Polled short horn.

[tex452]

I always liked this breed of cattle ever since I was a boy.
This one won reserve champion at our county fair.

 

[Lucky_P]

tex452,
I like them too, and we used several solid red Shorthorn sires for several years - steers were as good as any we ever produced, daughters of some were great... others - particularly those sired by some high WW/YW sires... were a bust - kinda like any other breed. IMO, they definitely have a place in a commercial crossbreeding program - but you've gotta have 'the right kind'... and in today's world, those are harder to find.
Two trusted friends who'd grown up in the Shorthorn breed cautioned me that there are 'two worlds' in the Shorthorn breed... the hairy, high-birthweight types for the showring, and commercially-oriented cattle... and there was little crossover between the two worlds.
While roans, like the one you've pictured, are great to look at, IMO, if you ran calves looking like that through any salebarn in this part of the world... you'd lose your pants.

 

[BFE]

This area used to be full of them. I've had a few myself. Got to watch for bottle tits, and though not wild, they are more stand offish in my experience.

I owned a little shorthorn cow, bought from a neighbor, who weighed 875 when I sold her. Her calves were always around 50# lighter than the biggest in the group, but I swear she lived on air. Everyone would be at the hay ring except her, she'd be way off by herself picking whatever she could find (see the stand offish comment above). When I sold her the man at the stockyards said she was probably 20 years old, which I'm sure was a stretch, but she was way up there. A group of thirty like her would replace a group of 20 regular size cows with no more inputs.

 

[Son of Butch]

I owned a little shorthorn cow, bought from a neighbor, who weighed 875

WOW - that's 3 times more than my fattest neighbor ever at 290 lbs

 

[MurraysMutts]

I always liked this breed of cattle ever since I was a boy.
This one won reserve champion at our county fair.

Looks REALLY GOOD!

And strangely familiar

 

[MurraysMutts]

This area used to be full of them. I've had a few myself. Got to watch for bottle tits, and though not wild, they are more stand offish in my experience.

I owned a little shorthorn cow, bought from a neighbor, who weighed 875 when I sold her. Her calves were always around 50# lighter than the biggest in the group, but I swear she lived on air. Everyone would be at the hay ring except her, she'd be way off by herself picking whatever she could find (see the stand offish comment above). When I sold her the man at the stockyards said she was probably 20 years old, which I'm sure was a stretch, but she was way up there. A group of thirty like her would replace a group of 20 regular size cows with no more inputs.

And I've noticed the same thing. My shorthorn is always off by herself too. Doesn't care for the boring ol black cows I got her in there with.
But at the same time, all the lil weanling heifers stay with her.

 

[greybeard]

boring ol black cows

Non-true believer! Blasphemer! Infidel! Heretic!!!! May you be tied down to an ant hill...

They are the most glorious, most wonderful, most inspiring, most beautiful creatures ever to wander this Earth and to state differently is outright insurrectionist!!

 

[50/50Farms]

Can we just get one thread where y'all don't drag this crap into the mix? Just one, all I'm asking for.

 

[BFE]

Don't hold your breath!

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I never saw Shorthorns in Texas, but my husbands Beefmaster herd was a 3 way cross , 1/4 (milking shorthorn, there are beef and milking strains) 1/4 Hereford and half Brahma.

But here on the SW coast of Oregon I see lots of beef Shorthorns. They seem to do well on just pasture, don't need winter hay, beefy, mostly roan with the most spectacular sets of hook and toss horns I have ever seen. Which is a good thing since we now have wolves one county over.

 

[50/50Farms]

I never saw Shorthorns in Texas, but my husbands Beefmaster herd was a 3 way cross , 1/4 (milking shorthorn, there are beef and milking strains) 1/4 Hereford and half Brahma.

But here on the SW coast of Oregon I see lots of beef Shorthorns. They seem to do well on just pasture, don't need winter hay, beefy, mostly roan with the most spectacular sets of hook and toss horns I have ever seen. Which is a good thing since we now have wolves on county over.

All beefmasters, by definition, are of said lineage. They were created by Mr. Lasater starting in the 1930s.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

According to the Lasaters it is a breed bred to do well in the environments where it is raised. The south Texas and gulf coast breeders bred for looser baggier skin to help them stand the heat and humidity. Those calves did not do well in the northern states because they're ear froze off and the sheathiness of the bulls led to loosness in the recpoductive tracts of the cows and a lot of problems with prolapses. So a separate registry was formed for the original Lasater cattle. Since then, they have become one registry again.

A problem my husband had was they got too big for the packers so he used smaller bulls. Years ago before we were married I used to drive by those Beefmaster bulls at night when they rested on the dirt road. Seemed like I was driving past a bull and I was still driving past the bull. His father bred up a herd of registered Charolais. I used to ride my horse at night on the ranch. Those beautiful white cattle in the moonlight with the fireflies. The family back then had to sell the herd to pay the death taxes. So my husband started up and bred up a herd of Beefmasters, that how I know about them.

 

[50/50Farms]

According to the Lasaters it is a breed bred to do well in the environments where it is raised. The south Texas and gulf coast breeders bred for looser baggier skin to help them stand the heat and humidity. Those calves did not do well in the northern states because they're ear froze off and the sheathiness of the bulls led to loosness in the recpoductive tracts of the cows and a lot of problems with prolapses. So a separate registry was formed for the original Lasater cattle. Since then, they have become one registry again.

A problem my husband had was they got too big for the packers so he used smaller bulls. Years ago before we were married I used to drive by those Beefmaster bulls at night when they rested on the dirt road. Seemed like I was driving past a bull and I was still driving past the bull. His father bred up a herd of registered Charolais. I used to ride my horse at night on the ranch. Those beautiful white cattle in the moonlight with the fireflies. The family back then had to sell the herd to pay the death taxes. So my husband started up and bred up a herd of Beefmasters, that how I know about them.

They are fantastic cattle across the south and the southern range. I have always been partial to them.