How did you pick your breed?

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Little Cow

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Was it what your family raised? Or, because of the region you live in? Maybe what was going for a good price? What made you pick that one breed and have you switched breeds?

I picked Dexters after practicing on some commercial cattle for awhile. I liked Dexters ever since working with them when I worked for a large animal vet. It was always nice going to the client that owned those little Dexters. Gave me a great impression of the breed.
 
Climate mostly.

I want heavy calves and cows that can produce enough milk for their calves in 110 degree heat. We've seen temps over 107 twice already this year and it has been a mild summer. Once you have your herd established, you can run a market bull over them and do fine even if he is a cold climate animal. Brahma crosses, Beefmaster, brangus, gerts and practically any bos indicus influenced breed does fine here. Right now I am running brangus bulls because I am trying to expand. The public has been hoodwinked so brangus sell well. Eared heifers and replacement cows bring top dollar around here. You take a bit of a hit on eared steers but they weigh significantly more at weaning time.
 
When I was a young lad and in 4-H, I bought my first Gelbvieh cow/calf pair. My brother had bought a Geblvieh heifer for his 4-H project, and I guess I just followed suit. Alot has changed since I bought that cow in 1988! Gelbvieh had calving problems, and most were blond/light red, but brought milk, muscling, motherability to the table. I have since crossed most of my cattle to be 25-75% Gelbvieh and 25-75% Angus. I like the Gelbiveh/Angus cross to make balancers. The Gelbvieh breed has made great strides in reducing calving difficulties. They balancers make heavy muscled calves that have the carcass traits to hit the grid, and heavy milking, fertile females to put back in the herd. I do have a few purebred Gelbviehs as I try to market a few purebred bulls.
 
what made me pick the breed i raise now.got a good friend that raises beefmasters.an talked a friend of mine into coming to look at some beefmaster bulls that was for sale.so we went an looked at the bulls.an my friend bought 2 bulls.i was hooked on beefmasters after i saw how gentle they was.then i went an bought a beefmaster bull.then a year after that i bought 4 pairs an bred cows.
 
I wanted something different rather than the run of the mill Limmousins, Angus or Herefords that are here in the area. Scottish Highland Cattle are certainly that.They shed their long coats through the Spring & Summer months & they maintain condition where a lot of other breeds will lose body condition. Highlanders are also easy calvers rarely needing any help & even with their massive horns they are a very gentle breed. Nothing will send you back in time like watching a herd of highlands walk up through a thick fog to meet you.
 
We were dairying (shipping cream - about 20 Holstein cows) back in '91 when I was 6. We also had a mix of different breeds in the beef herd (about 30 cows) from Hereford, Charolais, Simmental, Holstein and Shorthorns. I was sick of helping with farming without having an animal of my own to work for. So Sept 21/91, Dad bought a registered Hereford heifer calf for me for $700 at the local consignment Hereford sale. Since then, the dairy cows are gone, all the other beef breeds got watered down or culled and been going straightbred and purebred Hereford for the last 13 years. They are not a flashy breed and it's hard work to promote them, but for our management philosophy, they are the only breed that can do well by roughing it and still turn a profit for us. :cowboy:
 
Squaremeaters. Being an all-Australian beef breed (based on the original Murray Grey genetics) appealed tremendously. In addition, they provide low birth weights, easy calving, are good doers, jave quiet temperaments and chunky butts (gotta love rumps!).

These claims have been made by a number of other breeds but Squaremeaters have impressed us and continue to impress today.
 
Saw a Brangus cow, liked her, got interested..

Did my research, liked how the Brangus faired in my area of Texas..black and eared... :D Their ability to last through our 100+ degree summers..hardy cattle.

Personal note...They are just NEAT cattle..they know they are high class when you look at them..
 
Little Cow":2t6qg5qc said:
Was it what your family raised? Or, because of the region you live in? Maybe what was going for a good price? What made you pick that one breed and have you switched breeds?

