Southwest Texas Cattle

[cross_7]

as someone stated before match the cows to your environment.
san saba is about as good as it gets in texas but i'd stay away from the big framed heavy milking cows unless you like buying feed to keep them in good condition.
do your own research and raise cattle that the buyers want and stay away from cattle that get docked ; color, horns, too much ear, small framed dinks, and so on.
imo you can't go wrong with a brangus cow and using a black angus or limo bull to take a little ear off the calves.

 

[Stepbystep]

I understand, last thing I meant to do was start a fight with some guy from Texas! No hard feelings

None at all. Totally my bad.

 

[Stepbystep]

as someone stated before match the cows to your environment.
san saba is about as good as it gets in texas but i'd stay away from the big framed heavy milking cows unless you like buying feed to keep them in good condition.
do your own research and raise cattle that the buyers want and stay away from cattle that get docked ; color, horns, too much ear, small framed dinks, and so on.
imo you can't go wrong with a brangus cow and using a black angus or limo bull to take a little ear off the calves.

Lol, we are talking about cows, right. They really ding a cow for steaks because his ears are to big? Sounds like a story I use to read to my daughter about an elephant with the same problem.

 

[cross_7]

as someone stated before match the cows to your environment.
san saba is about as good as it gets in texas but i'd stay away from the big framed heavy milking cows unless you like buying feed to keep them in good condition.
do your own research and raise cattle that the buyers want and stay away from cattle that get docked ; color, horns, too much ear, small framed dinks, and so on.
imo you can't go wrong with a brangus cow and using a black angus or limo bull to take a little ear off the calves.

Lol, we are talking about cows, right. They really ding a cow for steaks because his ears are to big? Sounds like a story I use to read to my daughter about an elephant with the same problem.

ear, dewlap, navel are signs of brahman influence, too much brahman influence and they will be docked.

 

[Stepbystep]

as someone stated before match the cows to your environment.
san saba is about as good as it gets in texas but i'd stay away from the big framed heavy milking cows unless you like buying feed to keep them in good condition.
do your own research and raise cattle that the buyers want and stay away from cattle that get docked ; color, horns, too much ear, small framed dinks, and so on.
imo you can't go wrong with a brangus cow and using a black angus or limo bull to take a little ear off the calves.

Lol, we are talking about cows, right. They really ding a cow for steaks because his ears are to big? Sounds like a story I use to read to my daughter about an elephant with the same problem.

ear, dewlap, navel are signs of brahman influence, too much brahman influence and they will be docked.

So to much Brahman is a bad thing but a little bit to help with dought tolerance is a good thing?

 

[Isomade]

Yep, the further south you go the more ear helps out. For me, about 10 miles from the Red River I believe a 1/8 ear cow to be optimal.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Need to read up on the benifit's of Brammer influence in hybred vigor, health and longevity. All put money in your pocket. I will start you off, ton's of info out there. Time for you to do your homework.

http://www.ionet.net/~brahman/brahmanF.html

 

[Stepbystep]

Need to read up on the benifit's of Brammer influence in hybred vigor, health and longevity. All put money in your pocket. I will start you off, ton's of info out there. Time for you to do your homework.

http://www.ionet.net/~brahman/brahmanF.html

Thanks Bruno. Will definitely read it.

 

[B&M Farms]

I raise mostly Brangus with a Hereford bull. I agree that a brahma influenced cow seems to work well here. I have had some really good Braford cattle in the past also. There are many Angus breeders in Texas doing well though. I think most breeds can acclimate to there surroundings. A good cow that weans good calves like clockwork matters more than what breed she is to me.

 

[Stepbystep]

Need to read up on the benifit's of Brammer influence in hybred vigor, health and longevity. All put money in your pocket. I will start you off, ton's of info out there. Time for you to do your homework.

http://www.ionet.net/~brahman/brahmanF.html

Interesting article, so F1' cows are gray Brahman bulls and black angus cows mixed. Right?

Tell me if I am missing something but we have:
Angus and Brahman
Herford and Brahman
Beefmaster - (has Brahman)
Santa Gertrudis (has Brahman)

and these are the primary cattle being run in texas. So Brahman are key in test for heat tolerance.

Right?

