phillse said:
************* said:
I'm not so sure I would want to send my bulls to test. Right now they eat very expensive grain, alfalfa/ orchard grass hay that comes off the same field that Thoroughbred horses hay comes from, they have the best minerals I can buy, they have around 3 acres per bull to keep the stress down during development, and they have regular shots of multimin, and whatever else they need to have them at top performance.
Would a feedlot do this for them? Maybe they would, but my hunch is they would NOT. Why would I want to downgrade the nutrition in their development
I have watched from the sidelines, but your above statement does not help you make the case for elite genetics. It looks like you have cattle that have to be pampered, ie welfare cattle. Cattle that can perform and breed back as long as you are handing out feed/checks.
The problem I see with cattle trends is biggest, best, fastest growing. The "-est" phenomenon is that the performance is at what cost.
Are you matching your cattle to the environment or matching your environment to the cattle?
Also, AI sires or being a highly promoted sire is not necessarily mean he is superior. Home raised clean up bulls, AI sired in most cases, from the old matrons of our herd for several years have had calves that have out performed the AI sired calves. The biggest difference has been that th cleanup bulls may not have the biggest best calf but across the board they average better and are more consistent.
The easy thing for me to do out here WOULD BE to limit ration, limit the time I spend with them, and use extreme calving ease, low birthweight sires to eliminate any worries about pulling a calf. That would be the easy path for sure, and many here in Kentucky like that plan, because it allows for a more laid back approach to cattle husbandry. It allows for time away from the farm, and for many, the ability to take a main job to keep the farm running.
Caring for them properly however is the tough job that few want to do. Using the bulls that we are using out here is not for everyone, it could, God forbid, involve watching a cow or heifer closely when calving, and in some extreme cases you might have to pull a calf. Then that big old calf and momma are gonna need inputs. That's just too hard of work for many. Why not have a scrawny calf out of a scrawny cow and let them eat nothing but low-quality pasture that has had no work done on it for eons? Oh, don't get testy, I'm not calling YOUR cows or calves scrawny, just some I've seen around these parts, and not just in my own county.
I understand efficiency well, and our cattle from an EPD standpoint are efficient. What I don't understand is squeezing blood from a stone. The whole "cattle work for you, not the other way around" statement is a bit tired. My cattle work, but they get rewarded for that work, I take care of their health and wellbeing, that's the work I do for them. What I don't do is follow around a bunch of sick cows or calves, or call the vet when the heifer has a prolapse, and the bulls have foot rot, NOPE that's not the kind of work I have to do out here, because that is rarely ever the case. My hunch is that Bright Raven doesn't have his cattle on a trailer headed to the yards because he ran out of hay or couldn't care for them, yet he is chided on here for having "pets". Call them whatever you want, but they are well cared for cattle. If you want low input, low maintenance, why not look into deer, I'm serious, several folks in my county are switching their operations to deer, and the feed stores now have deer days, or some stupid thing like that, with feeders and such for deers, as if we don't already have enough around here.
People like to complain about all their aches and pains, but if you looked at their lifestyle, it explains exactly why they have aches and pains. The same goes for the cattle business. I hear the hard luck stories at the feed store, but they are usually self-inflicted.
As for Western genetics in Kentucky. I've noticed that if the calf was born and raised here, it acclimates just fine, I'm not sure about buying an animal from out west and dropping it into a foot of mud and extreme rain like we have here and not having any problems, that may not be the case.
The beauty of genetics and evolution, a dirty word in some circles, is that it happens quickly. You would be surprised how fast an animal can adapt to the environment in just two generations while holding on to some of the traits that made them great in another environment. Also, Kentucky weather is pretty extreme, I've lived other places, and this weather is sh..t here. Cold in the winter, rain, snow, hot in the summer, it's all over the place. The cattle, when cared for, seem to take it in stride which leads me to believe something I'm doing is working.
