Is Red that much worse than black?

[rockroadseminole]

I couldn't find a similar thread, so here is the question. Do you really make less money from red cows (vs black)? In my mind you are selling lbs of beef, not area rugs. I see a lot of black cows in the shade in the summer, while reds and whites are grazing. Help me understand the thought process before I buy a bunch of redskins.

 

[dun]

In some markets blacks will sell to the feeders for a little more then reds. But around here, quality red calves will bring the same as quality black calves. Just depends on the buyer pool you are selling to.

 

[Muddy]

I couldn't find a similar thread, so here is the question. Do you really make less money from red cows (vs black)? In my mind you are selling lbs of beef, not area rugs. I see a lot of black cows in the shade in the summer, while reds and whites are grazing. Help me understand the thought process before I buy a bunch of redskins.

Had white shorthorns before and they spent more time in water than the blacks. Blacks will always topping the sales more than any colors....but red cows/heifers bring more $$ in some areas. Some days, red calves bring more $$$ but most times its black calves. This happened in same sale barns.

 

[ez14]

You could buy red cows and put a homo black bull on them

 

[boondocks]

I love the red angus and thought about getting a few but stuck with black because we AI and it seems there are a lot more black angus bulls to choose from than red. just my humble opinion

 

[dun]

I love the red angus and thought about getting a few but stuck with black because we AI and it seems there are a lot more black angus bulls to choose from than red. just my humble opinion

You're right about there being more black angus bulls. But I have yet to find anything that a black angus bull will do for a calf crop or herd then a good Red Angus bull. All the blacks have over the reds is they are black.
Yes I'm pimping Red Angus since that's what we raise.
It's like walmart or aldis. Just because there is a bigger selection doesn;t mean that there is a "better" selection.

 

[Muddy]

Personally I think some of Red Angus are a bit small for my tastes. I've got some red Angus cows, they're super wide but not tall as my black Angus cows. They do makes excellent cross with black Angus.

 

[bball]

I couldn't find a similar thread, so here is the question. Do you really make less money from red cows (vs black)? In my mind you are selling lbs of beef, not area rugs. I see a lot of black cows in the shade in the summer, while reds and whites are grazing. Help me understand the thought process before I buy a bunch of redskins.

What really matters is where you're going to sell them. Where I'm at, anything red or that has chrome will be docked at the sale barn, period. However, different regions have different tolerances at the barns. Now, if you aren't marketing through a salebarn, color may not be such a factor. One of the biggest factors is making sure you buy cattle (no matter what the breed {within reason}) that will excel in your style of husbandry and thrive in your geographic location. Buy something that was brought up similiar to how you intend to raise them.

 

[Nesikep]

Blacks seem to be a more reliable dollar.. a dinky black calf will always get a good price, an equivalent red one.. well.. it's hit and miss.

That said, I've topped a couple sales now with the Gelbvieh/Shorthorn cross calves.. and they have no angus at all in them.

 

[Kell-inKY]

What about eye cancer and pink eye? Is that kind of an old wive's tail or is it true that Hereford are much more prone to that? My Dad told me this before buying any cattle and it sure does seem like most pics I see of eye cancer are Hereford, plus I hear of a lot of pink eye problems in my area with a few people saying they no longer raise anything but black Angus due to it? Just curious.

I passed up buying a few awesome Red Angus my uncle had, I may still go get a few, they were certainly every bit as good looking as his black, my wife seems to think we would have a harder time marketing them as freezer beef (that black angus marketing thing must be working, at least on her).

 

[Caustic Burno]

What about eye cancer and pink eye? Is that kind of an old wive's tail or is it true that Hereford are much more prone to that? My Dad told me this before buying any cattle and it sure does seem like most pics I see of eye cancer are Hereford, plus I hear of a lot of pink eye problems in my area with a few people saying they no longer raise anything but black Angus due to it? Just curious.

I passed up buying a few awesome Red Angus my uncle had, I may still go get a few, they were certainly every bit as good looking as his black, my wife seems to think we would have a harder time marketing them as freezer beef (that black angus marketing thing must be working, at least on her).

