Shorthorn Breeding

[SHORTHORNMAN]

I primarily have a Angus based herd with a few percentage Shorthorns. I have been disappointed in the calves I have had. Calves have been sired by Times Square, Grey Goose and Checkered Flag. All have not had much bone or depth of body. I have some that will calve in the Fall to Ronan and Red Sensation. All of my Angus cows are deep bodied easy keeping cows that always raise heavy calves. Any suggestions?

 

[SBMF 2015]

Hope the CT members from outside the U.S. see your post. The show ring has destroyed the short horn breed in the U.S.

 

[Travlr]

I primarily have a Angus based herd with a few percentage Shorthorns. I have been disappointed in the calves I have had. Calves have been sired by Times Square, Grey Goose and Checkered Flag. All have not had much bone or depth of body. I have some that will calve in the Fall to Ronan and Red Sensation. All of my Angus cows are deep bodied easy keeping cows that always raise heavy calves. Any suggestions?

I remember seeing very few shorthorns in the 70's... and they were animals I admired. Lately I haven't seen any. They seem to have lost so much popularity that it may be hard to find good stock or even semen. That's what happens when people breed for color at the expense of genetic diversity, sadly. Another casualty of CBA.

 

[GoWyo]

Steer Planet has several serious shorthorn breeders on the board who could probably help you out.

 

[moses388]

Disclaimer: I am not a Shorthorn breeder.
JSF Times Square 120G #x4297739
WW 46 YW 64
SULL GNCC Grey Goose #x4113741
WW 47 YW 78
JSF/PVF Checkered Flag 28Y #x4190244
WW 33 YW 53
JSF Ronan 5H #s4314080
WW 41 YW 64
SULL Red Sensation 6554D #x4248212
WW 59 YW 91

Red Sensation is a step in the right direction for heavier calves, but be ready to assist if there is calving difficulty. Red Sensation is a popular sire according to Shorthorn.org. By the numbers, Ronan calves will be small; but will have very good carcass merit.

Have you looked at genetics other than JSF? I happened upon Bowman Superior Genetics. I like a couple of the sires and they will make a bigger, quality carcass.

 

[wbvs58]

When I first moved up here I was doing a bit of part time Vet work and I had to visit a farm on several occaisions that had a really nice herd of Shorthorns, around 600 females. I really liked them. They sold the calves direct to the feedlot who were very keen to buy them and they got equivalent prices to the Angus. I have no idea on the breeding but the key was their reputation and the feeders knew that they did well with them.

Ken

 

[sunnyblueskies]

Granted I'm north of the border, in Canada. Specifically in NE Alberta, so I'm not sure if the situation is comparable to yours. We've thrown a Shorthorn bull into our mix in the last few years. Main influence is Charolais. I'm very happy with the influence of the shorthorn cross. We've been getting good replacement heifers and the calves look good and chunky too. Having said that, everybody is different in what they consider a satisfactory calf I suppose. We sell our calves straight off of the cow at about 6 months of age through the same auction barn each year and usually end up in the higher percentile of price paid that day.
As in Shorthorn availability, here they are hard to find too and I don't quite understand it. It's a good breed, beef influence or milk influence, why have they become so underrated and hard to find?
In our province most of the breeders are down south, too far away from us really. Had one breeder about 1 1/2 hour drive from us, but the family experienced a tragic loss of the father of the family and I haven't been able to pick up a bull from there since. I hope they will continue with their purebred herd and offer the bulls again.

 

[Nesikep]

Granted I'm north of the border, in Canada. Specifically in NE Alberta, so I'm not sure if the situation is comparable to yours. We've thrown a Shorthorn bull into our mix in the last few years. Main influence is Charolais. I'm very happy with the influence of the shorthorn cross. We've been getting good replacement heifers and the calves look good and chunky too. Having said that, everybody is different in what they consider a satisfactory calf I suppose. We sell our calves straight off of the cow at about 6 months of age through the same auction barn each year and usually end up in the higher percentile of price paid that day.
As in Shorthorn availability, here they are hard to find too and I don't quite understand it. It's a good breed, beef influence or milk influence, why have they become so underrated and hard to find?
In our province most of the breeders are down south, too far away from us really. Had one breeder about 1 1/2 hour drive from us, but the family experienced a tragic loss of the father of the family and I haven't been able to pick up a bull from there since. I hope they will continue with their purebred herd and offer the bulls again.

Have you talked to the Boake family? I visited their place around Acme AB about 20 years ago now, I thin they were Alta Cedar Shorthorns

I think they're either in Saskatchewan or Manitoba, but Scot Muri of Muridale Shorthorns seems to have some impressive animals... I sure wouldn't mind this girl in my herd

Have you looked at genetics other than JSF? I happened upon Bowman Superior Genetics. I like a couple of the sires and they will make a bigger, quality carcass.

