Historical review of cattle type

[dj]

I thought this was interesting stuff. I wouldn't mind owning those 1870 replacement heifers, or using the Black Knight to cover them.
http://www.msu.edu/~ritchieh/historical/cattletype.html

 

[backhoeboogie]

It is disappointing to me to see the mention of the great trail drives north out of Texas (which only lasted a short time) and no mention of the great trail drives to New Orleans that lasted for generations, and built Texas. In duration, there is really no comparison.

I think it is a total shame that the great drives from Texas to New Orleans never get mentioned. Especailly considering how many generations were involved in those, for all those years. The brief period before the railhead that involved cattle drives to Kansas is really nothing, in retrospect.

 

[backhoeboogie]

"The major cattle trail was the Atascosito/Opelousas Road, an east-west Indian trail in Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas. An alternate route, the Old Beef Road, crossed through the northern portions of Jasper and Newton Counties on its way to Louisiana. The cattle drive was an arduous undertaking, but well worth the effort, as cattle sold in New Orleans for more than twice what they brought in Texas. Cattle were also transported to New Orleans via steamboat. In the 1880s, the railroad began to replace the dusty cattle trail as the primary means of transporting cattle to market in Louisiana. "

 

[dj]

I think the paper was more about the change in size, rather than the distribution of livestock. Since Doc is addressing this frequently I thought some would find the pictures and dates interesting.

Doc if you stumble by this what do you think of the phenotype of the Black Knight and Peter Sterling?

 

[MikeC]

I thought this was interesting stuff. I wouldn't mind owning those 1870 replacement heifers, or using the Black Knight to cover them.
http://www.msu.edu/~ritchieh/historical/cattletype.html

Why would you want to give up all the progress we have made in cattle breeding?

Going back to a 250 lb. weaning weight or a feed efficiency of 14/1 ain't where I want to be.

 

[KNERSIE]

Mike, I am not sure I agree. Have you read any literature saying what the weaning weights were in 1870? I personally think the feed convertion rate of 14:1 and the 250 lbs weaning weights were the result of the drive for the pony type, or comprest type as it was called in the herefords. They chased a fashion by selecting for smaller and smaller more compact cattle and bred all the growth and feed convertion out of the cattle. By selecting the smaller cattle they achieved their goal of negative frame creep, but also selected those with the lowest growth potential.

There were many extremes over the years ranging from too big to too small to gigantic to growth freaks and back to more moderate cattle of today. Take a look again at the herefords of 1870-1920 and compare them to the herefords of the late 80's early 90's and ask yourself just how much progress was made.

For me personally, Don Carlos, a son of Anxiety 4th and his son Beau Brummel will fit into my breeding program perfectly and both of them were born before the turn of the previous century.

What I find amazing at times is the fact that we try and correct what was already correct 100 years ago, somehow those traits got lost and we try our utmost to improve those weakpoints when the ideal was reached many years ago. We must also remember that the breeders from 1920 -1990 also thought they were improving the breed at the time.

 

[MikeC]

I stand corrected. I have looked at that web site before and thought the poster was referring to going back to the little dink, inefficient cattle as was popular when I was a kid.

We have made progress through the years, but it could be better if we would develop cattle to fit the consumer instead of maximizing profits for the packers.

 

[KNERSIE]

but it could be better if we would develop cattle to fit the consumer instead of maximizing profits for the packers

I agree. You could also add feedlots to the packers.

The belt buckle height cattle was no nearer to being an improvement than the frame 10's of the '80s. I often wonder how much progress could have been made if the breders just stayed true to type.

 

[dun]

What I find amazing at times is the fact that we try and correct what was already correct 100 years ago, somehow those traits got lost and we try our utmost to improve those weakpoints when the ideal was reached many years ago.

I find the same thing when I read some of the things the dairy industry is talking about now concerning basic animal structure. The industry is now facing up to the need for sound feet and legs as well as udder structure and not just pure milk volume.
My old mentor took over the family dairy around the fist part of the last century and alwasy preached structure before milk.

dun