Shorthorns

[Chuckie]

How do the buyers treat Shorthorns when time to sell? Do they cut the prices on them?
Chuckie

 

[randiliana]

Depends where you live. Here they discount anything that is off colored. Spots, linebacks, grey, roan are all discounted. The buyers just want the solid or whitefaced animals.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Depends where you live. Here they discount anything that is off colored. Spots, linebacks, grey, roan are all discounted. The buyers just want the solid or whitefaced animals.

then why so many shorthorns in canada and good looking one's at that

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Randi, just out of curiosity and if you don't mind me asking, where do you sell through? I've been with Kelvington for the last several years, and the roans are starting to see a 2 - 5 cent premium above average. This year, my lowest prices were on my solid blacks and BWFs, while my roans sold in the top pens in their weight classes (tough to calculate, but around a 12 cent premium). The solid reds sold with about an 8 cent premium.

I understand the northwest areas still get discounted on roans, but Saskatoon auction market is seeing a slight premium on visibly roan Shorthorn animals, with the solid reds or blazes selling in high pens. Poundmaker feedlot will also pay an 8 cent premium on Shorthorn crosses, as will a couple lots in Alberta (whose names escape me this morning).

As an aside, if you're in an area that discounts Shorthorns, but want to use Shorthorn bulls, buy a solid red Shorthorn bull. They'll throw very few roan calves (my average is 1 in 40) when crossed with other breeds. White Shorthorn bulls will throw a large percentage of roan animals (I've had up to 50%)And as a general rule of thumb (very general), the solid reds are the better performing animals.

Rod

 

[Chuckie]

I don't know of anyone in West Tennessee that raises Shorthorns. The ones I see in pictures, are pushed for showing and would like to see how they maintain body weight on grass/clover pasture alone. I wish that someone raised the locally so I could see them in person.
Most of the pictures posted here are the calves. Maybe someone will post grown cows and bulls.
How hard is it to locate a solid colored bull or cow?
I do love the colors they throw. But it's best to please the buyer since he sets the price.
Chuckie

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

1) The ones I see in pictures, are pushed for showing and would like to see how they maintain body weight on grass/clover pasture alone.

2) Maybe someone will post grown cows and bulls.
How hard is it to locate a solid colored bull or cow?

1) The Shorthorn breed, like many others, will have a wild variance on how easy keeping they are. As a VERY general rule of thumb, Shorthorns are easier keeping than most breeds. As an example, the bull I just bought serviced 35 cows on open range last year, with poor grass, and still gained 1.5 lbs/day with no open cows. Its not uncommon to see 2 lbs/day growth on Shorthorn bulls who are grassed only and not servicing cows.

My own operation, I expect a yearling bull to gain weight, at least 1.5lbs/day on pasture when he's servicing cows (minimum 30 cows, but I'm going to adjust that upwards to 35 and eventually 40). A 2yr old/mature bull is expected to service at least 50 cows, and maintain his shape with ease.

Be careful when buying that you're not getting some of those flanky, pencil gutted show animals that I've seen around. They may look flashy, but they won't perform. Stick with high volume animals, with good depth and thickness. You'll have a tougher time finding heavy hind ends, but they're out there.

2) If you snoop this board (Breeds), there have been at least 4 threads in the last couple months with some nice mature Shorthorn bulls and at least a couple cow shots. The solid colored animals are easy to find as they are the most common. Whites, at least good whites, are tough to track down. And there are getting to be more and more good roans all the time.

Rod

 

[KMacGinley]

I've posted this before, but go to Kaper cattle on the web.

He has linebred shorthorn cattle, not the xbred show stuff.

 

[ziggyb]

Waukaru (sp?) has some real good all red shorthorns.

 

[Kent]

Chuckie,

There is a guy here in Georgia that advertises Shorthorn bulls in the Market Bulletin every week and has for years. I don't know him or his cattle, but you could call him. Here is the link to the Cattle for Sale page of the Ga. market bulletin. The guy's name is Ken Bridges. His ad is about halfway down the page and starts with the words "Calving ease". Nicholson, GA, is about 10 miles north of Athens, just off I-85, about 75 minutes northeast of Atlanta.

http://www.agr.state.ga.us/mbads/Ads.as ... goryID=439

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Had a chance this afternoon to grab a couple pics of some of the heifers I've got left in the yard:

These are two of my better heifers:

A couple lower end heifers that I would call about average for the breed. Too much space under their bellies (especially the second one), but they walk good, milk good, and their calves are doing well:

I hesitate to even post this bull, as he's gonna get tore up. Nowhere near enough rib, too pinched up both front and back, and not enough muscle expression for a 2 yr old. Having said that, he does have some good traits. He walks very well, has well above average testicle size, has great width and spring on his ribs and his weaning weight was very impressive, which I am lacking in my animals. His dam was also very impressive, so I gambled as I was looking for a maternal bull this year. He'll do well on some of my very deep old Angus/Shorthorn crosses, and I need some heifers out them.

A lousy picture of the old herd sire who is hamburger right now. He came up shooting 20% detached heads this year, which is damn shame, as he was (I think) a very good bull:

Hope these help you out a little.

