarn? Have him bid on them off the cow or after weaning.

Sorry I might have confused you we don't go to the salebarn we sell them at home to a repeat buyer.

I was just saying that those who just go to town right off the cow would seem to make more profit as they don't have the extra 45 days of feed in them and they don't have the extra days for a possible death loss.

 

[Silver]

Our herd is now only commercial, and is blonde d'aquitaine based. We run blonde bulls along with red angus these days to keep a little hybrid vigor. I'd like to put some simm. back in, so have been buying some simm x red angus bulls the last few years. The best cattle we had here were the blonde simm cross and I'd like to get some of that back. I like cows that don't demand much attention and this cross sure works here.
Funny thing about the blondes is that while they dont have very big udders, they are well attached, produce extremely well for years, and never have troubles (turnip teats, mastitis, swing bag, etc.)

 

[PureCountry]

Historically we're a purebred Angus family, but the commercial herd has shown us the error of our ways. Now it's all AngusXHereford, AngusXShorthorn, and Galloway bulls. Galloway cross calves have been great so far, and we've added a few purebred Galloways as well.

 

[efb]

I have a question do you see that much more profit in the registered herds to warrent them. We were involved in some registered and didn't see enough profit to make up for the cost of saying they were registered.

It'll depend on the breed, and how long you've been at it for. It takes some time to develop a reputation and develop a proper herd, but once you have, there is money in registered stock.

Rod

I believe there is more money in raising registered cattle if you don't count the extra time you put into it. Especially if you are limited by land as we are.
Since we are short on grass and hay this year I have started selling bull calves at 8 months for $950. I figure an equivalent commercial steer would bring about $770. However I have $100 dollars against the bull for A.I. breeding and registration. So in this case that would cut the difference to about $80 in favor of the registered bull calf. Normally I take the bulls to 15 months and sell them for $1,500. The last time I figured, it
cost me $1 per day to develop the bulls ( I'm afraid to figure the cost this year) from weaning. That has made my registered angus cows much more profitable than commercial. But, I know that may not be the case with all breeds and in all locations.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

you will always have a market for them nomatter what color they are

Possibly true - but would the final amount be optimal, given the "copy-kat" attitude of buyers today?! Everything is relative, and income is no exception.

DOC HARRIS

 

[greg]

In my humble opinion,someone has to raise the purebreds and show them and (stuff) Not me ,but I do get my breeding stock from them men and cross them ,so they are necesary.Still got to keep the bloodlines there

 

[Angus Cattle Shower]

Way to say it greg.