Frankie":34ll550d said:
brandonm_13":34ll550d said:
What's interesting to me is that everyone who has been breeding for the "black" fad will one day be doing a complete 180 when the next fad comes in. I prefer raising good cows, whatever color they may be, than chasing the latest fads.
The third week of August 2008, the packers say
64% of the cattle coming through their plants were Angus influenced. During June, July, and August they averaged 60%. Exactly what has to happen before you consider the popularity of Angus is no longer a "fad"?
Angus are not that popular. It's just a great marketing scheme. Everyone wants to keep their breed, but increase their sales price by having black hided animals. Black hides are the true fad in all of this. If Angus were not a fad, then everyone would drop their breed and start raising Angus. As it is most breeds are using bulls with 1-12% Angus, which is just enough to keep the hide black.
If you really want to talk about popularity, why are black baldies considered angus influenced, when there is more than one breed that produces black hair coats(especially now). The real popularity should be for herefords. Almost all of the black baldies on the market( plus all the other baldy configurations) come from hereford.
For example... A black baldy may be 50% heredord, 48% Limousin, and 2% Angus(that would be a purebred limousin bull with a black hide). The animal is 2% Angus, yet the packers put it into their 64% as Angus influenced. What happens to the 50% hereford or 48% limousin? do they not have any influence. If not then Angus must be very prepotent. Not only did they give the black hide, but also all the rest of the genetics as well. For that matter, a black galloway crossed with a hereford(no black angus influence) will give a black baldy. Does that get thrown into the 64% of all cattle.
I'm really not against Angus as I have an Angus bull I'm using now, but I'm tired of people believing that angus is the greatest thing just because more people are using them. Heck most of the people that get into farming don't know anything about breeds, but they've heard about Angus cattle and John deere tractors, so that's what they buy. The numbers increase proportionatly and so more and more hear about them and more and more buy them. It then continues escalating from more newbies who know nothing except what they see or hear. Eventually, the farming market is flooded with newbies with red trucks, green tractors, and black cows, and while they may be perfectly happy with that setup, they have no idea that there are other breeds that may be just as good, if not better in their region (far north or deep south). It's just a system perpetuated by increasing popularity spread by newbies moving from the cities and buying farmettes, not because the breed is so much better than all other breeds.
And that is why it is a fad.