djinwa":3t1wr3cz said:
Isn't there a saying that there's a price for everything? Don't know how someone could say they'd never sell something....
Except for the situation where someone is in dire need of cash, or having a true herd dispersal (rare), I don't know how someone could think there is a dollar "price for everything". Especially having to do with cattle.
Cattle take so long to find good base stock, find the right bull or AI bull, breed the cow, calve the cow, grow the heifer to 15 months, breed the heifer.... And no matter how much money you have or want to spend, there is just no speeding up the process. And if you are trying to build a herd of a certain type of cow you multiply the above by whatever number of generations it takes, less culls.
Here are pictures of my goal in breeding, one is of a 2 year old nursing her 2nd calf (a U070 sired steer). And here is her younger sister, being bred to my Huth U070 bull as we speak. These are the type of Hereford females I want to create a herd of. They will make me and when I'm gone my kids money far into the future. And they are just not for sale, the reason being that they can not be exactly replaced for any amount of money. I know them, I know their dam and sires, they have the long, low, wide body but 12-1300 lb mature size I want. I know they work in the low input system I am working towards in my area of Wisconsin. That can not be replaced.
I will also add a recent picture of my Huth U070 bull they are both being bred to this summer. Their calves should be dandies, at least in my opinion. And yes this is the bull I took a lot of heat on earlier because of his "bad feet". While I do not want to and will not get into that discussion again, I will add that U070's calves have about fallen out of the back of the cows and heifers he's bred so far, they show the same doing ability on grass only that he has and they show the same "beefy" conformation that he has. They also have good feet.
Again this may not be a valid point because I am not in the business of selling stock. However it is a bit surprising to me that there are folks who think that everything in cattle has a price. I think there are many cases, including maybe the breeder who found the calf "dead", where money does NOT buy everything. And given the particulars of raising cattle, in my opinion that should be understandable.
There ARE enough breeders selling good cattle that someone's refusal to sell should be understandable so go on to the next potential source. One often as to settle for less than the perfect heifer but just get the best you can for your conditions and plan and breed up the changes you would like to see. jmho.
Here are two pictures of young stock I would not sell. And fwiw my Huth U070 bull they are being bred to.
U070 has not had a bucket of grain since last winter. I've been told he needs more cows to breed - we are working on that. He has reached his condition mostly on weedy grass. And despite his size (2200 lb) U070 (aka "Shorty") is still a smaller frame size (5.5) and very good with heifers even younger smaller ones.
Jim