New bull

[cowgirl8]

A neighbor listed a 18 mo old Hereford bull for sale.. They just have a few reg ones and they left this one calf a bull.. Price was ok, planned on seeing if they'd trade for heifers. But i went back and read her description and said he was 'dehorned' OH lort... aint goin in that direction...lol.. We have a few scurs, but dehorning is a thing of the past, like, 20 years in the past.
So, no horned hereford bull for us.... just sayin

 

[Dsth]

I agree with the dehorning comment. I bought semen from a polled Hereford bull, but every calf had horns that needed dehorning. just added stress and extra fly control.

 

[simme]

Yeah. Dehorning is not for the faint of heart or weak stomach. Better to do them young before there is much size to them. But like everything on the farm, seemed to always be behind and had some that should have been done earlier. Always be sure to get enough margin so that all the horn tissue is taken away. Be prepared with hemostats to pull the bleeders/squirters. I don't like to hear that crunch sound. I agree, should be a thing of the past. Too many other options. It has been many years since we have had a horned calf. The angus people can all suggest the best way to dehorn.

Some people say the best Herefords are the horned ones.

 

[cowgirl8]

Yeah, ive been told horned are better... Dehorning is the one thing i cant stay in the same room in at the vet.. I have to excuse myself. I just dont like the sound. We use to have sims back in the 80s and they had horns.. small, but they had them. One of my kids show heifers was out of a simbra bull we had and she had to be dehorned. She got the name Maggie...lol... was uber gross.. Doing anything with eyes is another.. watching the vet dig his finger around in a eye socket is just, just too much...

 

[MurraysMutts]

My herf is scurred.
Some would say hes not a real Hereford.

The only true reason people dont want horns, is the dock on sale day.

I like the look of a nice horned hereford myself.
My charolais still has his.
My young hereford had his.
Meh... what evs.

I did have a black heifer dehorned. She was just too dang aggressive with em. Doesnt bother me to watch or do the dehorning.
The vet had a really kool electric one.
Has a grinder/cutoff wheel on it. I'll look for a couple pics. Was really neat. Cow looks much better now. Calmer too. Still antsy. But not a boss beeotch anymore. Due to calve any day

Found em!

 

[Rafter S]

I don't mind the horns on a Hereford bull, since I get polled calves from my Brangus cows. Someone above mentioned the perception that horned Herefords are better cattle reminded me of a saying I heard decades ago. "When they bred the horns off they bred the azz off too."

 

[Ky hills]

Lots of folks used to say that horned bulls were the best in both Charolais and Herefords. It was probably true early on when folks started an emphasis on breeding for polled animals. After this long of it though I’m pretty confident there are quite a few good polled Hereford bulls available. It’s like everything else there is a range of good and not so good. I may not make the purists happy with this statement but horned cattle are increasingly harder to sell, and even though I’ve done my share of dehorning, it’s no doubt hard in the calves and sets them back. It takes more time to work them when dehorning is done, and it’s just much easier to run polled bulls.

 

[cowgirl8]

I dont like the look of a dehorned calf... Their big head makes their body disproportionate. We have a bull from our red line that has scurs and for the first 2 years of his life we called him Frankenstein because his head was squared off on top.. His head looked too big for his body. Now that his body has finally filled out, his scurs are not noticeable, stayed small buds.. He will throw a bud scur calf, but nothing that has to be dehorned..

 

[Silver]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

 

[cowgirl8]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

We never get our calves up as newborn.. it would be hard for us to paste them.
A neighbor is getting in on the solar farm and he's going to sell his longhorns. He has this one that i guarantee has a span of 6 ft... wished it were a steer, but its an older cow..

 

[elkwc]

We use 2 horned Hereford bulls. Our cows are mainly Angus so most calves are polled. A few of our cows aren't pure Angus so get a few with horns. There are several options for removal. Very little if any setback with some of them. Paste is an option, I have an electrical circle iron with 2 sizes. You slide it over the horn and burn the base same as branding and they fall off. For larger horns you can apply a Callicrate around the base and they will fall off. Using a polled bull doesn't guarantee a polled calf unless he is homozygous polled. We used a polled bull last year. He only sired 5 calves as he was evidently lazy. He also had an genetic defect he passed on to his progeny. Around here finding a quality polled bull is hard and when you do he will be priced a lot higher than a similar horned bull. The market around here is for horned bulls. Until the polled breeders can off a quality, homozygous polled bull with no defects the horned cattle will remain the preferred choice. No advantage using a hetero bull.

 

[simme]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

Never used the paste. But, I have heard that the paste can get on the cow's udder and burn them. And that rain can burn the calf's face after running over the paste. Are either of those accurate?

