Black Beef

Help Support CattleToday:

A

Anonymous

I want to retire in a few years and all my life I wanted to raise cattle. Not alot just enough to keep busy. I am city born and bred, but a rancher at heart. My question is why is everyone telling me to raise black beef cattle. I've asked but all I get is that is what the buyers want. Can some one be a little bit more specific?

Thanks,

Paull

[email protected]
 
When they say "black beef", they mean Angus. The Angus breed fits the demands of the commercial cattle market better than any other breed. The cows are fertile, adequate milkers,strong maternal qualities, bulls are early maturing and easy to handle. Those are qualities cow-calf producers like. They are also efficient feeders. Feedlot operators like that. They hang a high quality carcass that "fits the box" for the packers. Note that I said AS A BREED. There are certainly sorry Angus cattle out there. They aren't perfect, but they are near the top in all the qualities that the commercial beef industry is looking for to be profitable. Most other breeds have added Angus to their bloodlines to get a black line of cattle, but they don't necessarily have all the Angus qualities. I hope your retirement plan works out.... (Oh,and Angus are also naturally polled. You won't have to contend with dehorning.)

> I want to retire in a few years
> and all my life I wanted to raise
> cattle. Not alot just enough to
> keep busy. I am city born and
> bred, but a rancher at heart. My
> question is why is everyone
> telling me to raise black beef
> cattle. I've asked but all I get
> is that is what the buyers want.
> Can some one be a little bit more
> specific?

> Thanks,

> Paull
 
> When they say "black
> beef", they mean Angus. The
> Angus breed fits the demands of
> the commercial cattle market
> better than any other breed. The
> cows are fertile, adequate
> milkers,strong maternal qualities,
> bulls are early maturing and easy
> to handle. Those are qualities
> cow-calf producers like. They are
> also efficient feeders. Feedlot
> operators like that. They hang a
> high quality carcass that
> "fits the box" for the
> packers. Note that I said AS A
> BREED. There are certainly sorry
> Angus cattle out there. They
> aren't perfect, but they are near
> the top in all the qualities that
> the commercial beef industry is
> looking for to be profitable. Most
> other breeds have added Angus to
> their bloodlines to get a black
> line of cattle, but they don't
> necessarily have all the Angus
> qualities. I hope your retirement
> plan works out.... (Oh,and Angus
> are also naturally polled. You
> won't have to contend with
> dehorning.)

Frankie:

Thanks for your imput. I have thought about angus but registered animals are too expensive for me. It will just be a hobby. I would like it to pay for itself though. Do you think cross bred angus would do the trick?

Paull

[email protected]
 
Over 60% of the cowherds in the US have some Angus influence, so Angus would probably work for you. But there are a lot of changes going on in the cattle market today, COOL, branded beef programs, alliances... You'd probably do well to wait until you're closer to retiring and look at your options then. One thing I would suggest is to learn about EPDs. Almost all breeds have them today. Here's a link to the Angus version of what they are and how to use them. Good luck...

<A HREF="http://www.angus.org/pubs/bullbuy.htm" TARGET="_blank">http://www.angus.org/pubs/bullbuy.htm</A>

> Frankie:

> Thanks for your imput. I have
> thought about angus but registered
> animals are too expensive for me.
> It will just be a hobby. I would
> like it to pay for itself though.
> Do you think cross bred angus
> would do the trick?

> Paull



[email protected]
 
I know that the buzzword in the industry today is "black". But the truth of the matter is that if you are running high quality cattle through the market you will be paid accordingly, whether they are black, red, white, smoky, etc. (with exception of paints). No one on this planet can prove to me that straightbred angus calves will outperform and outprofit a solid three-way cross breeding program for the commercial producer. Start thinking about breeds that will balance each other out in growth, milk, mature size, carcass traits, and hybrid vigor. If you keep your heifers, throw that in as well. Also make sure they fit your environment. If you have to go angus based black, try to use a crossbred cow such as a Beefmaster E6 and breed to high EPD angus bulls. The hybrid vigor would be outstanding, you would still have black and majority polled. Don't sell yourself short breeding purebred commercial cattle.

[email protected]
 
I agree that if you have high quality(no matter what color) you'll get a good price. I went to a production heifer sale in Tifton the other day that UGA put on and black, greys,and reds all sold for about the same. The bidders didn't care what color they were as long as they were good cows. The highest selling heifer was a grey Simmental.

[email protected]
 
If you just take it to the sale barn I know you'll get docked for not selling the blackest of the black. If you take your better calves to a sale like the one I went to then you'll be paid what you should be.

[email protected]
 
Good crossbred cattle will (with the exception of bulls) out profit straighbred cattle. Period Exclamation point

dun

> I know that the buzzword in the
> industry today is
> "black". But the truth
> of the matter is that if you are
> running high quality cattle
> through the market you will be
> paid accordingly, whether they are
> black, red, white, smoky, etc.
> (with exception of paints). No one
> on this planet can prove to me
> that straightbred angus calves
> will outperform and outprofit a
> solid three-way cross breeding
> program for the commercial
> producer. Start thinking about
> breeds that will balance each
> other out in growth, milk, mature
> size, carcass traits, and hybrid
> vigor. If you keep your heifers,
> throw that in as well. Also make
> sure they fit your environment. If
> you have to go angus based black,
> try to use a crossbred cow such as
> a Beefmaster E6 and breed to high
> EPD angus bulls. The hybrid vigor
> would be outstanding, you would
> still have black and majority
> polled. Don't sell yourself short
> breeding purebred commercial
> cattle.
 
to add "100% of the time, each and every time, every day of the week and twice on Sunday, without fail"... so I'll take the liberty of tacking in on for you.

Craig-TX

> Good crossbred cattle will (with
> the exception of bulls) out profit
> straighbred cattle. Period
> Exclamation point

> dun
 
I have to disagree with this blanket statement. There's no way we could make the same amount of dollars with the same number of crossbred cattle as we do with our registered Angus. We work hard at it, but we worked hard at commrcial cattle, too, and this is more profitable.

> Good crossbred cattle will (with
> the exception of bulls) out profit
> straighbred cattle. Period
> Exclamation point

> dun



[email protected]
 
The statement was not made in reference to registered cattle versus commercial cattle. It was referring to a crossbred COMMERCIAL program versus a straightbred COMMERCIAL program. Registered operations are a whole different ballgame.
 

Latest posts

Top