Angus Breeder

[True Grit Farms]

TG an eye for cattle, not a gift." An eye for cattle IMO is a gift or a talent. As my Dad always said some men could suck a cow their whole life and never be a cowman. I've seen many cattle raisers who didn't have any eye for cattle but they tried hard to raise the best they could. Some breeders have a feel for making great matings and others don't have the same results. IMO having a good eye for cattle is similar to Michael Jordan as a basketball player. They both have a talent for what they do.

theres ""cowmen"". Then there's men who own cows...

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

TG an eye for cattle, not a gift." An eye for cattle IMO is a gift or a talent. As my Dad always said some men could suck a cow their whole life and never be a cowman. I've seen many cattle raisers who didn't have any eye for cattle but they tried hard to raise the best they could. Some breeders have a feel for making great matings and others don't have the same results. IMO having a good eye for cattle is similar to Michael Jordan as a basketball player. They both have a talent for what they do.

theres ""cowmen"". Then there's men who own cows...

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

I'm somewhere wondering around.like a babbling idiot....

 

[Gators Rule]

TG an eye for cattle, not a gift." An eye for cattle IMO is a gift or a talent. As my Dad always said some men could suck a cow their whole life and never be a cowman. I've seen many cattle raisers who didn't have any eye for cattle but they tried hard to raise the best they could. Some breeders have a feel for making great matings and others don't have the same results. IMO having a good eye for cattle is similar to Michael Jordan as a basketball player. They both have a talent for what they do.

theres ""cowmen"". Then there's men who own cows...

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

I'm probably closer to being like Michael Jordan...than I am to being a real cowman. I do know the difference between a cow and a bull, but not much more than that. I do have the hat though.. :cboy:

 

[True Grit Farms]

theres ""cowmen"". Then there's men who own cows...

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

I'm probably closer to being like Michael Jordan...than I am to being a real cowman. I do know the difference between a cow and a bull, but not much more than that. I do have the hat though.. :cboy:

That's the most important thing.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

theres ""cowmen"". Then there's men who own cows...

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

I'm probably closer to being like Michael Jordan...than I am to being a real cowman. I do know the difference between a cow and a bull, but not much more than that. I do have the hat though.. :cboy:

the bull is the one with horns, everybody knows that.. :cowboy:

 

[Gators Rule]

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

I'm probably closer to being like Michael Jordan...than I am to being a real cowman. I do know the difference between a cow and a bull, but not much more than that. I do have the hat though.. :cboy:

the bull is the one with horns, everybody knows that.. :cowboy:

I figured it out pretty quick when I went to milk the one without horns! I learned what polled meant immediately!!

 

[gizmom]

food for though

The average beef cow herd is 40 head, but operations with 100 or more beef cows compose 9 percent of all beef operations and 51 percent of the beef cow inventory.Aug 22, 2018

Every breeder is important no matter what his/her herd size is.

Gizmom

 

[gcreekrch]

1. The size of the operations has nothing to do with making excuses or standing behind their cattle. That is a function of individual integrity.
Very true, except a smaller breeder usually doesn't have another bull available as a replacement till next year. If one of the yearling bulls you sold last year went bad can your replace it right now?

This is true. However, I'm not going to charge you $6,000 for a bull like the big boys will. And what is the quality of said replacement bull, and how does it work? Do they not sell every bull in the sale? Do they hold some back? Do they keep the ones their buddy ran up and couldn't sell?

I'm buy a couple of females from a local guy up the road. I had a heifer picked out that he was keeping to breed. He emailed me a couple of weeks ago and told me that we'd have to hold off as he had her checked and she was open. While it was disappointing, I know I'm not getting a "bred" heifer that "must have slipped the calf early." I'm not saying that the big boys do all sorts of shady things, but the little guys are pretty good, too. One other thing, I'd rather go to a smaller local guy and pay $1,600 for a cow than go to a sale and spend $2,500 so they can make $1,600 on it after all the fees, advertising, dinner, etc.

If your bull has the quality to be worth $6000, why would you sell for less?

 

[gcreekrch]

I actually prefer the smaller breeders for seed stock. They know their cattle back to front and usually search for the best genetics for each cow with an aim to what they are trying to do. They are limited to what they can keep and cull hard. Big breeders will always have a percentage of cattle that are there to make up numbers and are forced to take a more general direction to their breeding. If i have 30 cows can easily use 30 different sires with A.I. to match them up. If i have 3000 cattle it would be much more difficult. Having said that the small breeder could not survive without the big number breeders because that is where he will source his semen from.

