What would you choose?

[AngusCowBoy]

Would you rather choose a herd of commercial angus cows with horned hereford bulls on them to raise baldies to sell as replacements and feeder steers, or a registered hereford or angus operation? They would all be raised the same no matter if its registered or commercial.

 

[jigs]

I would first choice, go registered Hereford. but if doing the baldie thing, go with Hereford cows, and black bulls...you will get better maternal traits from the Heref mammas than those nasty old man killer angus cows....

 

[cure]

I personally would go with the commercial operation I know you said you would run them both the same but the first thought that came to mind is keeping track of birth weight, reg. papers, and all that good stuff that goes with a reg. outfit. We run commercial here and yes I do keep track of birth dates and preg checks but that is all I do. My hat goes off to you guys that are in the pure bred business because I do use all that info in purchasing a bull but it is just not my cup of tea.

 

[Faster horses]

We ran a commercial black angus operation and couldn't have
been more satisfied. Horned hereford bulls on black cows are
a sure bet. Can't beat an Angus cow and can't beat a horned
hereford bull for getting cows bred.

 

[Northern Rancher]

You better be able to beat an Angus cow or she'll be in your shorts when she comes to git ya. Once the Angus breed gets by the 'johny dull knife' syndrome and culls on something besides epd's they'll be back in alot of peoples good books. I've run them all my life but have seen more bad b....s in the last five than all the others combined. That being said a good Angus cow with a good Horned Hereford bull is hard to beat-be willing to kick a few tires finding the right ones.

 

[John SD]

I would first choice, go registered Hereford. but if doing the baldie thing, go with Hereford cows, and black bulls...you will get better maternal traits from the Heref mammas than those nasty old man killer angus cows....

Yep. And if jigs sends his wife over to help work the cattle when needed, that would be great too. :wink:

 

[mrj]

Even with a commercial herd, shouldn't we be keeping more detailed records?

Birth date, cow number or one for the calf incorporating cow #, health, with code for preventative and medicines given, any BQA info.

More???

Whether premiums for doing this are paid or not, it seems the direction the producers will have to have to go, given the obsession of consumer activists for 'pristine' food products.

mrj

 

[jigs]

I would first choice, go registered Hereford. but if doing the baldie thing, go with Hereford cows, and black bulls...you will get better maternal traits from the Heref mammas than those nasty old man killer angus cows....

Yep. And if jigs sends his wife over to help work the cattle when needed, that would be great too. :wink:

would you like to schedule her to help you ???

we work hard to cull the crazy cows. kids help us a lot, and it ain't worth it. watch my neighbor run and gun his cattle...then haul off 3 or 4 a year with broken legs from the way they work them...stupid is as stupid does

 

[John SD]

I would first choice, go registered Hereford. but if doing the baldie thing, go with Hereford cows, and black bulls...you will get better maternal traits from the Heref mammas than those nasty old man killer angus cows....

Yep. And if jigs sends his wife over to help work the cattle when needed, that would be great too. :wink:

would you like to schedule her to help you ???

we work hard to cull the crazy cows. kids help us a lot, and it ain't worth it. watch my neighbor run and gun his cattle...then haul off 3 or 4 a year with broken legs from the way they work them...stupid is as stupid does

I could have used a little diversion this evening when I went to give a new calf a shot of 7-way. 4 new calves today. Mama had me a little nervous so I was watching her over my shoulder while trying to give the calf the shot and I broke the 3cc plastic gun. So I had to let go and get my spare gun and another dose out of the pickup. By that time mama had took off with baby and I had to bail out of the pickup and catch the calf again. Got 'er done, but I was still nervous. :shock:

For a purely Hereford looking calf, he was one of those fighters/screamers. :shock: Mama is what I call a black Hereford, a baldy with Hereford markings.

Next calf was a Hereford with a Hereford mama. Gave the calf the shot and then it decided to get up. Mama was good.

3rd calf was another big Hereford bull with a black baldy mama. Gotta say she was good. Gave the calf the shot and he didn't even bother to get up.

Last one was kind of smokey char X looking Hereford with a gray colored Hereford marked heifer calf. Had to catch the calf but mama was good about it.

Honestly, I can't complain about any of my cows just doing their job. I never have kept the few real killer types around. The worst cows I have are just a bit snaky when you try to get them in. They are not too bad as long as they have company and are not alone.

 

[Northern Rancher]

Tagged the 300th calf here tonight-were marking the ones need to leave. The young cattle are the most part pretty good-probably got 100 hfrs calved and only a couple have given pause. The ones that get cut back aren't getting rebred so the cycle will end-hint hint purebred breeders.

 

[LRAF]

I breed purebred and one of my culling standards is attitude or unwillingness to cooperate if you will. Don't get me wrong a mama cow is suppossed to be somewhat protective but one that wants to eat you needs to be eaten themselves!

On a side note breeding purebreds and keeping records correctly can be quite rewarding. I enjoy the competition in trying to breed the ultimate animal for the customer base, or trying to find that next hot young sire and using him first etc..... if I had a large operation though. I would probably go commercial with good solid reg bulls. Just my two cents.

 

[Northern Rancher]

A cow should be able to tell the difference between a human and a timberwolf lol.

 

[LRAF]

True. I guess what I'm saying is I don't mind a bluffer and some people will sale one if they look cross ways at them. But others will keep one regardless if its the pedigree they can market. Not me! I've sold cattle on the slaughter market with pedigrees that demand top dollar.

 

[RSL]

FWIW - I would look at...
1. What do you really want to do?
2. Consider your time/labour above all else. While it cost X dollars to keep a basic cow no matter what, the PB thing is a lot of extra work and some extra expense if you are a stay at home type of breeder. If you want to go crazy in the "promotional/showing/high octane" world then it can be a lot of extra expense.
3. Consider your profitability. A $2500 or $5000 or $10000 PB bull seems like a profitable venture, but most of these have a lot of work and investment behind them. If you are thinking PB or commercial plan your income conservatively, and your costs and labour extravagantly and work into the middle.
4. See #1. If you really want to do one or the other, you will put in the extra effort and enjoy it. If you aren't committed you will curse yourself for an idiot every day. (lots of days I think I am an idiot, but I am still enjoying my idiocy
:lol: :lol: :lol: )

 

[I Luv Herfrds]

We run commercial Herefords. Tried the black bull breeding once and once was enough.
Will stick with our Herefords.

If a cow gets snorty for a reason, like my dang dog standing behind me, that is understandable, but a cow being snorty and trying to take you even days after tagging her calf she get wheels under her. Don't care how good she is.

 

[LRAF]

We run commercial Herefords. Tried the black bull breeding once and once was enough.
Will stick with our Herefords.

If a cow gets snorty for a reason, like my dang dog standing behind me, that is understandable, but a cow being snorty and trying to take you even days after tagging her calf she get wheels under her. Don't care how good she is.

I agree with ya. Well except for the Hereford part! ;-) lol

 

[Denny]

Were going the registerd black angus route. Its alot of years of work before you earn the respect of the commercial ranchers. If I were a commercial guy I'd run black cows anyhow.Unless you can put together potloads of different types of cattle I think your better off not crossing them to many ways. Black baldies bred black works fine here but bred hereford will get you docked on the red hided calves.

 

[John SD]

In my experience, with black baldies bred Hereford you not only get docked on the red calves, you also docked on black cross calves that come out with Hereford markings. As yearlings it doesn't seem to make much difference, but on calves it does. :???:

 

[Faster horses]

I agree, John SD. And it's been like that for a long while.