Way of the Cross Farm
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Hi,
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA
KBell":9rqufc5j said:Hi,
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA
KNERSIE":m45adxji said:I see merit in the idea, but the practise got out of hand. I have no problem with anyone breeding smaller than my ideal hereford, but the goal must still be to achieve a genetically stabile, functional animal. If the miniature breeders have decided we need frame 1 animals or even frame 0 for instance I could have lived with that, but now they brag about frame 0000 animals when its clear to anyone with any breeding experience they have achieved that by breeding runts to runts.
What they are doing now isn't new, that is the exact method that was employed in the '40-'60s to go from functional to belt buckle high animals with no milk and no growth.
KBell":126rrzok said:Hi,
What are your opinions of the Miniature Hereford breed? Thanks for your time, Kim from GA
Australian":39ra02g2 said:I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?
KNERSIE":ltd01yn1 said:Australian":ltd01yn1 said:I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?
Please explain how the darker colour would make them supposedly better?
Glenvale":4q87fh79 said:KNERSIE":4q87fh79 said:Australian":4q87fh79 said:I have no problem with persons breeding smaller type cattle. Just wondering why most miniature Herefords that I have seen pictures of are very light coloured. Is that the usual colour or haven't I seen any good ones?
Please explain how the darker colour would make them supposedly better?
Better in this case is just a regional preference- a dark colour has always been much preferred in the Australian market. The folklore is that a lighter colour indicates an animal with a poor constitution which isn't taking up minerals and nutrients properly.
With the emphasis on folklore.
A rough or coarse coat texture is also said to indicate the same so people prefer as sleek and shiny a coat as possible.
That is a fact, Bonsma has done alot of work on the negative correlation between the felting quality of the hair and the adaptability of the animal especially in warmer climates.
It's made introducing many North American genetics much more difficult due to the opposing market preference here. Given that many of the early North American bulls to have come in during the 80's and 90's with associated coarse, yellow hair were also much too tall, shallow and hard doing for our typical environments so it may have further hardened the prejudice.
Agreed on every point Knersie- from what I've seen, folklore indeed. We've also had better results bringing a dose of outside blood in through sons out of our very best (and environmentally adapted) cows than using the outside blood directly. Of the 9 paddock sires we will use this season, 8 were bred this way.KNERSIE":lkd9j0ec said:Introducing foreign genetics seldom have the desired effect in the F1 population, but when the F1 is bred back to the original local genepool it typically have much better results.
In my experience the rough coarse coats you talk about is much more prevalent in darker coated herefords than it is in the lighter shades of red. That being said in the registered business here darker cherry reds are certainly more popular than lighter shades of red, but it is simply a matter ofpersonal preference and showring presence and has no bearing on the inherent quality of the animal
Brandonm22":2v8ey2ia said:There IS a market here for the person with the deep pockets and the ability too create it. A mini-herf steer ought too finish out at ~800 lbs liveweight. At 63% dressing weight - ~50 lbs of bone waste cut into two sides yields 227 lbs of product. At $2.50 a lb that is a very affordable $567.5 for a side of beef small enough that in boxes it will fit in most home deep freezers and the bigger refrigerator freezers. I could see something like this really moving at Christmas time if there were only a way to affordably tap into the advertising of the general public (Ebay???) and have enough numbers to be able too deliver a reliable supply stream.