I started accumulating a herd of Corriente cows back in the 80's, and eventually had 40-50 at any given time. Back then team roping was very popular, and the way you got Corrientes, was by buying them in Mexico, then they had to be quarantined on the border, then you could bring them in. You could get $500-$650 per steer or heifer back then. So, I raised them for my own ropings, and to sell to stock contactors for roping and dogging. The year I met that man that was going to start breeding bucking bulls...'94 or '95. I had 15 Longhorn culled cows ( The LH breeders culled them, because they had horns that started curving up or forward or both before getting very wide. The LH breeders want them 6' to 8' wide, but the horns on these culls were perfect for roping/dogging). I sold the man these 15 LH cows, along with 2 LH-Watusi cross cows, and one fb Watusi cow, because I already had a half Corriente heifer or 2 out of each of them, which is what I bought them for to start with. Anyway, by the end of the 90s, EVERYONE was raising roping steers, and a new fad was hitting the SE, team penning. Roping steers had dropped to $200-$250 a piece. I bred my herd to Angus and Brangus bulls in 99, and got what I wanted... polled, beefy looking cattle, but that could hold out running a lot longer than the commercial beef steers and heifers that people used for penning and sorting. These calves were polled and black, and at weaning were damned near the size of their Corriente mommas, and every bit as big as a commercial Angus or Hereford.. I bred them to where they all calved Oct-Nov, so they'd be weaned and ready to pen or sort come March. I'd keep them til the next bunch was ready to go the next March, then sell them. They'd sell as well as fb Angus commercial steers and heifers would. Thing is, though, you could raise 3 or 4 of those cows and their calves, in the same pastures you'd need for 1 commercial beef cow and calf. Now days, a LOT of people are doing this. If you go to one of the Corriente social media groups, most everyone advertises their Corriente cows and heifers for sale, bred to an Angus, or with a black calf at their side. Black Corriente cows, and bulls, are selling for a lot more than the multi colored Corrientes we always see at rodeos and ropings, too. You can buy 4-5 Corriente cows for what you pay for one good commercial beef cow, and you can FEED them for about what it costs to feed 1 big commercial beef cow. By 2001, I had 100 head of those cows. You need a minimum of 60 head for a team penning, and I got to contracting stock for pennings and sortings. And, holding practices and jackpots at my place. I kept those 100 cows and calves in a 126 acre pasture that was nothing but cut-over timber that had grown up. Volunteer grass, and broom sage, briars, thickets,. etc. There were a few acres that weren't too rough for equipment, that I sewed some fescue and clover, but we never fertilized, or poisoned broadleafs, or bush-hogged or anything. It had 2 ponds and a branch that ran through it. I kept salt in the catch pen, and basically these cattle just raised themselves. We'd pour on Ivermectin when we rounded them up to cut the bull calves, and maybe again when we rounded them up to wean, and that was it. I put the Angus and/or Brangus bulls in with them in Jan and Feb, and would put out hay in the catch pens then, and that's about all the feeding I did. March, when we'd pick up the bulls and wean the calves, I'd put the black Corriente bull I had kept, in with them for clean-up, and leave him there til calving started in October.
I have fooled with cow-calve operations,, replacement heifer operations, raising registered cattle of a few different breeds, but this venture was by far the most profitable of any. Low costs to buy the cows, nearly zero costs to feed them, no losses of either cows or calves, and the income from contracting to provide cattle for pennings and sortings, plus the income from holding my own, then when you sold the steers and heifers, they brought as much or near as much as any other black cattle...steers, heifers or cows.
