Argument for Purebred Cattle?

[Anonymous]

Was wondering what some of the arguments might be IN FAVOR OF a purebred herd, as most of what I hear suggests that crossbreeding is the way to go, financially and otherwise. Guess I just like the idea of a purebred, but not sure what real arguments are in favor. Thanks for any help!

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[Anonymous]

We commercail breeders require that somebody breed purebred animals. It provides is with EPDs and a basic animal with the predictablility we need to breed high quality crossbred cattle.

dun

> Was wondering what some of the
> arguments might be IN FAVOR OF a
> purebred herd, as most of what I
> hear suggests that crossbreeding
> is the way to go, financially and
> otherwise. Guess I just like the
> idea of a purebred, but not sure
> what real arguments are in favor.
> Thanks for any help!

 

[Anonymous]

In the simplest terms, you know what you got and what you will get. All breeds where breed, developed and gained popularity for some quality of that breed. Temperment, hardyness, milk, beef something that is desirable. Raising purebreeds is a way to keep, and improve a quality that you desire. I live in NY where dairy is big. Farmers want cows that they KNOW will be big producers. They do not want to "roll dice" with thousands of dollars so sticking with purebreeds is a way to ensure they get a return on their investment of time and money. I worked on a small beef farm. We stuck to purebreed Herfords. We KNEW with each calf what the end product would be and were able to refine and keep the qualities that we wanted. Crossbreeding produces some great cows. On our family farm we raised crossbreeds, hoping to get combinations of qualities or to get cheap calfs that we hoped would have some of the qualities we desired. We raised many Herford/Angus crosses. They were pretty much the same but each one would be a little more Angus or a little more Herford and we did not mind these little difference from one to the other. They worked for us. The beef farmer that I worked for wanted to be sure that all his steers were uniform. That he could produce and promise to buyers a certain quality of his product in advance. He also wanted to refine and produce bulls that consistently produced calves with certain qualities. To meet these goals we had to work with purebreeds. So it depends on your goals. Some goals in cattle raising can only be met by raising purebreeds, for other goals the use of purebreeds is an extra cost that you will never be able to recoup. Finally some people just enjoy raising certain breeds. They get satisfaction from producing, caring for and raising cattle that they enjoy working with and they can be proud of. They find pleasure in producing cattle with strong predictable traits. I love working with Angus. I would not have a Charolais. I would not have anything that even has a drop of Charolais in it. Some people love Charolais. That is a personal thing. I'll finish by going back to the root of my answer. It depends on what your goals are in raising cattle. Define your goals and then you will know whether you need to go with purebreeds, crosses of a mix. My personal goals are to produce beef for my family, raise my son with the experience and resposibility of caring for livestock (many many life lessons for him in that)and the satisfaction I get from raising a few head of stock. For my goals, crosses of certain breeds are perfect for me. I just bought an Angus/Jersey (and maybe something else lol) bull calf. He just looks good to me. I enjoy working with him and he will produce beef that will work for my family. It all goes back to what you want to do. Sorry for the ramblings,

Rick

> Was wondering what some of the
> arguments might be IN FAVOR OF a
> purebred herd, as most of what I
> hear suggests that crossbreeding
> is the way to go, financially and
> otherwise. Guess I just like the
> idea of a purebred, but not sure
> what real arguments are in favor.
> Thanks for any help!



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[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info; what I am having a hard time getting past is that you will generally pay more for purebreds, yet, it seems that if you are in it for an income and sell your cattle at auction, they will not bring more per pound (am I wrong?) than the cheaper crossbreds. This confuses me, and generated my question as to the reasons in favor of purebreds. Thanks again! Scott



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[Anonymous]

if your intention is to sell your cattle at the sale barn.. you will in most every occasion be better off with crossbred cattle. to get the added $'s for purebreds will necessitate your selling them off your place or at a special sale for purebred cattle.

just my 2 cents..

gene

> Thanks for the info; what I am
> having a hard time getting past is
> that you will generally pay more
> for purebreds, yet, it seems that
> if you are in it for an income and
> sell your cattle at auction, they
> will not bring more per pound (am
> I wrong?) than the cheaper
> crossbreds. This confuses me, and
> generated my question as to the
> reasons in favor of purebreds.
> Thanks again! Scott



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[Anonymous]

Gene, thanks. I obviously don't know much, so your 2 cents is priceless to me. The whole notion of selling off your place or at a special auction seems to be much more "iffy" than the "sale barn." Would "off your place" or "special auction" yield higher prices, assuming there are some willing buyers? Thanks again.



