A Come-back?

[greenwillowherefords]

On my 25-30 mile commute to work, (depending on whether I take the back way, the highway, or the turnpike) and the five mile jaunt to town the other direction, as of the last few years there was a Hereford based herd with a Polled Hereford bull on the road to town, and one commercial Hereford breeder who switched to black baldies. There were three commercial herds with Hereford bulls and one registered Hereford outfit along the way to work. This year, another commercial herd has added a Hereford bull, a mostly solid black outfit has switched to Brahman-influenced baldies, a mixed herd has switched to straight Hereford cows with a black bull, and a very non-uniform mixed herd has been replaced with black-baldies. Do I see the glimmering of a Hereford surge in this area of Oklahoma? I have personally sold a bull to a commercial breeder who did have a Limousin last December.

 

[Frankie]

When we moved back here in the early '80s, Limousin were everywhere. They're still around, but they're mostly black. Other than a few elderly gentlemen in the area who have raised Herefords for 50 years, the cow herds in this are are black. Not necessarily Angus, but black. A few years ago I saw where a Hereford rep said the best thing to happen to the Hereford breed in years was the success of Angus. Sooner or later, he opined, breeders would want to cross something with those black cattle and what better than Hereford. Maybe that time has come :?:

 

[greenwillowherefords]

NEWS FLASH! Feddes & Sons Herefords won Supreme Champion over all breeds with a pen of bulls at the NILE (Northern International Livestock Exhibition) Billings, Montana on October 13. They had the reserve supreme pen of heifers. This was a show judged by commercial ranchers, and the cattle were displayed in their work clothes. There were 16 Hereford pens and 16 Angus pens, with a number of other breeds also competing. This info comes from Hereford America.

 

[TLCfromARK]

I know one of my neighbors that has run Brangus for several years had 3 Hereford bulls on his cows this last spring. He wanting to get some black baldie replacement heifers.

;-)

 

[Brad B]

There are several pastures of black cows around here with a Hereford bull being used. I am seeing more and more of it. Seeing it in my pasture too for the first time this year. :lol: I am very pleased with the calves so far. They are doing great.

 

[greenwillowherefords]

There are several pastures of black cows around here with a Hereford bull being used. I am seeing more and more of it. Seeing it in my pasture too for the first time this year. :lol: I am very pleased with the calves so far. They are doing great.

If no one else is enjoying these reports, I sure am! :lol: Congrats on your calves.

Just hauled WBL Chief 20F off to the yards today. Sure hope someone buys him for breeding purposes, but I know that is unlikely. The old boy was stubborn about going down the long, dark chute through the edge of the barn, so we moved to the corral gate, and set up a couple panels. He then loaded himself right up. I guess he was scared of the chute. It was about too narrow for him to fit through anyway. He never tried to get mean, just kept backing out before I could get him locked in. Didn't even have to prod him when he was offered the back of the trailer. Loaded himself.

 

[UG]

When we moved back here in the early '80s, Limousin were everywhere. They're still around, but they're mostly black. Other than a few elderly gentlemen in the area who have raised Herefords for 50 years, the cow herds in this are are black. Not necessarily Angus, but black. A few years ago I saw where a Hereford rep said the best thing to happen to the Hereford breed in years was the success of Angus. Sooner or later, he opined, breeders would want to cross something with those black cattle and what better than Hereford. Maybe that time has come :?:

Here in Indiana black Angus still rule the roost. However, I do anticipate more demand for Herefords in coming years. The commercial cow herds are getting so deep in Angus genetics that they are going to need to introduce another breed. With the continuing popularity of Cert. Hereford Beef, and the chance for black baldy calves to qualify for either the CAB or the CHB programs, more serious producers will likely want to sell black baldies.

Frankie, I found your comment about Limousins being everywhere in OK interesting. Over the years whenever I've picked up a copy of the Limousin breed magazine I have always been amazed at the number of ads from OK breeders. Any thoughts on why Limmi's have been so popular in OK? The reason I ask is that they don't seem to have the same popularity in surrounding states.

 

[Brad B]

There are several pastures of black cows around here with a Hereford bull being used. I am seeing more and more of it. Seeing it in my pasture too for the first time this year. :lol: I am very pleased with the calves so far. They are doing great.

If no one else is enjoying these reports, I sure am! :lol: Congrats on your calves.

