Commercial Heifers

[Alan]

I just recieved this months issue of Hereford World. I'm thinking of going to a producers sale, they are selling Bulls and 100 head of "commercial heifers". What exactly are commericial heifers? Since there is a full page ad showing registered Herefords can I assume they are Hereford heifers? Can I assume they are registered? What is the difference between a "commercial heifer" and let's say a seed "stock heifer" or any other heifer on equal ground?

I do plan to make contact with the party having the sale, but I would like to sound like I know something about it .

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Old Man]

In our area, commercial heifers are not registered for whatever reason, but usually because someplace in her background there is some crossbreeding that was done. Seedstock heifers would be registered.

 

[Bez]

It is not unusual to find commercial animals that are actually a purebred.

For example our breeding stock - all horned Herefords - could very easliy be registered. We just couldn't be bothered to register them. We sell to the feedlot industry, not the person looking for registered animals. We're just not interested in the cost, or the paperwork in keeping up registries.

I can name a dozen folks just like us.

I would suggest you send these folks an email or heck - for the cost - just pick up the phone and call them.

They are the only ones who will have the exact answer for you.

Bez

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Many times purebred breeders keep only the top, say, ten percent of their crop for replacements. That doesn't mean that the rest of the heifers are good for nothing but the feedlot. So they may sell them as commercial cattle even though they are purebred. A friend of mine wouldn't think of cross-breeding, but he culls his registered stock rigorously. If a calf has too much white on it to suit him, he sells it unregistered, or "commercial." An example is a heifer that weaned at 107%, but had a quarter sized white spot right on top of her back right ahead of the hindquarters. She also had quite a bit of white elsewhere. This is pretty common among linebred Herefords, so he guards against it strongly in his registered stock.

 

[docgraybull]

Frequently, seedstock breeders who are having a "registered" or "production" sale will throw in 100 or so commercial cows to increase (local) interest. Commercial meaning not registered. They may be of the same breed as his cattle, or not. Usually they are. They may be from ranchers who have purchased bulls from him and used them, and are now ready to offer their offspring, thereby marketing his seedstock's commercial production ability. Sometimes they just don't have enough registered animals to conduct a sale, but still want (or need) to have a sale, so they throw in some commercial cattle as "fillers". If the seedstock producer is reputable, usually he will be somewhat selective about what type of commercial cattle he allows into the sale, so it is usually worthwhile to look them over.