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Starting out with Dexters...
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<blockquote data-quote="VirginiaCattle" data-source="post: 1184405" data-attributes="member: 23052"><p>Your location is probably more important than the climate to make a recommendation. For instance, around here red doesn't sell well at all. White calves do ok if they look like an angus cross. Solid black does the best. Any ear at all gets them docked a lot here. You probably want a polled breed for ease of handling and to avoid discounts. There are areas of the country where red sells well and eared cattle are a premium and there is a place for horns if cattle are left to fend for themselves. </p><p></p><p>A recommendation I would make is to go out and see what is for sale. Evaluate the price vs quality of what is available and decide from there. If you set your heart on buying a specific breed to start a commercial herd then you will likely overpay. Go to your local auction and watch the calves sell. See which are selling at a premium in your area. </p><p></p><p>So for around my area I'd start with cattle that can be bred to Angus or Simmental to make a black calf (Gelbvieh would work but are hard to find here). I'd stay away from Charolais unless the price or quality was good because it's much harder to breed white out. I've had horrible luck with cancer eye in Herefords and white-faced Simmentals so I personally would shy away from any with white eyelids. Then select a breed of bull that you want your future herd to emulate and AI to the best bulls in that breed. You could synchronize a herd no bigger than you'll have and hire someone to come breed them all in a few hours. Keep your best replacements and you should see a lot of improvement each generation. </p><p></p><p>The most important factor around here is having a group of calves that look the same. So the fewer that stand out in your calf crop the better (white, red, baldy, horned, eared etc).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="VirginiaCattle, post: 1184405, member: 23052"] Your location is probably more important than the climate to make a recommendation. For instance, around here red doesn't sell well at all. White calves do ok if they look like an angus cross. Solid black does the best. Any ear at all gets them docked a lot here. You probably want a polled breed for ease of handling and to avoid discounts. There are areas of the country where red sells well and eared cattle are a premium and there is a place for horns if cattle are left to fend for themselves. A recommendation I would make is to go out and see what is for sale. Evaluate the price vs quality of what is available and decide from there. If you set your heart on buying a specific breed to start a commercial herd then you will likely overpay. Go to your local auction and watch the calves sell. See which are selling at a premium in your area. So for around my area I'd start with cattle that can be bred to Angus or Simmental to make a black calf (Gelbvieh would work but are hard to find here). I'd stay away from Charolais unless the price or quality was good because it's much harder to breed white out. I've had horrible luck with cancer eye in Herefords and white-faced Simmentals so I personally would shy away from any with white eyelids. Then select a breed of bull that you want your future herd to emulate and AI to the best bulls in that breed. You could synchronize a herd no bigger than you'll have and hire someone to come breed them all in a few hours. Keep your best replacements and you should see a lot of improvement each generation. The most important factor around here is having a group of calves that look the same. So the fewer that stand out in your calf crop the better (white, red, baldy, horned, eared etc). [/QUOTE]
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