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[Anonymous]

> Thanks for the info; what I am
> having a hard time getting past is
> that you will generally pay more
> for purebreds, yet, it seems that
> if you are in it for an income and
> sell your cattle at auction, they
> will not bring more per pound (am
> I wrong?) than the cheaper
> crossbreds. This confuses me, and
> generated my question as to the
> reasons in favor of purebreds.
> Thanks again! Scott

I am fairly new to the cattle business. When I was deciding as to how to run my small business I looked at Marketing options. We settled on purebred Red Angus. This allowed us a lot of marketing options. Our top end bulls are sold as bulls for a premium over commercial market prices. The bottom end is steered off and feed up and sold locally for a premium. Heifers are sold as show calves replacements and bottom end are sold as beef. We market the beef calves as 100% Red Angus and have the papers to prove it and we can tell the buyer exactly what the animal was fed and any treatments it received. We also buy our feed direct from the local farmers at 10 cents over market price per 100 wt. so we save a bundle. Any thing else can be sold into the commercial rout but I try to avoid that if possible (you are left to the mercy of the buyer). If you can't beat the market go around it. But don't think that you can buy your way into the breeder market. Those who start out buying high priced big named cattle thinking they will make it big will go broke shortly. Buy great cattle at a reasonable price. They can be found at the smaller breeders but you need to be very discerning as to what you are looking at and their program.

Tod

 

[Anonymous]

Scott, it can be more iffy... and it depends on many things, one being the quality of your cattle... but, and as TOD said, just because you pay a bunch for some cow or bull, doesnt make it a good buy.. there is a learning curve in everything.. and it can be quite expensive if you are not careful in the cattle business...

my suggestion is to start slow.. find someone in your area that you can ask questions and learn all you can from them... make a game plan and try to know all you can about it before buying your cattle..

if you plan to sell at the sale barn... buy accordingly... if you want to sell off your place or at a special sale, then do your homework, to see if it will work in your area and buy accordingly... know the market of your cattle before you buy...

maybe some others will shed more light on this for you..

good luck

gene

> Gene, thanks. I obviously don't
> know much, so your 2 cents is
> priceless to me. The whole notion
> of selling off your place or at a
> special auction seems to be much
> more "iffy" than the
> "sale barn." Would
> "off your place" or
> "special auction" yield
> higher prices, assuming there are
> some willing buyers? Thanks again.



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[Anonymous]

The cost of Registered cattle is not much more than commercial and at times they are equal. If you decide to go register talk to local breeders of all sizes and avoid paying high prices for your herd. I would recomend AI since will give you the ability to use the best bulls in the nation for a cheap price. Remember the Bull is half of your calf crop.

pat

 

[Anonymous]

There is a huge price difference between good commercial and good registered cows. You would be a fool however if you didn't buy registered bulls, there are so many breeders out there that you can't afford not to.

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[Anonymous]

We started with good quality registered cows and heifers so that we knew were we were starting from so we could best get to were we wanted to get to. Also, the bottom 10% from some herds are as good and in some cases better then the top 10% from others.

dun

> There is a huge price difference
> between good commercial and good
> registered cows. You would be a
> fool however if you didn't buy
> registered bulls, there are so
> many breeders out there that you
> can't afford not to.



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[Anonymous]

> I am fairly new to the cattle
> business. When I was deciding as
> to how to run my small business I
> looked at Marketing options. We
> settled on purebred Red Angus.
> This allowed us a lot of marketing
> options. Our top end bulls are
> sold as bulls for a premium over
> commercial market prices. The
> bottom end is steered off and feed
> up and sold locally for a premium.
> Heifers are sold as show calves
> replacements and bottom end are
> sold as beef. We market the beef
> calves as 100% Red Angus and have
> the papers to prove it and we can
> tell the buyer exactly what the
> animal was fed and any treatments
> it received. We also buy our feed
> direct from the local farmers at
> 10 cents over market price per 100
> wt. so we save a bundle. Any thing
> else can be sold into the
> commercial rout but I try to avoid
> that if possible (you are left to
> the mercy of the buyer). If you
> can't beat the market go around
> it. But don't think that you can
> buy your way into the breeder
> market. Those who start out buying
> high priced big named cattle
> thinking they will make it big
> will go broke shortly. Buy great
> cattle at a reasonable price. They
> can be found at the smaller
> breeders but you need to be very
> discerning as to what you are
> looking at and their program.

> Tod

Scott: If you do decide to go with Registered cattle contact your choosen breed association and get to know the people and actitivies of the association. Also visit some breeders and attend some sales and shows to understand what is being valued in the cattle. The people you meet will be your potential customer. Seedstock breeders market to each other as well as selling bulls to commercial producers. Good luck

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