Maybe I can get the calves to stand still long enough to get a group photo, to post on here. Not a single complete baldy in the bunch. They all have some black on the face, even if it's just one eye. Ended up selling 4 of the cows, and have three still left to come in, Two of which are X bred cows. Might sneak a red baldy out of one of them. My brother had assured me that at least half of the calves would be red. I told him when the 12th one was born that I was pretty sure he would be wrong. :lol:

 

[Frankie]

Frankie, I found your comment about Limousins being everywhere in OK interesting. Over the years whenever I've picked up a copy of the Limousin breed magazine I have always been amazed at the number of ads from OK breeders. Any thoughts on why Limmi's have been so popular in OK? The reason I ask is that they don't seem to have the same popularity in surrounding states.

Express Ranches. At least that's my opinion as to why Limousin were so popular here in OK. They're a huge operation; the largest seedstock operation in OK. They're also into the Angus business these days, but started with Limis. They're still a big financial supporter of the Limousin breed. Express has about six sales a year between the two breeds and show heifer sales. I've been told they have a great party at all their sales and people enjoy themselves big time. We went to their first Angus sale. When the first yearling bull sold for over $10,000, we knew we weren't going to learn anything so we haven't been back to one of their Angus sales. Express teamed up with Rolling Triple R (R3) and Limestone here in OK to form a group, I think, called EXG. They've bought (or an interest) in some high $$ bulls, 1407, Midland and promote them heavily. That group sells about 1,000 a bulls a year and are just very influencial in the state. They started their own branded beef program, but I don't know how it's going. One meat market here in town was selling their brand for a while but doesn't any longer. They also have a "customer appreciation" sale for people who use their bulls (Angus or Limi). They pay all the expenses of the sale, plus they can get buyers in for the larger drafts of calves.

 

[fellersbarnoneranch]

I think our regional trend is absolutely black & white-faced. So you should be able to sell bulls to any yahoo with black who-knows-what? cows because that's what sells round here. I prefer red for obvious reasons and don't mind that folks are goofy for baldies, assuming they are the ever so popular Angus/HerefordX, because my market isn't at the yards. How'd your bull sell there by the way, if you don't mind me asking. Did you go to Tulsa?

 

[Fleckvieh DPB]

we have black baldys blackangus out of herford heifers.

they are beutifull!!!!!
they did much beter than the pure herfords.
we sold the pure herfords as yearlings and kept the blacks.
the blacks are bred and preg to dual purpose fleckvieh originating from germany.

those calves should turn out alrite.
the fleckvieh ,we find ,are very hardy.

we sold a fleckvieh X holstein to a beef farmer to put on a cow and that calf grew faster and is biger than the other beef calves in the bunch same age.

 

[Double A Ranch]

We run horned and polled hererord bulls on brahman cows; It's a great cross and the hiefers sell liek hot cakes.

 

[hillbilly]

We also use a Hereford bull in our rotation.
We tryed to find some good hereford cows but were unable to.
Not trying to start a fight, just a fact.
We started by looking for commercial hereford cows...no good ones.
Then we looked at lower end breeders to try to buy regestered cows...no luck. They had a few good cows but thought they were GREAT!
We proceeded up the food chain of Hereford breeders and found everything we liked we couldn't afford...everything we could afford, we didn't like.

You can buy a [/u]GOOD hereford bull in missouri for less than $2000.
We will continue to use them, but there seems to be a big gap between
price and quality of cows...Or at least more than other breeds.

Hillbilly

 

[greenwillowherefords]

I think our regional trend is absolutely black & white-faced. So you should be able to sell bulls to any yahoo with black who-knows-what? cows because that's what sells round here. I prefer red for obvious reasons and don't mind that folks are goofy for baldies, assuming they are the ever so popular Angus/HerefordX, because my market isn't at the yards. How'd your bull sell there by the way, if you don't mind me asking. Did you go to Tulsa?

Yes, I went to Tulsa. The old boy had lost some weight over the last few months, and weighed 1905. I figure part of that was because of shrink in hauling. I got there, thinking he hadn't gone through the ring yet. I watched several go through. Of four black bulls I watched go through the ring, two went for 58, one for 64, and one with horns for 45; that one was cat-hammed. A Charolais-cross looking bull went for about 55. I went to the desk, and mine had sold before I got there. He brought 61 cents per pound. So I guess I did pretty well for the night. He was eight years old.

The last two years, I have made agreements to sell my bulls when they were two or three months old. I just need to produce more so I can sell more!