Exactly, if you've been routinely disappointed or unimpressed with the calves, try a different breeder

 

[cbcr]

It seems that many breeds are in trouble for finding pure genetics. The Shorthorn breed is over 370 years old, the breed has been used in the development of over 40 breeds (both dairy and beef).

Finding 100% genetics today keeps getting more and more difficult as so many breeders have been crossing with Red Angus, Maine Anjou and other breeds making Shorthorn Plus animals.

The show ring has definitely had an impact on having real world genetics. A big part of the problem is that the breeders who had great breeding programs of 100% Shorthorns are getting fewer and fewer. Sometime the kids will continue but also it seems that the younger generation isn't thinking and are chasing "fads" when it comes to breeding.

The Shorthorn is a great breed, and breeders need to wake up (both dairy and beef) or else after over 370 of existence the breed will become extinct. And for one of the oldest breeds, this would really be a shame.

 

[Logan52]

I once bought a roan Shorthorn bull over 30 years ago and loved the calves, especially the heifers we kept back. I still get an occasional roan calf cropping up. This year it is a blue roan bull calf by a SimAngus bull.
From 150 to 100 years ago the shorthorn breed totally dominated this area but fell out of favor to the Herefords and Angus.
Today the mark of Shorthorn breeding is a sure disaster on price, as is the traditional Hereford coloration and marking pattern.
My question; Do these breeds play out, losing their vigor and adaptability to the market or is it just a fashion thing?
It does seem the purebred Shorthorn and Herefords lack a certain vitality today. Even the purebred Angus are heading that way.
Black and crossbred seems to rule the day.

 

[Travlr]

I once bought a roan Shorthorn bull over 30 years ago and loved the calves, especially the heifers we kept back. I still get an occasional roan calf cropping up. This year it is a blue roan bull calf by a SimAngus bull.
From 150 to 100 years ago the shorthorn breed totally dominated this area but fell out of favor to the Herefords and Angus.
Today the mark of Shorthorn breeding is a sure disaster on price, as is the traditional Hereford coloration and marking pattern.
My question; Do these breeds play out, losing their vigor and adaptability to the market or is it just a fashion thing?
It does seem the purebred Shorthorn and Herefords lack a certain vitality today. Even the purebred Angus are heading that way.
Black and crossbred seems to rule the day.

It is totally a "fashion thing"...

There isn't anyone, no expert in the world that can tell a shorthorn/Hereford/Angus carcass from any other breed once the hide is removed.

The Certified Angus marketing has been great for Angus bull producers but has been terrible for the industry as a whole. That's why the vitality is diminishing in all breeds. Genetic diversity is disappearing.

 

[Lucky_P]

We used several polled solid red Shorthorn sires over a period of 5-6 years in the 2010s. Over a cowherd that was mostly about 3/4 Angus-1/4 Simmental.
I was warned, from the outset, by friends who'd grown up with Shorthorns, that there are 'two worlds' of shorthorns... the showring, and the real-world commercial-oriented cattle.
We got mostly black calves, but there were enough red-carrier cows in the herd that we did get some red calves, and a couple of cows that were Simmental 'spotting gene' carriers did give some red calves with white markings.

The halfblood Shorthorn steers were some of the best we ever raised.
Had one group that were the result of a progeny test breeding trial we did for Waukaru Shorthorns... our steers went into a feedlot trial of ~150 steers; most of which were SH or SH-X, but there were a couple of groups of Angus and SimAngus steers in the trial. Of the 15 steers we had in the trial, 8 finished in the top 20; overall, all were in the top 50%. One red steer, out of a brown-white-faced 3/4AN-1/4 SM was the top steer overall - YG 3, low Choice, highest ADG, highest WDA, largest ribeye/cwt, highest % retail cut, most profitable overall.

Most of the halfblood Shorthorn heifers were retained, and made really good cows... but there were a couple of SH sires whose daughters were hard keepers or didn't make enough milk to raise a decent calf... I wouldn't use those again except as 'terminal' sires (they had really high WW/YW epds), but the other 4 or 5 Shorthorn sires we used... I'd use 'em again, in a heartbeat.

I definitely think that there are still some lines of Shorthorn that bring a lot to the table, with regard to beef production, and folks who are crossbreeding would do well to try them - especially over black cows. Like others have said, roans or spots will get you creamed at the salebarns around here.

 

[tex452]

My grandpas neighbor raised shorthorns and I have always liked them.
They were easy to handle and good milkers for the most part.
When I was a kid I loved their colors.
It's a shame they got pushed out, I don't see them anymore.