Rod

 

[Australian Cattleman]

these cattle look just like the breeder of Poll Shorthorns,just up the road from us. His cattle seldom look that good. His heifers and cows are just crying out for a Brahman or South Devon to add muscling and a good boost of hybrid vigour. Shorthorns are a good breed to cross with. Nothing beats the breeds already mentioned or a nice blue roan (by an Angus)
Colin

 

[farmerD44]

or a nice blue roan by a black simmental :cboy:

 

[Beefy]

Chuckie,

There is a guy here in Georgia that advertises Shorthorn bulls in the Market Bulletin every week and has for years. I don't know him or his cattle, but you could call him. Here is the link to the Cattle for Sale page of the Ga. market bulletin. The guy's name is Ken Bridges. His ad is about halfway down the page and starts with the words "Calving ease". Nicholson, GA, is about 10 miles north of Athens, just off I-85, about 75 minutes northeast of Atlanta.

http://www.agr.state.ga.us/mbads/Ads.as ... goryID=439

i know of another guy just outside of Athens (in Watkinsville) with shorthorns. Dont know his name but hes on that road that goes to greensboro.

 

[randiliana]

Depends where you live. Here they discount anything that is off colored. Spots, linebacks, grey, roan are all discounted. The buyers just want the solid or whitefaced animals.

then why so many shorthorns in canada and good looking one's at that

It is just the area that I am in. North of here they sell better. My area is known for the Hereford and Angus, and those are what sells the best. Chars and other solid colors are pretty good here. I think what they are seeing when anything is off color is Longhorn, doesn't mean it is longhorn, that is just what the buyers think. Spotted simmentals don't sell well either, and they are about as different as you can get from longhorn.

 

[randiliana]

Rod, we sell in Mankota. It is big OLD FASHIONED ranch country down here, and the buyers are used to seeing black, red, hereford and white faced animals. Used to be that anything off color was longhorn or longhorn cross. It isn't now, but they use that excuse. Last fall, we sorted our big steers into one big bunch, and sold them as is reds/blacks/herefords etc, we got a couple cents above the sale average, and we'll do the same again this fall. The 2 roanish steers we had were graded, and we did well on them as well, they weren't excessively roan. Generally, the black animals sell the best here, with tans following closely, then the reds, then herefords and greys and then all the off colors, there will be about 5-10 cents between the blacks and the herefords.

I will keep in mind those markets you are mentioning, but we are 4 hours from Saskatoon, so that plays a big part in where we sell. As for the bull, the fellow we bought this spring is almost solid red, he has a few white markings, but the guy we got him from said that he doesn't seem to add white to his calves. (He is a 3 year old). I've done my research on the Shorthorn breed, and colors, since genetics really interest me, and have found that they basically say the same as you !! Thanks!!

 

[randiliana]

Here are some pics of our Shorthorn x cows, heifers and calves.

2 year old Shorthorn/Angus/Hereford

3 year old registered bull

4 year old Shorthorn/Angus with Hereford sired calf

7 year old Angus/Shorthorn

2 year old Angus/Shorthorn

6 year old Shorthorn/Angus with Hereford sired calf

Red - 3 year old Shorthorn/Angus; Black is her daughter sired by Angus.

 

[Aero]

on average, how good is the udder conformation on most Shorthorns?

what are Shorthorns known for not being good at?

when bred to a red Limousin, what kind of colors should be expected? will a black Angus bull turn the roan into a solid coat?

 

[Chuckie]

Thanks for all the leads to the pictures and the ones that are posted. For some reason, I thought a solid color would be hard to find. This gives me a little more info on the Shorthorn.
Chuckie

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

1) on average, how good is the udder conformation on most Shorthorns?

2) what are Shorthorns known for not being good at?

3) when bred to a red Limousin, what kind of colors should be expected? will a black Angus bull turn the roan into a solid coat?

1) Generally very good. I have seen some bigger teats on some lines, but its easy to clean up.

2) Some of the older Shorthorns can be a little snotty when dropping calves, although I'm not sure it would be a greater percentage than other breeds. Perhaps a few more than Angus. And due to the show ring animals, it can be tough to find a decent hind end on a bull.

Perhaps the biggest drawback is there aren't many Shorthorn breeders around these days, so the really good bulls get snapped up quick, and you'll get left with picking a bull that has some flaws. On the plus side, if you're crossing to a good commercial cow, those flaws will be minimized.

3) Never crossed to a red limo, but unless there is something different genetically about the color red in limo, if its a red Shortie, you're going to get mostly red calves with a couple roans or roan marks splashed in the mix. White bull will probably throw a fair number of roans, and a roan bull somewhat less. If its a homozygous black Angus, you'll probably see more roan markings out of the red bull, but all the calves will be black. Again, white bulls and roans will throw even more roan. A black/red angus cow is going to give you everything, with aforementioned increase in roans with the white and roan bulls.

Rod

 

[Aero]

thanks.

do you weigh your mature cows? how much do they weigh on average and what frame score or hip height is average?