I have seen eye cancer in any color and actually seen more pink eye in black cattle out of Mo.
Than any other place.
During the drought they were shipping the cattle down here for sale. The majority of those cattle we're black.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

I agree with every one else that you have to watch the sales in your area to see what the buyers want. Around here a red or smokey calf will bring .10 to .15 less than a black calf at the sale barn. My favorite calves are the char. Angus crosses, but I raise mostly angus because they bring the most $.

 

[Muddy]

If I were you, I'd go to the sale barns and watch the sale or read the sale barn results to compare the prices of reds/other colors to the price of blacks/bwf.

 

[M.Magis]

It's important to note that the quality of the animal may have as much or more to do with the price than the color may. It can get confusing (for me at least) while watching a sale, trying to figure out a pattern. Sometimes it's obvious why an animal or group is lower than the rest, but a lot of times I just don't know what to look for to see it. It's obvious here that reds sell cheaper than blacks, but I wouldn't be able to say exactly how much cheaper because they vary so much. Of course, there aren't many red herds around here, and even fewer good quality red herds.

 

[Son of Butch]

If I were you, I'd go to the sale barns and watch the sale or read the sale barn results to compare the prices of reds/other colors to the price of blacks/bwf.

You can watch sale barn livestock auctions online. Not the same as being there, but a time and travel saver.
Drawback to reading sale barn reports, many cherry pick representative results to give impression they are the best in area.
Cattle USA is national and may cover your (unmentioned) location.
There are several more sites broadcasting live cattle auctions.
Perhaps others could add additional links of their favorites for their/your location.
http://www.cattleusa.com/index.php

 

[Muddy]

If I were you, I'd go to the sale barns and watch the sale or read the sale barn results to compare the prices of reds/other colors to the price of blacks/bwf.

You can watch sale barn livestock auctions online. Not the same as being there, but a time and travel saver.
Drawback to reading sale barn reports, many cherry pick representative results to give impression they are the best in area.
Cattle USA is national and may cover your (unmentioned) location.
There are several more sites broadcasting live cattle auctions.
Perhaps others could add additional links of their favorites for their/your location.
http://www.cattleusa.com/index.php

It's much easier to just going to few local sale barns and be an obsever. Not all sale barns have broadcasting live cattle auctions and I won't rely on reading the sale barn results solely since you have no idea what they looks like other than the color. I'm just saying its easy to using sale barn results to just compare the prices between blacks and reds.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Depends what your selling here an F-1 will top the sale of replacements.
Feeders the black baldie will top the sales.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

The sale barn that we sell our feeders, calves are comingled with others creating a so called uniform pen near the same weight. The blacks will usually sell a nickel or a hair more than the reds and char's. I think the reds are hurt by being mixed with the grays and whites Char's :2cents: . Now every once in a while the reds will out sell the blacks. Here lately I have noticed some of that. The black pens are getting larger with more head knocking out buyers whom doesn't want that many hd. and therefore bid and compete more for the smaller pens of the reds creating more bids. Seem like every producer is raising black cattle that those pens are getting over run.
Here on the farm we try and retain or purchase the best quality we can afford. If she is red it doesn't matter she goes to the retaining heifer pen or being purchased instead of the homo black less quality female and the same goes for the bulls. My favorite bull is a Heterozygous Black Homozygous Polled Bull, therefore God makes the decision of whether it is red or black and I don't have those dang horns. I'm partial to red cattle a bit myself and have always thought our red calves outgrew their black mates.

 

[Muddy]

In my experiences, I try to not patterning on the buyers at the sale barn, just because of a particular day where the reds topping the sales, next week they brought 5-10 cents less than blacks at same barn. Same with Herefords, chars and occasionally British whites. You may never know who's at the sale barn, buying feeders.

 

[bird dog]

One thing you have is buyers who have customers for only black or black baldy animals. Farmer Fred tells the buyer, I need 100 black steers for wheat. What's he going to buy? These customers tilt the demand for black calves which drives up the price a few cents. The Angus Association has done a phenomenal job promoting their product. You see the discount more at the smaller sales. The big sale barns have more buyers with customers that will accept a good calf of any color.