herefords: horned vs. polled

[Copenhagen & Shiner B]

I have not had any personal experience with any purebred/registered horned herefords in my life , but a friend of mine who works cattle for a living swears that horned herefords are way better than polled herefords. What is yall's opinion about this age old argument?

 

[certherfbeef]

This one has potential to be come another "political cows" thread.
But here it goes...I prefer the horned herefords. They are rugged, big framed, wide hipped, natrually thicker and excellent mammas. I also run some polls. Matter of fact, the base of my herd is polled and came from the Rice Dispersal.
Horned and polled is a regional thing to an extent. I have problems selling horned cattle to Ohio breeders. But they love the horned steers. I know of ranchers in North Dakota that have trouble selling polled cattle there.
I grew up on a dairy farm. The holsteins were horned. Dehorning is not a big deal to me. Burn them off when they are little and there will be no discount at the sale barn.
Most people around here like the deep, dark red of the polled cattle. The horned tend to be more of an orange color. I have noticed that with the exception of the Feltons line the polled cattle have a generally lower milk EPD.
My horned cattle are wide hipped...almost never a calving problem with them.
I used a polled bull for clean up for the last several years, time for a change. We have a yr horned bull that I am very proud of. He will go out next year for clean up. Right now there is a scurred bull doing the job.

Hope this helps.

 

[txag]

sorry for the plagiarism certherfbeef, but you pretty much summed it up for the polled as well :lol: :

here it goes...i prefer the polled herefords. they are rugged, big framed, wide hipped, naturally thicker and excellent mammas. we don't run any horned.

horned and polled is a regional thing to an extent. buyers in our area prefer polleds. dehorning is not a big deal to me.......it's done at conception.

most people around here like the deep, dark red of the polled cattle. the horned tend to be more of an orange color although there has been a slight shift to breeding darker horned cattle.

the polled cattle have epd's to rival any horned lines, in all aspects.

my polled cattle are wide hipped...almost never a calving problem with them.

basically, after many generations of improving both lines of the breed, you can find exceptional quality of both. nowadays, pretty much the only difference is the horns.

 

[certherfbeef]

Hey txag!!! It all sounds good to me

 

[dun]

To through a little t-rd in the punch bowel. When people started selecting for polled it was done retty much as a single trait selection. A lot of animals of both sexes that should have been eaten weren't. It has taken time, but now there isn't any significant difference between the two, except, I've foound the polled calves are born a little easier then horned. That appears to me to be strictly because of the head shape. Polled heads are generally narrower, horned are wider at the ears. Weuse strictly Polled Herefords when we use Herefords in our crossbreeding. Since we no longer had any purebred Herefords left, we bought a lovely bred Polled Hereford heifer a month or so ago. She's the one in the old avatar.

dun

 

[Bez]

Well, around here if it is not tan in colour it sells at a discount. There is always a local prejudice of some type.

We run a commercial herd of Horned Herefords. I have a good friend who runs Polled Herefords. Both stack up pretty well if you ask me.

While there is always some good natured joshing about this sort of thing, the fact is as follows:

"A nice herd of cattle is still a nice herd of cattle."

I am about to say something that I would ordinarily deny - there is a fellow about five miles from here who has a darned nice herd of cattle - they have it all - uniformity, good calving, good weight gains, decent attitude and so on.

If he knew I was writing this about his herd, the owner would never let me forget about it.

The breed?

Can't believe I am about to say this ......

Limos!

Sheesh!! Don't tell him I said this .....



Best regards,

Bez

 

[frenchie]

Horned herefords are my preference.

A few years ago I asked a well respected cattleman/owner of the of the local auction mart, what kind of cattle I should be raising........

His answer was...........GOOD ONES

 

[hillbilly]

To through a little t-rd in the punch bowel. When people started selecting for polled it was done retty much as a single trait selection. A lot of animals of both sexes that should have been eaten weren't. It has taken time, but now there isn't any significant difference between the two, except, I've foound the polled calves are born a little easier then horned. That appears to me to be strictly because of the head shape. Polled heads are generally narrower, horned are wider at the ears. Weuse strictly Polled Herefords when we use Herefords in our crossbreeding. Since we no longer had any purebred Herefords left, we bought a lovely bred Polled Hereford heifer a month or so ago. She's the one in the old avatar.

dun

50 years from now this question might be, "horned,polled or black herefords?
As Dun said, when you select for one trait it slows the progress of the breed.
Horned are a little further down the road than polled.
And as I mentioned, 50 years from now polled will still have a genetic edge on black herefords. [if they make it]

Hillbilly

 

[Matt]

Dun stands for Dunrovin farms, right?

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Never made it known, but D.R. stands for Dun Runnin'.

 

[dun]

Dun stands for Dunrovin farms, right?

Nope, dunmovin farms

dun

 

[dun]

Never made it known, but D.R. stands for Dun Runnin'.

Maybe I should B.H. Barely Hobbling

dun

 

[Anonymous]

most people around here like the deep, dark red of the polled cattle. the horned tend to be more of an orange color although there has been a slight shift to breeding darker horned cattle.

[/quote]

I'm not a Hereford breeder but have always admired their appearance. Can anyone explain why the general population of Polled Herefords is a darker red than the horned Herefords?

 

[Matt]

Oh, I just was wondering, you see, I read that a while back and couldn't remember if it was r or m. I asked as Dunrovin Farm partially owns the great Victor x4 bull.

 

[TheBullLady]

We sold a group of gray Brahman heifers to a man I sold a ranch to a couple of years back, and he's always insisted on a horned Hereford bull. When I asked him why, he couldn't answer for any specific reason. I think it's more of a perception.. and something everyone has always believed.

Funny.. he just purchased two bulls from DeShazers, and they're both polled. And drop dead gorgeous besides!

 

[Campground Cattle]

Its like the little boy that kissed the calf on the a$$ everyone to thier own taste.

 

[Anonymous]

Dun's on the money. grew up with a polled herford herd and there was a lot of line breeding and breeders that didn't cull heavy enough. As far as color we had nearly as many yellow as dark red but most breeders prefered the reds, said color didn't matter but usually left our place with the darker animal.

 

[Matt]

Dun's on the money. grew up with a polled herford herd and there was a lot of line breeding and breeders that didn't cull heavy enough. As far as color we had nearly as many yellow as dark red but most breeders prefered the reds, said color didn't matter but usually left our place with the darker animal.

Yes and no, remember genetics plays a part, most likely if you bred yellow cow to a dark bull you would get a fairly dark calf. And don't forget coralated responce, possably the dark animals were supirior when it came to economicle traits

 

[Anonymous]

sorry for the plagiarism missi, but you pretty much summed it up for the polled as well :lol: :

here it goes...i prefer the polled herefords. they are rugged, big framed, wide hipped, naturally thicker and excellent mammas. we don't run any horned.

horned and polled is a regional thing to an extent. buyers in our area prefer polleds. dehorning is not a big deal to me.......it's done at conception.

most people around here like the deep, dark red of the polled cattle. the horned tend to be more of an orange color although there has been a slight shift to breeding darker horned cattle.

i think poled is good for small ranches and horned is good for big ranches

the polled cattle have epd's to rival any horned lines, in all aspects.

my polled cattle are wide hipped...almost never a calving problem with them.

basically, after many generations of improving both lines of the breed, you can find exceptional quality of both. nowadays, pretty much the only difference is the horns.

 

[TexasCountryWoman]

Polled. Nice dark red ones are a site to behold. Grew up with them and love them still. I have a "Victor" bull too.