Horns and feedout performance

[dcara]

Has anyone seen a study on feeder performance for polled vs. non-polled cattle? I recently had a baldy feeder that had horn buds and did exceptional on feedout.

 

[mnmtranching]

All I know is, They have worked very hard to breed the horns out of certain breeds of cattle. If horn were beneficial in any way I think they would have kept them.

 

[bigbull338]

most feedlots either dehorn or tipp incoming steers.by tipping i mean cut the horn off fairly close to the skull.so steers hooking eachother really isnt that much of an issue.

 

[Jovid]

horns benefit the steer that has them on their head greatly they can beat any other unhorned steer away from the feedbunk

Now I know why cattle have horns. So they can beat each other up getting to the feed. :roll:

 

[Jovid]

horns benefit the steer that has them on their head greatly they can beat any other unhorned steer away from the feedbunk

Now I know why cattle have horns. So they can beat each other up getting to the feed. :roll:

jovid is this your first attempt at raising cattle?

No it is not.......but from your answer it make me wonder about you.

 

[TexasBred]

"What" told you right I do beleive. Even in a pasture situation the horned cow will usually use those horns to get rid of others around any feeder.

 

[mnmtranching]

In a case say, you have ten steers on feed. One with horns, OK? The one with horns will likely out perform the rest. But what about the total gain? Maybe it will all work out the same? Maybe take the other nine another couple months to finish. Still I wouldn't want a bunch of horned cattle in a feedlot or even 1 in a pen.

 

[msscamp]

Has anyone seen a study on feeder performance for polled vs. non-polled cattle? I recently had a baldy feeder that had horn buds and did exceptional on feedout.

Because you said "a" baldy feeder, I'm thinking you had one horned animal in a bunch of polled feeder animals. If so, of course he would do better - his horns gave him the advantage over the rest of the bunch, and he got more feed. Had the entire bunch been horned, he would not have had the advantage and probably would not have done as well.

 

[Jovid]

texasbred i guess in the pretty pictures of bovines that jovid looks at they must have never showed them using their horns to show dominance and competitive behavior. go figure a real cattle man would have known better, i do love it when these part time cowboys show there novice to everyone all by themselves without any help from others. this jovid guy is so green the grass is jealous

So you are saying all cattle with horns are more aggressive than cattle without horns? Being aggressive and cattle fighting has nothing to do with horns.

So the one with horns will always be the dominate animal? Don't think so.

Be careful What? or you might get kicked off of here with this name just like you have with all of your other aliases. Not too hard to figure you out.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I think most of the folks that have posted on this thread should back and really read the post that started the thread. Depending on the breed of cattle horned calves will out preform polled calves even if the horned calves have been dehorned.

 

[TexasBred]

I think most of the folks that have posted on this thread should back and really read the post that started the thread. Depending on the breed of cattle horned calves will out preform polled calves even if the horned calves have been dehorned.

Check out this link. Does a very good job of explaining "when" to dehorn, why dehorn and effects of dehorning. Draw your own conclusions:

http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_horned_vs_polled/

 

[dcara]

Has anyone seen a study on feeder performance for polled vs. non-polled cattle? I recently had a baldy feeder that had horn buds and did exceptional on feedout.

Because you said "a" baldy feeder, I'm thinking you had one horned animal in a bunch of polled feeder animals. If so, of course he would do better - his horns gave him the advantage over the rest of the bunch, and he got more feed. Had the entire bunch been horned, he would not have had the advantage and probably would not have done as well.

Actually I said "...horn buds..." i.e. not full horns. These were about an inch (or less) long. So some horn genetics were there, but these horns were not a consideration in defending his area of the trough. Other attributes were that he was calmer than the others, always first to the trough (but not aggressive) and the last to leave. I believe these attributes are often typical of feeders with good gain performance, but, I was wondering if these attributes are also typical of cattle with some horn genetics. I'm a small time feeder and have fed only a little over 100 calves over the past 6 years or so and this is the first time I fed one with any horn genetics that I knew of.

I think most of the folks that have posted on this thread should back and really read the post that started the thread. Depending on the breed of cattle horned calves will out preform polled calves even if the horned calves have been dehorned.

Can you provide any additional info on this, like a link, researcher name, or any other info you can remember that I might be able to research?

Check out this link. Does a very good job of explaining "when" to dehorn, why dehorn and effects of dehorning. Draw your own conclusions:

http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_horned_vs_polled/

Thanks, I'll check it when I have a moment

 

[bigbull338]

sounds like you had a calf with scurrs.an not full fledge horns.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I can"t give much more than my on observations with cattle i have been around over the years. In the Limi breed you have or had a wider gene pool with horned cattle than polled.Wasn't may polled ones to choose from, so it was easier to get better performing cattle from the horned side. For years around here people always said horned herefords would out perform polled Herefords. So i think in some breeds you could still see calves with horned genes out perform polled ones.

 

[dcara]

sounds like you had a calf with scurrs.an not full fledge horns.

Thats a good possibility. However, I never checked to see if they were loose. Don't they have to be loose and not attached to the skull to be scurrs? He was a sale barn calf so I don't know what his lineage was.

 

[msscamp]

Has anyone seen a study on feeder performance for polled vs. non-polled cattle? I recently had a baldy feeder that had horn buds and did exceptional on feedout.

Because you said "a" baldy feeder, I'm thinking you had one horned animal in a bunch of polled feeder animals. If so, of course he would do better - his horns gave him the advantage over the rest of the bunch, and he got more feed. Had the entire bunch been horned, he would not have had the advantage and probably would not have done as well.

Actually I said "...horn buds..." i.e. not full horns. These were about an inch (or less) long. So some horn genetics were there, but these horns were not a consideration in defending his area of the trough. Other attributes were that he was calmer than the others, always first to the trough (but not aggressive) and the last to leave. I believe these attributes are often typical of feeders with good gain performance, but, I was wondering if these attributes are also typical of cattle with some horn genetics. I'm a small time feeder and have fed only a little over 100 calves over the past 6 years or so and this is the first time I fed one with any horn genetics that I knew of.

Point taken, and I apologize for reading more into it than was there.

 

[TB-Herefords]

Has no one considered the cross bred advantage. Were the rest of the steers strait bred or all baldy's. I think horned genetics are more muscular than polled when it comes to Herefords. Polled seem to be chasing fram size on the average polled. In all reality What is probably right. When cattleman were settling the west with longhorns and horned herefords I'm sure no considerations were givin to bears, wolve, yotes, or mountain lions. They were probably thinkin "just wait, fifty years from now they will have these big yards where they feed cattle. Ours will out perform all the rest cause they will have the horns to fight off the other." Sounds more like it. :lol2: