Raising Longhons

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Bedlingtond

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Ok, I know many are anti-Longhorn. So please only respond of you can give real advice about Longhorns.

My husband worked with longhorns once upon a time about 15 years ago on a ranch in Santo. Now, we have bought our own land and we are building a wedding barn on it, as well as our own homestead. We know what gentle giants Longhorns are and think they would look beautiful in the pasture behind the venue. Yes, we are looking at Texas yard art. That said, we'd also like them to be profitable, so we'll likely gat a bull and breed.

For those of you who breed Longhorns, is most of your profit in hides and horns? How profitable is the meat? Does anyone crossbreed for more profitable meat? If so, what crossbreed have been successful?

We are about 2 years out from living on the land and adding cattle. 48 acres in East Texas. I want to learn everything I can. So, give me your POSITIVE LONGHORN advice.

Thanks.
 
Go full registered stock.

There IS a market for them. I don't personally raise them. But from what I've ran across, the registered animals have their niche. And longhorn beef is very marketable. Leaner but good.
 
It's going to be tough. The scale is working agaisnt you, plus depending on the quality of grass ETX, and compound that with a LH. Not sure the market in that specific area but around us you can find very nice LH for next to nothing. People are basically giving them away.

A bull on those few head could be tricky, also. That not a LH deal. That's just general scale challenge no matter the breed.

Would there be a way to incorporate your own beef in to your venue? You could maybe make your own market?
 
IMG_20220205_132217.jpgIMG_20220205_132136.jpgIMG_20211214_101102.jpgThese were ropers that escaped from their home and ran the country for three mos. I bought them for conversation peices. Everyone notices long horns in Illinois. There's two bulls and two hfrs. Going to put them together in August and see If we can get a couple baby long horns.
 
Ok, I know many are anti-Longhorn. So please only respond of you can give real advice about Longhorns.

My husband worked with longhorns once upon a time about 15 years ago on a ranch in Santo. Now, we have bought our own land and we are building a wedding barn on it, as well as our own homestead. We know what gentle giants Longhorns are and think they would look beautiful in the pasture behind the venue. Yes, we are looking at Texas yard art. That said, we'd also like them to be profitable, so we'll likely gat a bull and breed.

For those of you who breed Longhorns, is most of your profit in hides and horns? How profitable is the meat? Does anyone crossbreed for more profitable meat? If so, what crossbreed have been successful?

We are about 2 years out from living on the land and adding cattle. 48 acres in East Texas. I want to learn everything I can. So, give me your POSITIVE LONGHORN advice.

Thanks.
I've never raised longhorns although had a few crossbreeds. But with my An Sci background and an interest in breeds I've studied just about every breed to some extent. Of course some of what I knew may be out of date by this time. The big bonus with the breed is their longevity, IMO. They mature later so breed a year later as an average than most breeds. But they also live quite a bit longer and produce more calves over time because of it. Replacement costs are a big hidden expense with cattle so longhorns can be good in that respect.
Another great aspect of the breed is they tend to calve easily. Long, thin calves with small heads.
Personally, with this fascination with black hides and the prices black gets compared to varied hides I'd find a good homozygous, polled, black bull and raise black calves to be sold.
The other option is to go purebred and advertise to city people that want to brag to their friends about the grass fed lean meat in their freezer. That's a niche market but it can be done if you are anywhere close to a larger city and have a good relationship with a high quality processor. I wouldn't count on making a living selling purebred stock, so wouldn't pay big dollars for animals, but you might sell a few that way.
I think the horns would be a real pain in the a**, and that's the main reason I never got into them. But I like the look...

And where are you?
 
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It's going to be tough. The scale is working agaisnt you, plus depending on the quality of grass ETX, and compound that with a LH. Not sure the market in that specific area but around us you can find very nice LH for next to nothing. People are basically giving them away.

A bull on those few head could be tricky, also. That not a LH deal. That's just general scale challenge no matter the breed.

Would there be a way to incorporate your own beef in to your venue? You could maybe make your own market?
It's going to be tough. The scale is working agaisnt you, plus depending on the quality of grass ETX, and compound that with a LH. Not sure the market in that specific area but around us you can find very nice LH for next to nothing. People are basically giving them away.

A bull on those few head could be tricky, also. That not a LH deal. That's just general scale challenge no matter the breed.

Would there be a way to incorporate your own beef in to your venue? You could maybe make your own market?
Tell me what you mean exactly about incorporating my own beef?
 
It's going to be tough. The scale is working agaisnt you, plus depending on the quality of grass ETX, and compound that with a LH. Not sure the market in that specific area but around us you can find very nice LH for next to nothing. People are basically giving them away.

A bull on those few head could be tricky, also. That not a LH deal. That's just general scale challenge no matter the breed.

Would there be a way to incorporate your own beef in to your venue? You could maybe make your own market?
It's going to be tough. The scale is working agaisnt you, plus depending on the quality of grass ETX, and compound that with a LH. Not sure the market in that specific area but around us you can find very nice LH for next to nothing. People are basically giving them away.

A bull on those few head could be tricky, also. That not a LH deal. That's just general scale challenge no matter the breed.

Would there be a way to incorporate your own beef in to your venue? You could maybe make

I've got pastures full of longhorn and corriente cattle cross them with angus bulls and I sell the calves also eat. Steer off then they are just fine
Ok, say this in newbie first timer language please 😀!
Are you saying that bread with black angus, you are getting angus market value for your calves?
 
Welcome to the forum Bedlington. I don't think you will get too many knockers of Longhorns here, quite a few people have some Longhorns or their crosses and most people respect their reason for having them. I still can't get my head around how they get them through their working facilities without getting the horns caught up.

Ken
 
Sounds like you have and will have for some time a lot on your plate. Are you building from scratch on vacant land? Consider the cost of infrastructure especially working facilities. What kind of land is it (ie. clear vs dotted with trees). If your primary concern is pasture ornamentation I would start there with a few pasture ornament steers. They can be kept up by the place all the time otherwise with a herd on properly managed pasture you will have to bring them up every weekend so they are visible to your public. Use the rest of the land for hay if possible. Get your wedding barn business going and once that is turning a profit decide if you want more than the steers at that point.
One other thought is make sure the fencing prevents an accident. I grew up around cattle but was unprepared for the wide swath those horns make when they just turn their heads to look at you (boss' pets got out and had to help collect them one day). You will have a lot of unsupervised guests with kids and don't want someone to get swiped through the fence when one turns their head to itch their back.
 
Ok, say this in newbie first timer language please 😀!
Are you saying that bread with black angus, you are getting angus market value for your calves?
No you won't get top dollar pricing for the calves but you also won't have the expense to maintain the cow either.
Ok, say this in newbie first timer language please 😀!
Are you saying that bread with black angus, you are getting angus market value for your calves?
No you won't get top dollar but you won't get bottom of barrel price either and it doesn't cost anywhere near as much to maintain a longhorn cow either these little cows bred to a decent bull will raise you something worth selling
 

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Welcome to the forum Bedlington. I don't think you will get too many knockers of Longhorns here, quite a few people have some Longhorns or their crosses and most people respect their reason for having them. I still can't get my head around how they get them through their working facilities without getting the horns caught up.

Ken
Cow will turn her head to go down chute just can't rush her
 
Tell me what you mean exactly about incorporating my own beef?
Can you sell your beef to the people using your venue as part of the wedding.

As an example, at some places the wedding party stays at the property and the rehearsal dinner is there the night before. That would be an excellent time to offer catering with your beef.
 
you have to look at the entire picture when it comes to longhorns not just the check from the barn. Your calves are not going to bring you what #1 black hide steers will. Where longhorns in my opinion make the difference is In upkeep expense and longevity. They eat 1/2 as much mine don't stand at a feed bunk looking for a bucket or sack they will hustle to survive and if you care for them live longer which is more calves you can also run more longhorn cattle on the same acreage because once again they eat less which In turn is you putting more nutrients back onto your pastures in the manure form
 
I will 2nd making sure there is adequate fencing and pastures to rotate away from the venue if need be. With a bull and calves the cattle can get testy vs some big steers just hanging out.

A couple years ago we were at a venue and a cow had had a calf maybe 10 yards off the fence. People kept wanting to walk up and see the calf or take a pic with the cow. When I showed up people had their back to the cow taking a picture and the cow was snorting and throwing her head at them in the background. We told the people working there and they called some one who moved all the cattle out of that pasture.
 
I agree, with having a way to keep the cattle away from the guests on the property if need be. We have an Airbnb farm stay, most of the time guests are respectful and follow our guidelines about not approaching the animals or barns without us present. There have been a few instances mainly with larger bookings like weddings where folks have not respected the house rules. During one wedding booking some children were not supervised as we expect and they went through or over a gate and went in a barn.
We also have very territorial dogs that are aggressive, we try to keep them contained and away from guests, Guests are made aware of them and warned not to go near them. Recently, during a wedding booking my wife was walking the most aggressive dog on a leash, at a time that was stated as the time the dogs are out. One of the men was outside during that time anyway and tried to approach the dog even with my wife telling him not to. Oh I'm not afraid of him, he said. Some people just don't think rules or recommendations apply to them, and they don't understand the unpredictable nature of animals. You have to be vigilant in trying to prepare for that and protect them from their selves.
As for Longhorns, I've had a couple and liked them. Currently don't have any, but they are great conversation pieces and guests seem to enjoy seeing them during farm tours.
 
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This is going to be a negative post, but please understand why. We started with longhorns many years ago b/c they were the cheapest. We thought we could market the hides and the skulls, while selling freezer beef. Boy were we in for a rude awakening.

-You can sell registered stock. But who are your customers? You're going to buy your stock from someone, they are not going to buy stock from you unless you have something new and unique to offer their herd. So you're going to have to get new genetics to the area. This can be done through AI or buying from a different area. From what I remember, and could find, one of the largest seed stock LH guys only had about 500 head. That's a pretty small fish considering some of the largest Angus herds have thousands of head of cows.

This was the only (quickly searched) straws I could find. ABS and Select Sires do not offer straws from LH.
So, in reality you're going to have to sell to new customers looking to get into longhorns. You'll have to advertise, and have reasons why they're better than most every other type of beef cattle out there. My experience was that they were not.

Also, you'll have to register them to make them worth something to other breeders. This means joining an organization (~$100/year) and registering each calf (cost depends on the organization, but usually $10-$50/head). You'll need to market yourself somehow, usually through going to shows and "competing" by showing your cattle. Around here, that's how the LH world works. I went to a show our first year in it. It was the same 4-6 folks in each class. That was enough for me to figure out the pool was pretty shallow.

-Selling heads and heads can yield you money. However, you have to have the hide tanned. Look into that cost before you get excited. I got a half hide done on our last cow, and it was over $400(?, too long ago to remember exactly). It takes time to have that done and you'll need an outlet to sell them. Same with skulls. I buried mine, and they came out clean in several months, but needed to be cleaned up. Then you have to sell them, and ship them. Shipping is a nightmare at this point, and we're entering a recession.....

-The meat. Oh the meat. First, they like to promote the fact that it's heart healthy. There is one, ONE, study that everyone puts out there. I'm always leery of one study b/c there's no way that is going to have a deep enough pool to get accurate numbers. Plus, it was from years ago. I will say that the meat is very lean. VERY lean. These animals are skin and bones. I slaughtered a 2 y/o bull. He had a great set of horns, but weighed 288# hanging. That's a fat man. I could have done better with a weaned Angus calf than that. He had a fantastic set of horns, but remember, you can't eat the horns. I slaughtered an Angus bull, fully grass fed, at a younger age than that LH bull, and he hung at 792# (and I got a set of calves from him). That's making money.

-You're going to have to have different set-ups working them. They don't fit through regular chutes easily, and you can only fit so many on a trailer b/c of their horns. The bigger the horns, the more they cost, and YOU CAN'T EAT THE HORNS. They're romantic. They're beautiful. They are not worth the money. You're going to have to have similar facilities for regular cattle, you might as well give yourself a shot at making money.

If you want pretty cattle that have horns, find yourself some Herefords. You can sell their heads, and they'll give you way more meat. They'll also be a lot easier to market to other breeders/buyers. You take a LH to the salebarn and you might as well light your money on fire.
 
I don't want to be negative, but if you want pasture ornaments it's going to be very difficult to make them profitable. Have you considered getting a few Longhorn steers for decoration in the front pasture, and then get some beef cattle for the back pastures?

It's hard enough to make money with cattle without restricting yourself to a single breed that brings very little money at the auction barn.
 

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