I have been away for a few months and thought I would check in. This is the first topic that caught my eye. A couple of points........ Smaller breeders in this area tend to have their cattle as a hobby and tax writeoff rather than a sole business, the resulting pets that never leave the herd because the owner doesn't mind milking out turnip shaped teats or trimming feet raises bulls that put those traits into commercial herds. On the other side of the coin, most larger outfits run their cattle similar to commercial outfits and haven't got the time to milk old Bessie so her calf can suck or trim the herd's feet so they can walk without limping.


The other point that many chasing the AI game seem to miss is consistancy. How does a potential customer get consistancy from a breeders herd if said breeder is using 30 different sires on 30 different cows? More than a few of u run more than one bull and would prefer to buy groups of half or three quarter brothers to produce consistant and therefore much more marketable groups of calves.

I agree some small breeders treat their cows like family pets and have them in cotton wool but one look at their herd and you wouldn't buy a bull from them. But breeders who are dedicated to breeding a better genetic are the ones who i am referring to. I totally agree small breeders don't have good uniformity to their herds but that is not their aim. It is more about eliminating defects the big breeders ignore in the pursuit for production. The small breeder has a place in the industry and an important role to play. But without the big breeders the little breeders can't do what they do. As i am quite fussy about my cattle i like to source my genetics from small breeders who are working hard to improve whatever breed they are in. If i was running a large commercial herd i would seek out good small breeders for an improved genetic and use that bull to breed home bred bulls to keep my herd even.

It shouldn't matter where you are sourcing replacement genetics as long as they are better than your own
.

Consistancy in my opinionated opinion is gained by using the same sire or sires on all of your herd. It may take a few generations but soon your herd will have its own "phenotype or style or kind". The trick is to not let it be the wrong ones.
I don't believe using multiple sires to fix multiple perceived "problems" leads to anything but more of the same. Like begets like. The more your herd resembles one another positively the better off you are. The breeder I bought bulls from for 25 years has pedigrees that resemble Ozark family trees. Love the cattle but decided his feeding program ruined more $8 to $10,000 bulls than it made.

 

[Ebenezer]

1. The size of the operations has nothing to do with making excuses or standing behind their cattle. That is a function of individual integrity.
Very true, except a smaller breeder usually doesn't have another bull available as a replacement till next year. If one of the yearling bulls you sold last year went bad can your replace it right now?

This is true. However, I'm not going to charge you $6,000 for a bull like the big boys will. And what is the quality of said replacement bull, and how does it work? Do they not sell every bull in the sale? Do they hold some back? Do they keep the ones their buddy ran up and couldn't sell?

I'm buy a couple of females from a local guy up the road. I had a heifer picked out that he was keeping to breed. He emailed me a couple of weeks ago and told me that we'd have to hold off as he had her checked and she was open. While it was disappointing, I know I'm not getting a "bred" heifer that "must have slipped the calf early." I'm not saying that the big boys do all sorts of shady things, but the little guys are pretty good, too. One other thing, I'd rather go to a smaller local guy and pay $1,600 for a cow than go to a sale and spend $2,500 so they can make $1,600 on it after all the fees, advertising, dinner, etc.

If your bull has the quality to be worth $6000, why would you sell for less?

I think I will charge myself $50,000 each for two replacement bulls I weaned last week. Money makes the mare trot.

 

[kenny thomas]

TG an eye for cattle, not a gift." An eye for cattle IMO is a gift or a talent. As my Dad always said some men could suck a cow their whole life and never be a cowman. I've seen many cattle raisers who didn't have any eye for cattle but they tried hard to raise the best they could. Some breeders have a feel for making great matings and others don't have the same results. IMO having a good eye for cattle is similar to Michael Jordan as a basketball player. They both have a talent for what they do.

theres ""cowmen"". Then there's men who own cows...

And knowing where you fit is a gift, I'm no Michael Jordan.

Not sure I really have the eye the same as some of the really good cattleman and women but I have an eye for what I can sell to someone in need of cows or bulls. I have an eye for people and what they
will buy. Everone cant buy the best ones but many can buy one that will be ok.