Corrientes?

[milkmaid]

Thanks for the input y'all. Much appreciated.

I really would like some hardy low maintanance cows, seeing as I suspect I'll be much busier over the next few years and then I don't suppose I'm going to have a lot of time to deal with high maintanance cows after I'm in vet school.

How about longhorns? I found an ad for a fellow back in Idaho with some heifers, don't know anything more and waiting on pictures, but... how would they turn out, crossed with a Jersey?

 

[dun]

2 sows ears won;t create a silk purse, or anything else of value either.

 

[milkmaid]

I don't see anything wrong with crossing a Jersey with any other breed... crossing Corrientes might be a waste of money, but nothing wrong with the Jersey aspect of it.

Dunno, I just like a cow that can raise more than one calf; I can't turn a profit on a cow that only raises one calf per year. I know some of you can, but I can't, and I don't even feed grain. If I were into the beef aspect primarily, I know a fellow with some nice Char calves and if I had time and money to play I'd love to take some of them and cross them with angus and herefords.

 

[MoGal]

I wouldn't cross anything to a corriente or longhorn MM.... just IMHO only. Some of those sold at the local salebarn two weeks ago and brought 20 to 28 cents a lb. some were 5 to 7 yr old bred cows in 2nd and 3rd period. Maybe there's a demand for them in your area but not in this one.

Perhaps you may need to sit out a year or two or three while going to school and actually with the economy the way it is, it might be a good time to do just that. I read in the Midwest cattleman paper a couple months back that meat consumption is down 30% and I think next years beef prices will be even lower than this years.

I don't see anything wrong with adding jersey MM........... in fact I've talked to a cousin who has crossed his heifers to a jersey bull and I'm interested in getting some of his heifer calves (he has 4 holsteins crossed to jersey as well and I"m hoping at least one of them has a heifer as I'd like to get it). There are some reports out that say jersey marbles better than angus. I went to the meat butcher shop yesterday and watched them cut up my beef and the main butcher there told me marbling is strictly based on what/how you feed. I'm no expert nor do I have the years of experience or data to say yea or nay about that.

Can't you find a jersey crossed with angus or hereford or even shorthorn ........... that's what I would look for.... surely someone in the area has one.

 

[dun]

I really would like some hardy low maintanance cows, seeing as I suspect I'll be much busier over the next few years and then I don't suppose I'm going to have a lot of time to deal with high maintanance cows after I'm in vet school.

You're not going to have the time but you think you will be grafting calves?
If you're going to cross something with Jersey to get enough milk to raise multiple calves, why not start with a breed that at least has some value as beef?
The comment about the dollar value of LHs was pretty well borne out yesterday. Spent the morning watching the cow/bull sale. Open and 1st stage beef cows brought in the high 50s, open Holsteins were about a dime back of that, 3rd stage LHs were about 20 cents back of that, opens were around a dime a pound. Even some really boney old broken mouth beef cows brought 11 cents a pound.

 

[milkmaid]

I have summers free (except that final year of vet school is year-round) so I'll be able to graft calves, that's not so much the issue; it's the rest of the year when I'm not home that's the main issue.

Interesting about the price on LHs... it is good to have cows that at least have some slaughter value at the end.

 

[Brandonm22]

The comment about the dollar value of LHs was pretty well borne out yesterday. Spent the morning watching the cow/bull sale. Open and 1st stage beef cows brought in the high 50s, open Holsteins were about a dime back of that, 3rd stage LHs were about 20 cents back of that, opens were around a dime a pound. Even some really boney old broken mouth beef cows brought 11 cents a pound.

Thats about how it is around here. Straight Longhorn calves weigh a 100 lbs less (and I am being generous on that) than similarly aged beef calves and then lose 25 cents or more (sometime a lot more) per pound on what they do have. Then the cull cows weigh 300 lbs less than typical cull cows and bring less per pound. By my math a 100 cow Longhorn herd grosses about 25% t0 40% less than the same size conventional beef herd.

