Showing my ignorance

[MillIronQH]

What is the facination in recent years with black cattle all about? I just can't see color being so derned important. If it so totally dominates the industry why are people still sucessful with non-blacks? Charlois, Gerts, Simms, Hereford, etc.

I think I am a pretty fair judge of steak and I can't tell the difference in color when it hits the plate.

Until two years ago i was managing the Campbellton unit for the C4 ranch out of Pleasanton Texas. They are primarily a stocker operation running 25-30,000 head thru a year but Campbellton was a commercial cow/calf outfit.

On the other places it seemed like there was always a cow wagon delivering new cattle on picking up and to me it didn't seem like the buyers that came in to take delivery cared all that much about the color of the hide. Most of these cattle were sold forward before they ever hit the place. The owners were not the BEST cattlemen to ever be born but there wasn't a hole anywhere in their business abilities. I'm pretty sure that if color was that important the only color you would have4 seen would have been black.Z

 

[dun]

CAB and marketing

dun

 

[warpaint]

Well Z, this has been hashed out on here several times.

I don't raise black hided cattle (unless you count what few black Longhorns I have), but in my opinion it boils down to the promotion job the Angus associations have done.

 

[MillIronQH]

Warpaint, I'm not sure how that works. I've spent most of my sixty years in and around the cow business and I'm yet to meet my first stupid rancher. All of the advertising I've seen has been in the trade magazines and papers. My neighbor to the west raises black cattle but everone else around me have mixed comercial herds and are doing just as well as he is. Of course he retired and came into the deal with inherited land and both front pockets full of money.Z

 

[dun]

Warpaint, I'm not sure how that works. I've spent most of my sixty years in and around the cow business and I'm yet to meet my first stupid rancher. All of the advertising I've seen has been in the trade magazines and papers. My neighbor to the west raises black cattle but everone else around me have mixed comercial herds and are doing just as well as he is. Of course he retired and came into the deal with inherited land and both front pockets full of money.Z

In most areas, with identical calves except for color, the blacks will sell higher. They shouldn;t, but they do

dun

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Well Z, this has been hashed out on here several times.

I don't raise black hided cattle (unless you count what few black Longhorns I have), but in my opinion it boils down to the promotion job the Angus associations have done.

Amen, Warpaint!

Angus "superiority" is essentially advertising, marketing, CAB, and the Angus Association's long term campaign to elevate the Angus breed at the discrediting of other breeds...IM(biased)O.

At the meat counter or on your BBQ grill does anyone have any clue as to what color the hide was before you got the steak?

Also, with the lights out...can you tell what color a creature is? All "good" meat is "red" before it's cooked...right?
;-)

 

[warpaint]

As I said, I don't raise em either. It's just my opinion that they have done a great job promoting their breed.

Also you have to consider we are talking about average consumers. Where the final product ends up.

Most consumers couldn't tell the difference in an Angus and a Holstein. All they see is black.

 

[MillIronQH]

RAF... It easy to tell the black cattle from the others in the dark... They're the ones you don't see until they run over you. :lol: :lol: :lol: Z

 

[endebt]

We raise black cattle because that is what bring the most money here. If the buyers come up and ask for pink and purple cows. iIwill be out looking for bulls to get what they want. If your area pays the same for all colors then it does not matter. Here a black calve 500# will bring 20 to 30 cents more per pound. This works for us and may not work for all. Hope this helps and Good Luck.