Horned Herfords

[BRYANT]

I can rember back in the early 80's when I worked on a kill floor for a packing house I use to kill bulls everyday and seems there was most always some of them Herfords that had the big curved down horns they were so common that I had several skulls but gave most away now I hardly ever see any like them. Do people not raise them or bred away the horn and are they counted as a differenr breed than the herford without horns

 

[Beef Man]

There are still Horned Herefords but the now generation have decided that just because God made them with horns they needed to be changed by man. We do have people ask for the heads of our old bulls at slaughter. Also usedto really like the old cow heads as we horn branded everything and they found that quite uniqe. Seems to me that those old horn cows had more comman sense and took bad storms in good fashion. Always were super mothers and could save a calf most anywhere anytime.Rope a old cow around the horns and you can do about anything to her or with her,she can't choke and you can tie her up and forget about her and she,ll still be right where you wanther anytime. Also strongly beleive that the coyotes will have a greater respect for the cow with horns. Never did beleive that cattle with proper trained horns were any worse on the other cattle than some dehorned cattle. They won't do well pened up and don't winter well when kept in a bunch. Takes a lot of area to run them.

 

[Herefords.US]

Never did beleive that cattle with proper trained horns were any worse on the other cattle than some dehorned cattle. They won't do well pened up and don't winter well when kept in a bunch. Takes a lot of area to run them.

The main difference I notice is that the dehorned ones will eat together in a smaller space in a range cube line or a trough. And me and/or my carpenter's pants haven't been taken to the ground by a horn inadvertantly getting slipped into the wire pliers pocket or through the hammer loop when feeding them. That used to happen every now and then when I was growing up - a peril of having really tame cattle.

George

 

[Frankie]

I can rember back in the early 80's when I worked on a kill floor for a packing house I use to kill bulls everyday and seems there was most always some of them Herfords that had the big curved down horns they were so common that I had several skulls but gave most away now I hardly ever see any like them. Do people not raise them or bred away the horn and are they counted as a differenr breed than the herford without horns

There are people around still raising Herefords with horns. Years ago, the Polled (naturally hornless) Hereford people broke away from the American Hereford Assn and started their own Association. Both Associations were financally strapped a few years ago and merged to better promote the entire Hereford breed. But some folks aren't willing to let by-gones be by-gones and there's still some hard feelings between the groups as has been shown on this board many times.

Feedlots and beef packers prefer polled animals because of equipment damage, bruises on the meat, feed bunk space, etc. So the demand for polled has grown.

BTW, I raise Angus.

 

[BIZIN]

We used to have horns on all our cows till 2000. We still keep the horns on our bulls. In Spring of 2000 dad and I were trying to read tattoos on a few cows that lost their tags over the winter, cow threw her head to the side and crushed all the bones in dads hand. We started dehorning our females that year. Also got sick of cows getting heads stuck in ring feeders when we used to calve in Feb and March. I agree though, we lost less calves to coyotes when we had horns on the cows. I dont even remember seeing coyotes walking through our herd when I was a kid, and now I see one a week or more.

 

[giftedcowboy]

I can rember back in the early 80's when I worked on a kill floor for a packing house I use to kill bulls everyday and seems there was most always some of them Herfords that had the big curved down horns they were so common that I had several skulls but gave most away now I hardly ever see any like them. Do people not raise them or bred away the horn and are they counted as a differenr breed than the herford without horns

There are people around still raising Herefords with horns. Years ago, the Polled (naturally hornless) Hereford people broke away from the American Hereford Assn and started their own Association. Both Associations were financally strapped a few years ago and merged to better promote the entire Hereford breed. But some folks aren't willing to let by-gones be by-gones and there's still some hard feelings between the groups as has been shown on this board many times.

Feedlots and beef packers prefer polled animals because of equipment damage, bruises on the meat, feed bunk space, etc. So the demand for polled has grown.

BTW, I raise Angus.

Mostly true... Some of the polled cattle broke away from the AHA and formed the APHA.....The AHA still registered polled cattle after the breakaway. When the polled asked to come back to the AHA all they would have had to do was pay the money and they were welcome back. In the end it did not happen that way though. The Secretary of the AHA used it to put a feather in his hat. To this day some breeders are very bitter about the way it was handled.

 

[BRYANT]

Also usedto really like the old cow heads as we horn branded everything and they found that quite uniqe.

I had totaly forgot about horn branding, have seen it but not real often, wish I would have kept some of those different looking heads. I have seen some pretty unique looking horns on some of them old range bull I still have some nice skulls but none of them ol big curve horned herefords never thought much about the horned cows we did'nt kill many cows just bulls and fats for box beef

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

It's just much safer to raise polled Herefords,& besides you can't eat the horns :tiphat:

 

[SRBeef]

It's just much safer to raise polled Herefords...

Especially in a smaller herd in a high density/stocking rate rotational grazing system where you are often in close to the animals. Horns are also a pain in the chute. At least for me they would be working alone with low cost auto chute/headgate.

Jim

 

[Beef Man]

I grew up with horned hereford and never did we feel thretened by the horns. Granted , I could see that horned cattle would be a problem around feedbunks and hayfeeders. We feed out in the open on the ground so no problem. Only go through the chute once a year with the cows and after they are 2 yr.old's hope to never have cow's in the correls. We definetly have people ask for only horned bulls. They say they keep the bulls scatered beter during breeding season and bulls winter so much better with some horned bulls as they tend to keep order in the bunch. All this said we are starteing to dehornthe heifer calves as a new generation is in charge. As for the statement " you can't eat the horns anyway",neither do we eat the switch on the tail or the hooves but everything has its purpose and I stiil personally feel that horn's properly trained are a usefull tool.

 

[alexfarms]

FWIW: I am a second generation polled Hereford breeder. I mentioned to my 17 year old son that there were some breeders of horned and polled Herefords who couldn't get along. He asked why. I said "they think one is better than the other". He laughed and said "tell them to just cut them off if they don't like them". From the mouths of babes?

Matthew 21:16: And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

 

[Poundsy]

The horned gene is recessive right? This year we calved a nice little steer that has horns. First horned hereford out of 25 cows in 5 years. Polled bull,pulled cow-who knows where he came from. I hope my fall calves this year have horns. I got a simmi/hereford cross bull calve loaned to me from the nieghbor that has good looking turned down horns and I put him in with 4 hiefers to see what will happen. Might be good looking calves.

 

[Frankie]

The horned gene is recessive right? This year we calved a nice little steer that has horns. First horned hereford out of 25 cows in 5 years. Polled bull,pulled cow-who knows where he came from. I hope my fall calves this year have horns. I got a simmi/hereford cross bull calve loaned to me from the nieghbor that has good looking turned down horns and I put him in with 4 hiefers to see what will happen. Might be good looking calves.

OK, I have to ask. How do you calve out a steer? We always have heifers or bulls born on this place. Is it a Hereford trick or will any breed work? ;-)

 

[Poundsy]

You know what I meant. Sometimes my mind thinks faster than my fingers type.