Taurus
Well-known member
I guess we can agree to disagree as usual. Can't blame on you for disagree. At last my friends brahmans are thriving and have no issues with harsh winters.
Anyone seen a Brahman up north?
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ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
well dont feel to bad ,, i only disagree because ive raised them and know better...Taurus":19dw4rou said:
novatech
Well-known member
Brahman cattle put on a winter coat. The hide contracts to makre it thicker. That being said they may be able to tolerate the cold but they will never be as efficient as the European breeds. Brahman will burn a considerable amount more calories as compared to the Europeans. Feedlots are well aware of this and therefore the price on brahman feeder cattle drops in the fall.
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
the short hair coat they put on is no match for below zero temps, and wind chills... be like putting on a sweater...novatech":2qwbet4p said:
Nite Hawk
Well-known member
Australian,
I do believe you may have cool temperatures where you are, but until you can say you that regularly in the winter have minus--30* degrees farenheit ( below 0 F* that is, with feezing temperature at 32*, as you are probably on the celsius scale with freezing at zero degrees)
to minus---40*farenheit (below 0*farenheit) in the winter with it dipping down to minus --50* farenheit on occasion.
I don't think we would consider your area cold at all.
When it is that cold your eyes and nose tries to freeze shut, and you can get frostbite in your lungs unless you cover your face and mouth. You touch metal door knobs and instantly you have electrical type feeling from the frostbite, and instantly your flesh tends to stick to the metal.
Now that is COLD, and that is what cattle in our area live outside in, on the ranches in this area. I do know people who have brahma cross rodeo stock in this area, and they seem to survive, but not sure how well they thrive.
At those temperatures the cattle need lots of food to keep warm, or a good thick hair / hide and a layer of fat. That is why for years herefords were so popular in this area,till rancher discovered that other breeds of cattle could survive and do well around here.
Not running brahma cattle down, as I am sure they have their place, but in this area it isn't too uncommon for new born calves to freeze their ears and tails, and sometimes to the point parts of them fall off.
Most people now wait until about Feb or march to try for a calving season to wait for a bit of milder weather.
Nite Hawk
I do believe you may have cool temperatures where you are, but until you can say you that regularly in the winter have minus--30* degrees farenheit ( below 0 F* that is, with feezing temperature at 32*, as you are probably on the celsius scale with freezing at zero degrees)
to minus---40*farenheit (below 0*farenheit) in the winter with it dipping down to minus --50* farenheit on occasion.
I don't think we would consider your area cold at all.
When it is that cold your eyes and nose tries to freeze shut, and you can get frostbite in your lungs unless you cover your face and mouth. You touch metal door knobs and instantly you have electrical type feeling from the frostbite, and instantly your flesh tends to stick to the metal.
Now that is COLD, and that is what cattle in our area live outside in, on the ranches in this area. I do know people who have brahma cross rodeo stock in this area, and they seem to survive, but not sure how well they thrive.
At those temperatures the cattle need lots of food to keep warm, or a good thick hair / hide and a layer of fat. That is why for years herefords were so popular in this area,till rancher discovered that other breeds of cattle could survive and do well around here.
Not running brahma cattle down, as I am sure they have their place, but in this area it isn't too uncommon for new born calves to freeze their ears and tails, and sometimes to the point parts of them fall off.
Most people now wait until about Feb or march to try for a calving season to wait for a bit of milder weather.
Nite Hawk
Australian
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I don't know how you tolerate the bitterness of Winter in your part of the world. I agree we have no where near as cold as you in Canada or the northern US. We are very lucky to be able to run any breed of cattle virtually anywhere in our country.
Dave
Well-known member
You just don't see many in my area either. We don't get those sub-zero temps but we temps in the 35-45 degree range with rain nearly every day for 5 months of the year. Cold is one thing. Soaked to the skin and cold is another. That combined with the mild summers, there just isn't an advantage to having them here.
glacierridge
Well-known member
Australian":1qh5er0g said:
Yes you are and it's hard having cold bitter days like that. Not easy to tolerate at all. Lol, but somehow you survive and make sure you never get stranded.
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
Nite Hawk
Well-known member
The winters can be hard, and you have to plan and prepare ahead of time for things that other people in warmer more populated areas take for granted.
When it is that cold little things like plugging your vehicle's ( yes tractors too) block heater in over night may mean the difference between the vehicle starting or you wearing your battery down to nothing. Car Batteries don't like that extreme cold and sometimes simply lose their charge due to the extreme cold.
Not uncommon from time to time that the electricity crashes, and if you have stock water heaters in the water tanks it ends up freezing and you may end up chopping ice out of the tank with an ax in the morning, or if you have a metal bathtub for water, lighting a fire under /next to it to thaw it out. If you have horses, often their hooves ball up with ice, depending on the type of snow /ice. Lots of challenges, but what is amazing many of the cows and horses do okay, and seem to in general adapt, although some breeds do better than others. I used to have an arab cross mare, and she got so hairy she looked as fuzzy as a shetland pony.
And to a certain degree even our own bodies tend to adapt to a degree to the extreme cold.
