The Bachelor":1huqercr said:
Thanks for the info everyone. Bill, I may be tring to get with you on them longhorn groups. I think you said in past posts one tended to cater to more of a full bodied breed?? (uhh-ohhh, I think I hear a rattling in the wind.......)
Just go with the Longhorns. They'll eat anything a goat will except maybe a tin can.
if you saw my pastures after the last couple of years here.... that would be a Godsend!!
Our longhorns have done a great job of keeping our weeds under control. They seem to like the new growth of the "russian thistle" (sagebrush/broomweed) as well as some of other stuff. They keep our fence rows nice and clean. Also eat leaves as high as they can reach on our FEW mature trees around here...we don't have to prune the lower growth...lol.
Longhorns (the breed) tend to range between the "original natural" type that are lean and lanky to those bred for "full body beef types". Horn length can accompany any body style with proper mating strategies. You can see some of our "full bodied" longhorns on our website that are in the 1000 to 1200# range (we have couple mature cows in the 1200-1400# range). If our calves don't gain an average of 1.5# day up to weaning/yearling stage, they hit the road. Some of our calves have gained between 2 and 2.5# day average...even had one that was nearly 3.0 # WDA. This is all on native bermuda pasture, and year around hay (bermuda, alfalfa, wheat hay, alfalfa/orchardgrass, depending on what's available with the minimum 10% CP we require) We also keep quality mineral tubs out since we do intensive rotational grazing with too many cattle for our small acreage. Ours have even dug up some Yucca plants (either curious, playing with horns, or hoping to find something "good" to eat). We don't have any cacti here...thank God!
We do have a few volunteer Goard plants/vines; however, I keep those cut off at ground level since don't want any seeds accidentally eaten and re-planted elsewhere via manure...so far, cattle haven't tried to eat any of them.
Even though Longhorns tend to be naturally resistant to a variety of "common" diseases and illness and VERY rarely require medications for anything (perhaps less than 1% of time or animal) , they do need a regular de-worming program (as other breeds should too). Horn flies can be a seasonal problem; however, spraying them with Permectrin fly spray works for us. We also use the "Mosquito Bits" (Summit Chemical) in water tanks during mosquito season; and, the blue "Aquashade" colorant in the tanks to slow down algae growth.
The secret, IMO, is to have breeding stock that has good genetics, production records, nutrition, and excellent temperaments. Nature has taken care of the rest over the past 500 years or so in the USA.
