hereford bulls horned or polled?

[SRBeef]

With a small herd this might be worth a bit of trial or experimentation. What your vet was suggesting as "hybrid vigor" has a pretty good root in fact. With a small herd I would also think disposition is important. Maternal is also important as you are talking about keeping a few Baldies.

Why not just buy a polled Hereford bull and try him out for a year or two, see how you like the results. You can keep him for a couple years then sell him or whatever. Good luck.

 

[wtrapp]

I have a dehorned Hereford bull. Long, thick and very gentle. Low BW (avg. 71lbs for heifers and 74lbs on bulls) so I can use him on heifers or cows. He is used on straightbred polled Herefored cows and straightbred Angus without horns. Now that is not to say that one of these days a Hereford calf won't have horns because they just might. Anyway I really like the disposition of Hereford cattle. My angus are very gentle but nothing like the Hereford, and a Hereford calf is the prettiest around. Most of my calves are sold private treaty for beef so the color doesn't matter and a true F1 Black Baldie can make a great mama cow.

 

[KNERSIE]

I have a dehorned Hereford bull. Long, thick and very gentle. Low BW (avg. 71lbs for heifers and 74lbs on bulls) so I can use him on heifers or cows. He is used on straightbred polled Herefored cows and straightbred Angus without horns. Now that is not to say that one of these days a Hereford calf won't have horns because they just might. Anyway I really like the disposition of Hereford cattle. My angus are very gentle but nothing like the Hereford, and a Hereford calf is the prettiest around. Most of my calves are sold private treaty for beef so the color doesn't matter and a true F1 Black Baldie can make a great mama cow.

That is saying much more about the cows than the bull. I'd like to see your bull, if you don't want to post on the boards you can do it in a pm.

Your comment about the disposition is pretty much my experience as well. The angus that I have dealt with weren't mean at all, just not as calm and laid back as the herefords. The worst herd I've seen for disposition is a Bonsmara herd not too far from me, although the breed as a whole isn't regarded as having poor disposition.

 

[wtrapp]

I'll see if I can't get a picture in the next few days.

 

[KNERSIE]

This whole horned vs polled debate has got me curious. Can those who believe the poll bulls are inferior to their horned cousins post some photos of their horned bulls so that I can get an idea how poor the polled bulls are.

I figured if the posted horned bulls are truly outstanding animals then there might still be hope for the poll breeders, but if the said horned bulls are just average then the poll breeders must really be in a pickle.

So please show us what you've got. ;-)

 

[dun]

This whole horned vs polled debate has got me curious. Can those who believe the poll bulls are inferior to their horned cousins post some photos of their horned bulls so that I can get an idea how poor the polled bulls are.

I figured if the posted horned bulls are truly outstanding animals then there might still be hope for the poll breeders, but if the said horned bulls are just average then the poll breeders must really be in a pickle.

So please show us what you've got. ;-)

I think that when the polled line of Herefords was being developed there was a lot of single trait selection, much like the black hereford, and some positive traits were lost or at least diminshed. Now that there are more polled animals that has pretty well gone by the wayside. The negatives that were seen in any breed in the past is rememered and many producers still live with those memorys. We had horrible problems with charolais with dystocia when we had some charolais sired calves and had 2 neighbors in 2 different places thast raised registered chrolais that pulled the majority of their calves and lost a lot of cows. That has supposedly changed but I for one am unwilling to take a chance on it.

 

[KNERSIE]

I think that when the polled line of Herefords was being developed there was a lot of single trait selection, much like the black hereford, and some positive traits were lost or at least diminshed.

I agree 100%, but that was over 100 years ago. The infighting between the two segments were still alive not too long ago, and claiming things that isn't generally true anymore today at the cost of the other half of the breed isn't any different in principle from the way CAB operates. All I am trying to say is as long as a hereford bull gets sold its good for the breed, doesn't matter whether its polled or horned. Incidently the best herd of herefords I have ever seen in my life is a horned herd in SA. Jerry Hambley was equally impressed with them on his visit here. If my market tolerated horned bulls, finding an outcross sire would have been a much easier task.

My standards and the traits I place emphasis on is obviously different from most people on the boards, but just from memory I have seen many more good poll hereford bulls posted than horned ones. Even more ironic is those with the really top quality horned cattle like Ned.Jr, Herefords.US, etc aren't those who try and downrun the poll segment.

I breed herefords and whatever is in the breed as a whole's best interest is ultimately also in my best interest.

I am open to be convinced that horned herefords are superior in the USA, just show me the evidence and post some of the horned bulls you own. I am not interested in seeing semen catalogue photos, I want to see bulls used commercially or in registered herds where the ultimate goal is providing bulls for the commercial beef industry.

 

[JHH]

I think there are good ones in both horned and polled. But if you start researching most ( not all ) polled bulls have a horned great granddam or sire or further back. Since the associations merged this is fine for registrations and you use the best of both to get a good product to promote.

I like the horned but that was instilled in me when I was young. We do have a few polled cows but not many. When I breed my polled cows to my horned bull they grow alot better and they are saleable because of no horns most of the time.