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<blockquote data-quote="ETF" data-source="post: 426546" data-attributes="member: 5944"><p>It was a combination of factors that sold longhorns for me (a hobby rancher with both the wife and I working full time town jobs to support our ranch habit): </p><p></p><p>1. First and foremost, they are extremely low maintenance. As a complete newbie to the cattle business, I need all of the help I can get from the animals. Many folks refer to them as "weekend cattle" because they require so little care. Having to do a 24-hour watch to help pull calves, with the potential to lose a percentage of calves and/or cows, wasn't something I was interested in. The breeder we bought ours from has raised longhorns for 24 years and has yet to pull the first calf. They are also highly disease resistant and almost completely self sufficient. I check on mine about once a week - go down with a bucket of range cubes and they come running when I call.</p><p>2. They are efficient and effective foragers. We have 45 acres or so of pasture that was neglected for 10 years before we bought it. Longhorns will clear that out better than most anything but goats, plus I can run more per acre than most breeds if I want to scale up. </p><p>3. There is an increasing market for grass fed lean beef, at least in this area. Longhorns will get docked heavily at auction if you go that route, but that would be a last resort for me. I already have several people interested in buying freezer beef when it's available. Plus there is a lot of money to be made at the registered longhorn sales, if your cattle have enough horn. You can also sell or lease them as roper stock and you can sell the horns and hide in addition to the meat. </p><p>4. They are very docile, despite their reputation. After two days, mine would come when called and follow me around as directed. The reputable breeders cull heavily for disposition - the last thing you want is a bad attitude attached to a 6 foot set of horns. </p><p>5. They're gorgeous and have an infinite number of horn and hide color combinations. People just love to look at them. </p><p>6. I don't know if this holds true everywhere, but every single person associated with longhorns that I've talked to has been extremely nice and helpful. Everyone is someone that I would like to get to know better.</p><p></p><p>The bottom line is you need to decide what fits your individual situation. If you're a small operation near a decent sized or larger town, direct sales to health conscious foodies is a real market. If you're running a large commercial operation, you have to maximize weight gain (longhorns are slower growing), pack your trailers (doesn't work so good with lots of horns), and sell to large commercial buyers who will dock you 10% to 50%. Not such a good option for purebred longhorns. However, as already mentioned, some commercial breeders do use them as a cross to get easy births and hybrid vigor.</p><p></p><p>All I can tell you is that I've been delighted with mine. They're maintaining weight and looking good in the midst of the worst drought I can remember with nothing provided by me except a water tank and scrub pastureland. I'd encourage you to take a hard look at them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ETF, post: 426546, member: 5944"] It was a combination of factors that sold longhorns for me (a hobby rancher with both the wife and I working full time town jobs to support our ranch habit): 1. First and foremost, they are extremely low maintenance. As a complete newbie to the cattle business, I need all of the help I can get from the animals. Many folks refer to them as "weekend cattle" because they require so little care. Having to do a 24-hour watch to help pull calves, with the potential to lose a percentage of calves and/or cows, wasn't something I was interested in. The breeder we bought ours from has raised longhorns for 24 years and has yet to pull the first calf. They are also highly disease resistant and almost completely self sufficient. I check on mine about once a week - go down with a bucket of range cubes and they come running when I call. 2. They are efficient and effective foragers. We have 45 acres or so of pasture that was neglected for 10 years before we bought it. Longhorns will clear that out better than most anything but goats, plus I can run more per acre than most breeds if I want to scale up. 3. There is an increasing market for grass fed lean beef, at least in this area. Longhorns will get docked heavily at auction if you go that route, but that would be a last resort for me. I already have several people interested in buying freezer beef when it's available. Plus there is a lot of money to be made at the registered longhorn sales, if your cattle have enough horn. You can also sell or lease them as roper stock and you can sell the horns and hide in addition to the meat. 4. They are very docile, despite their reputation. After two days, mine would come when called and follow me around as directed. The reputable breeders cull heavily for disposition - the last thing you want is a bad attitude attached to a 6 foot set of horns. 5. They're gorgeous and have an infinite number of horn and hide color combinations. People just love to look at them. 6. I don't know if this holds true everywhere, but every single person associated with longhorns that I've talked to has been extremely nice and helpful. Everyone is someone that I would like to get to know better. The bottom line is you need to decide what fits your individual situation. If you're a small operation near a decent sized or larger town, direct sales to health conscious foodies is a real market. If you're running a large commercial operation, you have to maximize weight gain (longhorns are slower growing), pack your trailers (doesn't work so good with lots of horns), and sell to large commercial buyers who will dock you 10% to 50%. Not such a good option for purebred longhorns. However, as already mentioned, some commercial breeders do use them as a cross to get easy births and hybrid vigor. All I can tell you is that I've been delighted with mine. They're maintaining weight and looking good in the midst of the worst drought I can remember with nothing provided by me except a water tank and scrub pastureland. I'd encourage you to take a hard look at them. [/QUOTE]
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