When the temp has been down to minus -40 F or there abouts for a while and "warms up" to say about 0 *F, one often feels "warm" where people not aclimatized would be hypothermic. One time it 'warmed up" to about 0 degrees F* and had a family member leave the door open to where our house /barn water supply was,and because they felt warm, they left the door open, not realizing it was that cold. Yes and our water system froze.
In this area, there just isn't demand for brahma cattle, ( other than the cross bred rodeo bulls) and I can't say I Have seen any full or purebreds at all that I can ever remember around the country. They just are not out there that I know of. I am thinking that like one person said, the brahma ears are their "radiator system" to help cool them off for hot climates. I think it would work against them around here.
When it is that cold little things like plugging your vehicle's ( yes tractors too) block heater in over night may mean the difference between the vehicle starting or you wearing your battery down to nothing. Car Batteries don't like that extreme cold and sometimes simply lose their charge due to the extreme cold.
Not uncommon from time to time that the electricity crashes, and if you have stock water heaters in the water tanks it ends up freezing and you may end up chopping ice out of the tank with an ax in the morning, or if you have a metal bathtub for water, lighting a fire under /next to it to thaw it out. If you have horses, often their hooves ball up with ice, depending on the type of snow /ice. Lots of challenges, but what is amazing many of the cows and horses do okay, and seem to in general adapt, although some breeds do better than others. I used to have an arab cross mare, and she got so hairy she looked as fuzzy as a shetland pony.
And to a certain degree even our own bodies tend to adapt to a degree to the extreme cold.
When the temp has been down to minus -40 F or there abouts for a while and "warms up" to say about 0 *F, one often feels "warm" where people not aclimatized would be hypothermic. One time it 'warmed up" to about 0 degrees F* and had a family member leave the door open to where our house /barn water supply was,and because they felt warm, they left the door open, not realizing it was that cold. Yes and our water system froze.
In this area, there just isn't demand for brahma cattle, ( other than the cross bred rodeo bulls) and I can't say I Have seen any full or purebreds at all that I can ever remember around the country. They just are not out there that I know of. I am thinking that like one person said, the brahma ears are their "radiator system" to help cool them off for hot climates. I think it would work against them around here.
Nite Hawk
Well-known member
The winters can be hard, and you have to plan and prepare ahead of time for things that other people in warmer more populated areas take for granted.
When it is that cold little things like plugging your vehicle's ( yes tractors too) block heater in over night may mean the difference between the vehicle starting or you wearing your battery down to nothing. Car Batteries don't like that extreme cold and sometimes simply lose their charge due to the extreme cold.
Not uncommon from time to time that the electricity crashes, and if you have stock water heaters in the water tanks it ends up freezing and you may end up chopping ice out of the tank with an ax in the morning, or if you have a metal bathtub for water, lighting a fire under /next to it to thaw it out. If you have horses, often their hooves ball up with ice, depending on the type of snow /ice. Lots of challenges, but what is amazing many of the cows and horses do okay, and seem to in general adapt, although some breeds do better than others. I used to have an arab cross mare, and she got so hairy she looked as fuzzy as a shetland pony.
And to a certain degree even our own bodies tend to adapt to a degree to the extreme cold.
When the temp has been down to minus -40 F or there abouts for a while and "warms up" to say about 0 *F, one often feels "warm" where people not aclimatized would be hypothermic. One time it 'warmed up" to about 0 degrees F* and had a family member leave the door open to where our house /barn water supply was,and because they felt warm, they left the door open, not realizing it was that cold. Yes and our water system froze.
In this area, there just isn't demand for brahma cattle, ( other than the cross bred rodeo bulls) and I can't say I Have seen any full or purebreds at all that I can ever remember around the country. They just are not out there that I know of. I am thinking that like one person said, the brahma ears are their "radiator system" to help cool them off for hot climates. I think it would work against them around here.
When it is that cold little things like plugging your vehicle's ( yes tractors too) block heater in over night may mean the difference between the vehicle starting or you wearing your battery down to nothing. Car Batteries don't like that extreme cold and sometimes simply lose their charge due to the extreme cold.
Not uncommon from time to time that the electricity crashes, and if you have stock water heaters in the water tanks it ends up freezing and you may end up chopping ice out of the tank with an ax in the morning, or if you have a metal bathtub for water, lighting a fire under /next to it to thaw it out. If you have horses, often their hooves ball up with ice, depending on the type of snow /ice. Lots of challenges, but what is amazing many of the cows and horses do okay, and seem to in general adapt, although some breeds do better than others. I used to have an arab cross mare, and she got so hairy she looked as fuzzy as a shetland pony.
And to a certain degree even our own bodies tend to adapt to a degree to the extreme cold.
When the temp has been down to minus -40 F or there abouts for a while and "warms up" to say about 0 *F, one often feels "warm" where people not aclimatized would be hypothermic. One time it 'warmed up" to about 0 degrees F* and had a family member leave the door open to where our house /barn water supply was,and because they felt warm, they left the door open, not realizing it was that cold. Yes and our water system froze.
In this area, there just isn't demand for brahma cattle, ( other than the cross bred rodeo bulls) and I can't say I Have seen any full or purebreds at all that I can ever remember around the country. They just are not out there that I know of. I am thinking that like one person said, the brahma ears are their "radiator system" to help cool them off for hot climates. I think it would work against them around here.
