Hereford association

[Lee VanRoss]

My dad and grandfather had Herefords from the turn of the 20th century on up to when I was in my late teens. I'm sure Dad thought a cow
was red with a white face and anything else was another species! Then in just a few years things started going south or out of the norm if you will.
In no particular order we ran into prolapses, especially in heifers regardless of birth weight, dwarfism, and uncontrollable pink eye no matter what
mineral program we used. Out crossing did help but that is akin to standing in an open door in the winter in that it accomplishes nothing.
From my perspective the AHA became like CBS and the rest of the liberal press. To paraphrase " This is Charles Karault for CBS and That's the
way it is!" and by God you better believe it!........... I am certain there are Hereford breeders today doing everything within their means to present
the best product for the table for our consumption. There is, in my opinion, that element that subscribes to the glossy print, the ribbons and the
Kansas City Royal image. " Notariety runs ahead of you and a good reputation follows behind''
My image of the Hereford Association is akin to the Empty Boot monument at the Saratoga Battlefield.
You had it in your power to do great things, but...................

 

[Ky hills]

Both my family and my wife's had Herefords. I had become frustrated with other breeds and decided to try Herefords again several years ago. I will say that there have been some real progress made in terms of the issues like prolapse, pinkeye and just lack of hardiness. We found them to be about as problem free as other breeds, but have had a few pinkeye and prolapses over the years. We like Hereford cows in that the most seem to milk good and raise good calves nowadays and most have a pretty good disposition while still being protective enough of their calves. We've used five different Hereford bulls in recent years and while the calves have had good performance some of those bulls have thrown some surprises. One bulls calves had a lot of white and a couple with a white stripe all way down the shoulder. They also had a high rate of pinkeye in comparison to others.The disposition of some of those calves definitely are out of character for Herefords. The most recent bull we used, was from polled cattle, but gave us several horned calves, and some of the calves have been lighter colored almost like a diluted version.
To be fair and honest these bulls were some that we bought through the breeds regional consignment sales, and not of the farm from established breeders. Still though these were registered cattle that should be at least average examples of the breed.
I think the AHA seems to have squandered a good opportunity to increase their market share of bulls in recent years.
We are using BWF and a Simmental bull for next year because of the Hereford dock. It seems to me the AHA should address the dock and work hard for their members to overcome that.

 

[SPH]

Just my 2 cents (or more) on this thread again. Not going to deny that there are some legit issues and complaints against breed associations that can't be ignored. It's not a perfect system unfortunately and in some cases does benefit those who have the most influence. That being said a lot of the people that have these gripes don't always go about it in a very tactful way when trying to express their frustrations or going through the right channels trying to seek answers and actions. Either you are going to be a member of a breed association and use their services and participate in the association at some point or you can go the anti-association route and waste your money while complaining about everything but taking no initiative to do something about it. Airing your grievances on internet message boards is going to pretty much fall on deaf ears unless you are willing to pick up the phone and call your field rep or board members and have a civil conversation with them. At the state association level your membership dues usually entitle you to voting privileges at that level and by being an active member you may be able to put yourself into a position to be a state voting delegate for your state at the national annual meetings too. Lot of different angles I can make examples of but the most effective ones usually are establishing relationships and open communication lines with the people that are paid staff or elected positions of the association that will listen to you when you reach out to them in a civil manner. Your voice will be heard a lot louder if you take the initiative to get actively involved in the associations you belong to than to hide behind your computer keyboard.

As for some of the genetic issues, I see rants all the time about the need for more DNA testing that could help clear up some of the issues yet a lot of the same people complain about the costs to have it done. I guess my thoughts on that are put your money where your mouth is and DNA test your cattle even if you are confident you have no issues in your herd. I don't get how some can throw shade at breeders that have DNA tested cattle as part of an effort to identify a defect carrier even if it turns up some carriers in their program which is a negative impact for them yet others will say those breeders are dishonest and hiding something yet the DNA tests they are doing are as transparent as you can get. We DNA test our sale bulls and have even had to DNA test several cows in the herd when find out that a sire in their bloodline came back as a carrier of a new reported defect. We also document everything we do with our herd including weigh every time an animal went across a scale to when they got a shot of a vaccine or penicillin to when we turned them out/brought them in from pasture, etc. We only run around a dozen females now so its not a huge task for us but I bet you would find a lot of similar record systems from some large programs labeled "dishonest" by some of the keyboard warriors on the message boards.

Complaining about things only gets you so far. Actually getting your hands dirty and working with people you may not see eye to eye on everything is how you get noticed and make an impact. Use your membership to an association to your advantage by exercising your membership benefits and not just view it as a "necessity" in order to register cattle or get listed in a directory.

 

[kentuckyguy]

I'll just have to disagree with you. If you call and talk to them about carriers of genetic defects you will be ignored.

They say these bulls are fine for commercial producers producing commercial calves.

The purebred seed stock producers job is to create good genetics that can improve a commercial producers calf crop. Knowingly selling semen on bulls that are carriers ( not listed in the AI catalogs) or that haven't been tested and are likely carriers is just wrong.

 

[Ky hills]

I'll just have to disagree with you. If you call and talk to them about carriers of genetic defects you will be ignored.

They say these bulls are fine for commercial producers producing commercial calves.

The purebred seed stock producers job is to create good genetics that can improve a commercial producers calf crop. Knowingly selling semen on bulls that are carriers ( not listed in the AI catalogs) or that haven't been tested and are likely carriers is just wrong.

I have heard registered breeders of another breed plagued by defects also rationalizing the practice of selling carrier or potential carriers as commercial cattle. Seen several animals sold with papers pulled at registered sales too.

 

[W.B.]

Dont feel bad about being banned on Hereford Talk heck they wouldn't even register me. It is such a lame board I wouldnt want to post there now if they paid me.

 

[farmguy]

I have had cows with cancer eye. What is so bad about selecting animals with more eye pigment as it is a fact pigment will reduce the occurance of this condition. I have seen pics of old herefords with eye pigment. This is only one topic of many. As we select for desired traits won't the appearance of any species change and hopefully for the better as this is what we desire?