 

[3waycross]

A lot of folks around here use them on their first calf (Angus) heifers. Then try to sell the calves before the Corriente starts showing up in them. Thus sticking the feedlot operators with a lot of garbage.

Neighbor had one with 20 heifers. It jumped the fence this spring and was breeding one of our shorthorn cows(after it kicked the livin shyt out of our RA bull) We tried for an hour to separate it with the 4 wheelers then my partner went to the house and got the Wrist Rocket and a handfull of ball bearings.

First shot between the eyes at 10 yds turned him for home and the next 7 or 8 shots in the rump kept him going the right way. He got moved the next day after the neighbor found his bull looking like he had been in a hornets nest. I guess he figured out that the next time he came home it would be without his own ball bearings.

I know of one fellow who bred over a hundred heifers to calve in Jan. We got a bad cold spell first part of Feb and he had 3 week old calves freezing to death. Makes more sense to me to use low birth weight Angus bulls and pull the occasional calf, but the trend continues so who am I to argue.

 

[TexasBred]

3Way, mine is only a personal opinion and as I said in a previous post, "Corriente means "Trashy" in spanish. That's pretty much my view of them. Ropers use them to practice roping and once they become too large for that they'll haul them to a local sale and maybe get $40 cents a pound for them. I can't imagine anyone really wanting an entire herd of them. Nothing + Nothing = Nothing.

 

[3waycross]

3Way, mine is only a personal opinion and as I said in a previous post, "Corriente means "Trashy" in spanish. That's pretty much my view of them. Ropers use them to practice roping and once they become too large for that they'll haul them to a local sale and maybe get $40 cents a pound for them. I can't imagine anyone really wanting an entire herd of them. Nothing + Nothing = Nothing.

I agree I think they are garbage cattle. What's funny is when they are used on the first calf Angus heifers the calves are eligible for CAB. That is if the soryy little suckers don't freeze to death first. They have no hair and no hide. They do however have some wicked horns. Ask my bull.

 

[dun]

I agree I think they are garbage cattle. What's funny is when they are used on the first calf Angus heifers the calves are eligible for CAB. That is if the soryy little suckers don't freeze to death first. They have no hair and no hide. They do however have some wicked horns. Ask my bull.

The black hide makes them possibly eligible for CAB ONLY if they grade to the CAB standards. The balck hide is only the first requirement that must be met, then it gets to the hard ones.

 

[3waycross]

I agree I think they are garbage cattle. What's funny is when they are used on the first calf Angus heifers the calves are eligible for CAB. That is if the soryy little suckers don't freeze to death first. They have no hair and no hide. They do however have some wicked horns. Ask my bull.

The black hide makes them possibly eligible for CAB ONLY if they grade to the CAB standards. The balck hide is only the first requirement that must be met, then it gets to the hard ones.

I didn't say anything different than that. BUT, it still gets them in the door to be considered, that's my point.

It gets them considered for a premium beef program when in fact they are 1/2 of something that most closely resembles a panko'd Mexican goat.

To be fair tho I have no idea how they marble, I would seriously doubt that they would be very tender.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I agree I think they are garbage cattle. What's funny is when they are used on the first calf Angus heifers the calves are eligible for CAB. That is if the soryy little suckers don't freeze to death first. They have no hair and no hide. They do however have some wicked horns. Ask my bull.

The black hide makes them possibly eligible for CAB ONLY if they grade to the CAB standards. The balck hide is only the first requirement that must be met, then it gets to the hard ones.

I didn't say anything different than that. BUT, it still gets them in the door to be considered, that's my point.

It gets them considered for a premium beef program when in fact they are 1/2 of something that most closely resembles a panko'd Mexican goat.

To be fair tho I have no idea how they marble, I would seriously doubt that they would be very tender.

if they did you would have so much feed in them... you could have fattend 3 beef steers to one... in my worthless opinion they are great cattle, speaking in the rodeo, and steer , calf ropin' realm only,