Progressive Farmer

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

Today I read an article in the library out of Progressive Farmer or maybe it was Succesful Farming (I read through both of them). The article gave bits of advice on how to choose which cows to cull to lower cost. They listed the typical open/bred status, BCS, age, etc. The final piece of advice though really got to me. They advised culling the cows with Brahman influence. To me, this is not a criteria to cull a cow, especially if she passes all the other criteria. Granted, it was the last piece of advice, but still I think it is poor advice and could be viewed as slanted. I am almost surprised they didn't say cull them if they are not black.

End rant.

 

[Sage]

I agree with you, different climates require differnt cattle. Up north yea no Brahman influence but in the hot climates it can be a great value.

 

[Beefy]

yeah i think i know what you are talking about. i read that too.

Seven-step Culling.
1) open cows
2)unsound cows
3) thin cows
4)late calving heifers
5)healthy older cows
6)bred young cows
7) mature cows (in this group they say to cull very small or very large cows or those with excessively strong brahman influence

i was thinking well why not just sell them all and do something else?

 

[Brandonm22]

I am almost surprised they didn't say cull them if they are not black.

End rant.

To me, if your herd is SO good that you really can't find a single cow who has a suspect udder, has suspect wheels, is lite muscled, is a late breeder, is high strung, jumps the fences, is inefficient(monster cow with avg calf), or is a subpar mother versus the herd avg then you probably are making so much money with them that you need to be buying the neighbor's fields to make some room for those girls instead of culling your cows based on pedigree, spots, breed mix, astrological sign, or what some goofy agricultural journalist (probably less than 4 years out of college) wrote in a magazine.

 

[Beefy]

that article was talking about when times are tough and you have to do some hard core culling to go about it in that order. (just so everyone knows)

 

[Beefy]

yeah i think i know what you are talking about. i read that too.

Seven-step Culling.
1) open cows
2)unsound cows
3) thin cows
4)late calving heifers
5)healthy older cows
6)bred young cows
7) mature cows (in this group they say to cull very small or very large cows or those with excessively strong brahman influence

i was thinking well why not just sell them all and do something else?

EDITed to say cows instead of calves in #7--typo

why cant i delete this post? no one has responded to it yet. i accidentally replied instead of edited.

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[novatech]

Brahman has more influence than any other breed in the world and for very good reasons. I wonder if the author thinks he/she was only addressing people that live in cold climates. Sure hope someone writes the editor.

 

[Brandonm22]

Brahman has more influence than any other breed in the world and for very good reasons. I wonder if the author thinks he/she was only addressing people that live in cold climates. Sure hope someone writes the editor.

I don't know about NOW; but Progressive Farmer used to be published in Birmingham, Alabama.

 

[Angus Cowman]

[. I am almost surprised they didn't say cull them if they are not black.

End rant.[/quote]


you mean all cows aren't black??? :lol: :lol:

 

[dun]

Brahman has more influence than any other breed in the world and for very good reasons. I wonder if the author thinks he/she was only addressing people that live in cold climates. Sure hope someone writes the editor.

Typical of the one size fits all mentality. Too many publications have that mindset. The autors/publishers don;t look beyond their small realm of experience.

 

[nap]

Stupid remark for a publication that is concerned with selling subscriptions. I'm glad I no longer subscribe and I never will again. Hang in there Brahman breeders!

 

[K2011]

I agree that was, to me, not very good advice on culling a cow just because of Brahman influence....now I have heard that some Brahman influenced cattle seem to be a little slow breeding back...

 

[ga. prime]

Brahman has more influence than any other breed in the world and for very good reasons. I wonder if the author thinks he/she was only addressing people that live in cold climates. Sure hope someone writes the editor.

I don't know about NOW; but Progressive Farmer used to be published in Birmingham, Alabama.

Progressive Farmer was published by Southern Progress Inc. of Birmingham ( as was Southern Living among other publications) from their inception until a year or two ago. Southern Progress was family owned by a Birmingham family. A few years ago they sold out to Time-Warner of NYC. A year or two ago, Time-Warner sold Progressive Farmer to an outfit out of Nebraska. This was to the dismay of Southern Progress(it's still called that and is still in Birmingham although now owned by Time-Warner) employees and many other citizens of Birmingham seeing as how Progressive Farmer was their flagship publication from the beginning. I think I told that right, I have a sister in Birmingham (Mountain Brook) that is chief accountant for advertising or something like that at Southern Progess and she could tell it a lot better than me.

Edit to add: Progressive Farmer is still published in Birmingham by a Nebraska outfit but moved down the street from the Oxmoor/Southern Progress building. Pretty simple, right?

Edit to add: I wish I had kept my mouth shut on this one. Too complicated.

Anyway, the article in question was in Progressive Farmer. I read it. Pretty generic info.

 

[Beefy]

progressive farmer got dropped by the sunbelt ag expo a few years ago. they put out the magazine for the expo. they used to have a big progressive farmer/southern living tent. no more.

 

[BC]

The key word in that sentence was "excessive" Brahman influence. That means anything more than 1/2 blood in commercial operations. You breed a 1/2 blood cow to anything with no Brahman influence and you get a 1/4 blood calf that is ideal for the feeders. Has heat tolerance and hybrid vigor.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

The key word in that sentence was "excessive" Brahman influence. That means anything more than 1/2 blood in commercial operations. You breed a 1/2 blood cow to anything with no Brahman influence and you get a 1/4 blood calf that is ideal for the feeders. Has heat tolerance and hybrid vigor.

thats right... ive seen herds that could have gotten away with less.in area's that i know that more was not needed... especially north of I20.... in my area 1/4 to 3/8 in the moma works great

 

[dun]

The key word in that sentence was "excessive" Brahman influence. That means anything more than 1/2 blood in commercial operations. You breed a 1/2 blood cow to anything with no Brahman influence and you get a 1/4 blood calf that is ideal for the feeders. Has heat tolerance and hybrid vigor.

Excessive would be a regional thing. Around here any at all will get you dock, in the desert we ran a lot of 1/2 bloods, some nearly full bloods as well for their grazing characteristics and ability to go a couple of miles between watering holes.