I used the barnes type scoop dehorners on calves up to 4-5 months depending on horn size and the OB wire on larger animals. The barnes type do a clean removal if you position them to take some skin and get under the horn. OB wire is quick and somewhat cauterizes, but leaves a stub.

 

[cowgirl8]

We use 2 horned Hereford bulls. Our cows are mainly Angus so most calves are polled. A few of our cows aren't pure Angus so get a few with horns. There are several options for removal. Very little if any setback with some of them. Paste is an option, I have an electrical circle iron with 2 sizes. You slide it over the horn and burn the base same as branding and they fall off. For larger horns you can apply a Callicrate around the base and they will fall off. Using a polled bull doesn't guarantee a polled calf unless he is homozygous polled. We used a polled bull last year. He only sired 5 calves as he was evidently lazy. He also had an genetic defect he passed on to his progeny. Around here finding a quality polled bull is hard and when you do he will be priced a lot higher than a similar horned bull. The market around here is for horned bulls. Until the polled breeders can off a quality, homozygous polled bull with no defects the horned cattle will remain the preferred choice. No advantage using a hetero bull.

What defect did he pass on?

 

[Nesikep]

It's anectodal at this point, but my horned and probably hetero-polled heifers do seem to have a better build than the ones that are probably homo-polled.

 

[Silver]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

Never used the paste. But, I have heard that the paste can get on the cow's udder and burn them. And that rain can burn the calf's face after running over the paste. Are either of those accurate?

I used the barnes type scoop dehorners on calves up to 4-5 months depending on horn size and the OB wire on larger animals. The barnes type do a clean removal if you position them to take some skin and get under the horn. OB wire is quick and somewhat cauterizes, but leaves a stub.

Never seen or heard of a cows udder getting burned by it, or the rain scenario either. I suppose if one got carried away putting it on anything is possible.
As for the OB wire, I take the horn below the hair and at an angle so as to not end up with a square topped head. You'd have to looks close to tell if they are polled or not when I get it right.

 

[Silver]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

We never get our calves up as newborn.. it would be hard for us to paste them.
A neighbor is getting in on the solar farm and he's going to sell his longhorns. He has this one that i guarantee has a span of 6 ft... wished it were a steer, but its an older cow..

I don't understand what you mean by never getting your calves up as newborn.

 

[Buck Randall]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

Never used the paste. But, I have heard that the paste can get on the cow's udder and burn them. And that rain can burn the calf's face after running over the paste. Are either of those accurate?

I don't know anyone that's used paste on calves nursing cows, but I've seen dairy calves blinded by it after rain made it run into their eyes. I've also seen a couple bleed to death after it burned into a large blood vessel.

Horns are hard to find on beef cattle in the upper midwest, and I'm grateful for that.

 

[Silver]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

Never used the paste. But, I have heard that the paste can get on the cow's udder and burn them. And that rain can burn the calf's face after running over the paste. Are either of those accurate?

I don't know anyone that's used paste on calves nursing cows, but I've seen dairy calves blinded by it after rain made it run into their eyes. I've also seen a couple bleed to death after it burned into a large blood vessel.

Horns are hard to find on beef cattle in the upper midwest, and I'm grateful for that.

Well just a STO here but never had a problem. But like I said above, if you're getting carried away with the amount you put on I would think you are asking for trouble. Sure wouldn't make polled vs. horned a cornerstone of my breeding program. Thankful that there are plenty of like minded producers in the north.

 

[cowgirl8]

Paste them as newborns, OB wire the ones missed at 1 yr or burn them off at branding if you brand calves. I would never choose a bull based on if he was horned or not, but if I were trying to decide between two bulls that were equal in every other aspect I would take the polled.

We never get our calves up as newborn.. it would be hard for us to paste them.
A neighbor is getting in on the solar farm and he's going to sell his longhorns. He has this one that i guarantee has a span of 6 ft... wished it were a steer, but its an older cow..

I don't understand what you mean by never getting your calves up as newborn.

We band castrate when the calves are around 4 mo....Our cows stay out with their calves till that time. The calves dont see a corral until that time. SO, working a newborn would have to be done in the pasture and I'm not going to do that..

 

[Silver]

We never get our calves up as newborn.. it would be hard for us to paste them.
A neighbor is getting in on the solar farm and he's going to sell his longhorns. He has this one that i guarantee has a span of 6 ft... wished it were a steer, but its an older cow..

I don't understand what you mean by never getting your calves up as newborn.

We band castrate when the calves are around 4 mo....Our cows stay out with their calves till that time. The calves dont see a corral until that time. SO, working a newborn would have to be done in the pasture and I'm not going to do that..

Fair enough. If you aren't comfortable working with them as newborns then you probably shouldn't.