Lesser discussed breeds

[Anonymous]

Another thread got me to thinking,
What are some of the lesser talked about breeds and their benefits/advantages/negatives
One that comes to mind is the pinzgauer. There's a fella around here that sells them
Another is the Murray's. I don't know much about them
What other lesser known breeds that don't get much talk and what about them has been your experience

 

[houstoncutter]

The Pinz's are a great breed, but you would get creamed at the sale barn when you sold em. Sorta like Shorthorns. Think those breeds would work in the north where spotting doesn't hurt you as bad

 

[Taurus]

My old neighbor had pinz cattle in the past, they were very docile cattle and weaned heavy calves. And that was last time I saw pinz cattle about 10 years ago.
Old fashioned Simmentals were great cattle, my late grandpa had them in past but now they are getting uncommon these days.
My friend had a beefalo and a cattalo (1/2 longhorn, 1/2 bison)...funny thing is that his cattalo was born polled and still polled despite of the parents have horns. His beefalo cow were a little too big...practically biggest cow in his herd.
Once hauled a customer's saler cattle, they were a little too wild.
Once hauled a customer's Normande cattle, they were easy cattle to work with.

For some strange reason I never seen Aryshire cattle around here, what's the issue with them? I seen more Dutch Belted cattle than Aryshire.....

Romangnola, Maine Anjou, Devon and Welsh Black cattle were almost never mentioned so I don't know what is the issue with them.
I do know the issues with Chianina cattle through.

 

[cow pollinater]

I have a few Salers. They are fantastic cattle as long as you don't mind them being meaner than snot. I'd add them in big time if I could find some that didn't hate me so much as they REALLY do a good job of getting out and using my pasture and they raise a nice calf, but the crazy seems to last into future generations.
I tried to keep a heifer out of one of the more docile saler cows and a horned herford bull thinking that the hereford would slow her down some... It did, instead of flying out of the back of the pasture and kicking my a$$, she'd stroll up slowly and get really close and then do it and be nice and calm about it the whole time. It even confused the dogs, they'd let her walk right up.

 

[Beefy]

ive always liked blonde d'aquitaine cattle.

pinzgauer, shorthorn, and galloways are all good cattle.

Charbray cows make some danm good mammys.

 

[brihop]

I've wondered why Senepol has seemed to have fallen out of favor. It seems like they would be great to cross with Continentals to moderate frame size and add heat tolerance. However, it seems like their popularity has waned in the past few years.

 

[andybob]

There are a lot of Pinzgaur in the district where the in laws ranched in Namibia, they do really well under the dry conditions with quality grass, cope better with the heat than most Continentals but there is no dock on colour over there.
Both North Devon and Sussex are good grass finishers and cope well with heat, the Sussex being the best heat tolerant British breed, with good walking ability.
The Senepol does seem to be increasing slowly in popularity, the Mashona has attracted more interest recently, possibly at the expense of the composite Senepol, Bonsmara have a higher demand than supply at present, with Tuli also more in demand than supply.

 

[ABrauny]

I don't doubt that Pinzgauers make good cattle but for some reason the ones I have seen, at the WI State Fair, World Beef Expo, and our state's farm technology days were not as deep or easy fleshing as the Angus and Herefords, and not as muscular as the Limousin and Simmental. I take it my state just has poor Pinzgauers. Don't kill me I haven't seen them all though. :hide:

 

[UG]

There are a lot of Pinzgaur in the district where the in laws ranched in Namibia, they do really well under the dry conditions with quality grass, cope better with the heat than most Continentals but there is no dock on colour over there.
Both North Devon and Sussex are good grass finishers and cope well with heat, the Sussex being the best heat tolerant British breed, with good walking ability.
The Senepol does seem to be increasing slowly in popularity, the Mashona has attracted more interest recently, possibly at the expense of the composite Senepol, Bonsmara have a higher demand than supply at present, with Tuli also more in demand than supply.

From the late 60's on dozens of new breeds were introduced into North America. Most didn't catch on and consequently have either disappeared from the North America landscape, or have become more of a hobby or niche breed. However, I find it interesting why some breeds weren't introduced into North America during te past 40+ years, or of they did why I haven't heard about them here. A couple examples are North Devon and Sussex, breeds that andybob mentioned in his post. Though I am somewhat familiar with the breeds from various books, websites, etc., I don't recall anyone in the States or Canada promoting these two breeds.

Does anyone have an idea on why these breeds, and possibly others, weren't brought to North America?

 

[Lucky_P]

Had several clients, back in the '80s, who had Pinzgauer cattle, and I had a few commercial cows that were 1/4-1/2 PZ - good cows, raised good calves; don't think I have any left that are descendents of those old skunk-tailed cows.
Would like to use some PZ sires again - they bring a lot to the table - but with all the Longhorn and LH-cross cattle that have moved into this area over the past few years, I'd get my backside handed to me as buyers would 'steal' 'em, claiming that they were Longhorn-cross calves. I like 'em a lot, but won't take the hit for the white tail/finching deal.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Some of the reason you don"t see some of the minor breeds is they are relitively new to N.America, and one of the other things is that the breed organization sometimes doesn"t have lots of promotion dollars available, and sometimes whoever is in charge of promotion doesn't have a good promotion "spin" if you will, to sell the breed properly to potential buyers.
That, and some of the older cattlemen /women don"t want to try something new, partly out of tradition, and also the fact they don"t want to loose $$$ if the sale prices on the new critters isn't good and it takes a year or so to get an upcoming calf crop to see how well they are going to do. Also, there is a limited amount of breeding stock if the numbers are low, and often the initial prices for a few young cows of "exotic" breeds are often fairly high because of the low numbers.
I am sure there are other reasons, but this is some of the reasons that I have heard about and seen.
Nite Hawk

 

[chippie]

I like Braunvieh cattle. We have 2.

 

[BMCC]

Poor ole Pinz bull.

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[Dave]

Of course individuals don't match up with generalities but there are reasons that certain breeds don't take off. I know I asked a buyer one time why Pinz sell for so much lower. He said they don't have enough heart. In the feedlot they die at a higher rate. Is that true about all Pinz? Certainly not. But when you feed thousands of cattle trends are noted and the price adjusted accordingly. I have seen Salers that are calm easy to handle cattle and I have seen ones that teach the elk how to run and jump. And one that will come look me up in the pasture is not my idea of a good time. Then there are breeds that fit certain environments but not others. I like a cow with some Galloway in her but she wouldn't fit in the south. And there are lots of cows in the south with some ear on them that just don't work here.

 

[cowski]

chianina seemed like a good terminal cross to me.i saw one for the first time in the late 70's.they never seemed to catch on.

 

[Taurus]

 

[Taurus]

Personally I believe these minor breeds has lot of things to offer for the ranchers than the "hobby" breeds..like highlanders, longhorns, watusi, dexters etc. I am still amazed that there are plenty of these hobby cattle around than the minor breeds.

 

[UG]

Taurus,

Nice looking Pinz bull!

 

[Taurus]

Taurus,

Nice looking Pinz bull!

It's not mine, I was just fixed BMCC's picture but I agreed with you it is nice bull!

 

[andybob]

Here is a link to a Canadian Sussex herd; http://www.clranches.com/sussex.htm
There is a large herd in Wyoming which a contact of mine has bought stock from, I could obtain the address if wanted. I think many breeds have just been displaced due to better marketing by the breeds more in demand now, the African breeds other than the Afrikana which was imported in the 1940's I believe for some breeding trials, were not imported for political reasons, untill after 1980.