I picked Dexters after practicing on some commercial cattle for awhile. I liked Dexters ever since working with them when I worked for a large animal vet. It was always nice going to the client that owned those little Dexters. Gave me a great impression of the breed.

My Dad always used an Angus bull, but the breed selection was pretty limited back then. When we started looking for a bull to breed to our heifers, we discovered EPDs. Back then we had to do some searching to find an Angus bull with EPDs. We thought he was awfully expensive, so we bought a registered cow with a bull calf at side and were going to raise our next herd sire. It didn't take long to realize that wasn't as simple as we thought. :lol: We bought more cows, another Angus bull and a Char bull. When cattle prices fell, we sold off the commercial cows and got strictly into the registered Angus business. Black was not beautiful back then and it's been a lot of fun to watch acceptance and demand of the Angus breed grow over the years. We've been raising them for about 20 years now and I don't see changing breeds at this point.
 
alway liked the brahman and bra. cross ropin' calves. when i was a youngun. they were tough and had a attitude,smart as a whip,when you roped one you better be there when it got up.are you would be the one tied up :p so i started with 8 reg. brahman heifers and grew from there. now im going brangus
 
As a kid my uncles rasied Herefords and then one day my dad had this crazy colored cow that I just loved. well as time went on I would always go to the fence and hand feed this gray and white big eared cow turns out it was a Brahman cross.
One day we went to the livestock show saw these cows with big doom heads big ears and speckled colored they were Gry cattle. I fell in love with them.
We had grey brahman bull there after and since then my love has been with Brahman and any cross that has them mixed in. Love their personality, love almost everything about them.
 
My son got interested in showing with FFA/4H. Watched, learned, and listened. Saw that the beefmaster breed didn't have all the grooming because it is short-haired. Didn't have all the foo-fooing to do. Made showing SO much more enjoyable. When you get to know the breed-they are really wonderful animals. Mostly calm and easy-going. Glad he made that choice. :D
 
My Fiance painted a dump truck for a local farmer in exchange for a simmental heifer calf last year. We got the calf for a companion for my rocky mountain gelding. We were hooked. We then got a red angus heifer calf (my fiance always wanted one), then another simmental, then we went to see beefalo. We bought 2 steers, and watched them outgrow our simmentals, so as we have 2 simmentals, who i love because of there gentleness and great milk, we are getting 2 beefalo heifer calfs in the fall, and we will be breeding our simmentals to the beefalo bull also.
 
Started with Brahmans in 1971. Needed Bos Indicus over the eye cancer ridden Poll Herefords in the warmer country that I grew up in.Stuck with them ever since. Got my South Devons in 1989 after admiring them for their growth and temperament for about ten years before that.Stuck with them since,not much money in them for registered breeders but allright for the commercial side of things. Got back into the Hereford (horned ones) when I remarried a lady that had Herefords. Now we cross Brahman and South Devon over them as well as maintaining a straight Hereford line. A mix of British and Bos Indicus works well at our place. Gives us lots of options.
 
We've had Brangus, Beefmaster, Limousin, Shorthorn, and Santa Gertrudis cattle. We currently have Santas, Limousin, Shorthorn, and now Durham Red cattle and 1 Beefmaster in our herd with Santas being the bulk of our herd (the other breeds are mainly left overs or the progeny of the breeds that haven't been culled and are used in our Star 5 program with Santa bulls).

We have basically chosen Santas b/c they were the ones that weren't eliminated by culling or lack of consistency. Of course we have culled Santas too but they have been the breed with which we are most pleased.
 
Herefords for more reasons than I have time to give this morning, but the top several: 1; Grandpa had them and I witnessed the disposition differences for myself, especially after uncle brought in bulls of other breeds. 2; They do more things well IMO than any other breed. 3; They taste best IMO (and in taste tests) 4; I just always have liked them, from the color to temperament to beef quality.

I've got reasonably moderate framed cows that raise good stout calves on much less than ideal forage without being pampered, and that works for me.
 
We have primarily Angus with a slight Limousin mix. We have this mix because this is what my grandparents had.
 

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