In For A Penny, In For a Pound

[ETF]

Well I've made the leap and bought some cows. After spending a lot of time reading on this board and elsewhere, I decided on registered Texas Longhorns. Figured two or three bred cows would be a reasonable number to start with - kind of ease into things. Went to see the breeder and got a package deal I could not turn down. More money than I could really afford to spend but it was for six cows - four with calves at their side and bred back, two in their third trimester - plus delivery plus loan of a bull for the summer to breed back the other two and do any cleanup on the four. :shock: They're going to be delivered next week. Be gentle when I start asking for help!! Here's one of the girls - the wife's favorite - assuming I can make this work:

 

[TheBullLady]

Congradulations! Now you can be miserable and whiny like the rest of us! :lol:

Seriously.. have you figured out a business plan? What you're market is going to be? Is there a good market in Florida for Longhorns?

 

[arkcowman]

Welcome aboard. Keep us posted on how things are going.
Are there any local T/Longhorn breeders that can help you ?

 

[ETF]

I already have a couple of people interested in freezer beef and hopefully the calves will have enough horn to take to some of the registered sales in Texas. The initial plan is to stick with the lean, grass fed approach - mostly because I need them to clear out the back 40. ;-)

I have been talking to a retired gentleman with a small herd about 15 minutes from me. He introduced me to the breeder, who's located a little over an hour away. Both have been very accomodating and I've volunteered to help them work cows in order to learn. I've also offered to let the gentleman put some of his cows on my place. Hopefully he'll take me up on it.

 

[ETF]

Here's another photo - the breeder says she's the best cow in the package.

 

[Rustler9]

What's the breeding on those two?

 

[suscofa]

The first looks like a British white x longhorn

 

[Rustler9]

The firstone looks WR to me and the second one looks to have some Butler blood. Just wondering what their pedigrees are?

 

[ETF]

I haven't gotten their papers yet - they will be delivered with the cows. I looked through the registrations at the farm, but I'm too new to longhorns for the pedigrees to mean much. The blue (first) cow's registered name is Wiregrass Arbitrage and she traces back to Don Quixote a couple of generations back. Don't remember the white cow's name. One of the other cows is a daughter of Superbowl. The breeder was a TLBAA director for nine years, so there shouldn't be any cross breeds in the bunch. I'll follow up next week when the cows and papers arrive.

Rustler - a stupid newbie question for you. How do I determine which family a cow is from? The registration paper for the blue cow listed about a five generation pedigree but I think it was just the names of the bulls and cows. I don't recall seeing a designation to one of the 7 families under any of the names. Is there an on-line database like the quarter horse association has?

 

[Rustler9]

ETF,
You just have to familiarize yourself with the families as you go. The only line that has kept up good records that you can view online is the Butler line. Your cattle are more than likely a blend of several of the families.

It's funny that you mentioned Wiregrass. That's Joe Graddy in Cottonwood, AL. He is a former director and has bred these cattle for 25-30 years. He is a good friend of mine. He used to own Gunsmoke who is now owned by Larry Stewart in Texas. We have a Gunsmoke son, Wiregrass Clipper who is throwing out some fine, loud colored, big horned animals for us. I also have a son of his Wiregrass Phenomenon bull, who is of course out of Phenomenon (Superior x Doherty 698). This Phenomenon son of his puts out some of the most feminine, large horned heifers that I've seen. I took one of my cows down and bred to his Phenomenon bull about four years ago and wound up with my bull from this mating. This is the first year that I've put him on a big set of heifers to see what I'll get next spring.

When I saw the photo of the white cow of yours I immediately thought that she was out of his stock, probably Gunsmoke. He has bred his cattle for horn and has done very well with them. His cattle sell pretty high in registered sales. Let me know when you get your papers back, I'll be glad to chat with you and help you with figuring out some of the blood lines if I can. Good to have a nother potential breeder on board, come up and visit us in Tennessee when you get a chance.

 

[Rustler9]

ETF,
I probably didn't really answer your question; the registration certificate doesn't list the actual family that the animal is made up of. As you get more into these you'll probably start to recognize certain families from the animals names listed. For example; I thought that the first cow looked like WR breeding (Wichita Refuge) and then you mentioned Don Quixote which is WR breeding. I'm not sure what your goal with these cattle is but WR and Butler breeding is a recipe for horn which in this breed sells. And yes, for the naysayers out there, this breed has many other qualities besides just having a pretty set of horns, the easy calving, low maintenance and lean beef just all add up to a good functional animal so don't let folks rag you about them not being black and polled.

 

[ETF]

Rustler - Joe Gaddy is the breeder that sold us all six of these cows. The missus tells me that the names of three of the other cows are Wiregrass Ritter, Wiregrass Queen, and Wiregrass Cannonball. She remembers seeing Phenomenon and Superior in the pedigrees of all three and confirmed that Wiregrass Arbitage traced back to Don Quixote and Classic. Joe seems like a terrific guy and I hope to learn a lot from him. He said that he took Saturday's Grand Champion and Reserve Champion in Huntsville last week. We're just excited to get some of his culls.

 

[Rustler9]

I immediately thought that you either got them form Joe or from someone else who had some of Joe's breeding when I saw the second picture. Plus the fact that you're in North Florida and he's just over the southern Alabama line. Good luck with them, he'll do you right.

 

[DrumRunner728]

Rustler, I checked out your web site. You've got some pretty gorgeous Longhorns yourself!

 

[Rustler9]

Thanks, we have over a hundred more that aren't on the site. There's no way to put them all on there. I'm in the process of putting some new photos on there now.

 

[DrumRunner728]

Let me know when they're posted - I'd love to see them.

And you are right about Joe Graddy - he's a delightful gentleman.

 

[ETF]

Just to clarify, DrumRunner is my better half.