 

[cross_7]

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/brahman/
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/
http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2001 ... T154.shtml
http://www.bifconference.com/bif2006/pdfs/Williams.pdf

 

[dun]

so F1' cows are gray Brahman bulls and black angus cows mixed. Right?

An F1 is the offspring from the crossing of 2 distinct pure breeds. Hereford x Angus, Brahman (although not a pure breed) X any other pure breed, etc.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Maybe this will help .

http://animalscience.tamu.edu/images/pd ... csE189.pdf

 

[CKC1586]

as someone stated before match the cows to your environment.
san saba is about as good as it gets in texas but i'd stay away from the big framed heavy milking cows unless you like buying feed to keep them in good condition.
do your own research and raise cattle that the buyers want and stay away from cattle that get docked ; color, horns, too much ear, small framed dinks, and so on.
imo you can't go wrong with a brangus cow and using a black angus or limo bull to take a little ear off the calves.

Lol, we are talking about cows, right. They really ding a cow for steaks because his ears are to big? Sounds like a story I use to read to my daughter about an elephant with the same problem.

Yup, color too!

 

[Caustic Burno]

Step I will try and simplify this you drive down the road here and across most of Texas you see Angus, Brahman and Hereford crossbred cattle . It is because they work and put money in the Cattlemans pocket in our enviroment.
You will see a few of this or that breed someone is playing with. When it gets down to putting pounds and dollars in your pocketbook it is crossbred cows of the three I mentioned. Go sit at the salebarn some time and watch what those girls fetch compared to the other's. This is simple economics to the cowman he is looking for the unit that has the highest return with the lowest input's.

 

[Stepbystep]

Step I will try and simplify this you drive down the road here and across most of Texas you see Angus, Brahman and Hereford crossbred cattle . It is because they work and put money in the Cattlemans pocket in our enviroment.
You will see a few of this or that breed someone is playing with. When it gets down to putting pounds and dollars in your pocketbook it is crossbred cows of the three I mentioned. Go sit at the salebarn some time and watch what those girls fetch compared to the other's. This is simple economics to the cowman he is looking for the unit that has the highest return with the lowest input's.

Thanks for simplifying it for this dam Yankee. You raise my next question, input?

Do you typically run your cattle as grazers and supplement in winter if needed and before taking them tot he sales. Arn fatten with grain?

 

[Caustic Burno]

Step I will try and simplify this you drive down the road here and across most of Texas you see Angus, Brahman and Hereford crossbred cattle . It is because they work and put money in the Cattlemans pocket in our enviroment.
You will see a few of this or that breed someone is playing with. When it gets down to putting pounds and dollars in your pocketbook it is crossbred cows of the three I mentioned. Go sit at the salebarn some time and watch what those girls fetch compared to the other's. This is simple economics to the cowman he is looking for the unit that has the highest return with the lowest input's.

Thanks for simplifying it for this dam Yankee. You raise my next question, input?

Do you typically run your cattle as grazers and supplement in winter if needed and before taking them tot he sales. Arn fatten with grain?

The only cost control is your input cost fuel. fertilizer, fence material etc. We buy retail and sale wholesale.
I firmly believe all a cow needs is grass, hay and mineral's. You are not a cattleman but a grass farmer.
This drought I feed through after dumping a majority of my cow's. The drought wasn't near as rough on me as some of my neighbors as I had started cutting back due to health reason's.
You are about to depart on a journey it will take you a few years to realize the cow has a higher IQ than you.
You will have sweat running down the crack of your butt hauling hay while they lay in the shade chewing there cud.
In the winter when you have ice hanging off your hat they will be standing at the hay ring with their Lone Star card.
Then when one get's sick they will try to kill you while you are trying to help and this only gets to be more fun if you don't have the facalities to properly handle one.

 

[3waycross]

Thanks Caustic you have succeded in making me look almost Cheerful with that post. :tiphat: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Stepbystep]

Thanks Caustic you have succeded in making me look almost Cheerful with that post. :tiphat: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

Agreed. Made me laugh as well. I also appreciate your candur. I guess to be a cattleman you must have a little masochism in ya as well.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Step look for a power point presentation by David Greg Riley of TAMU
titled Improving the Cow Herd through Genetic principles. I have got it somewhere from one of the seminar's I attended.