Wasn't someone on here from the south, looking for some Herefords?

[MurraysMutts]

I realize I cant make a judgment based on my experience yet.
But!
I've had 2 Herefords. (Sale barn bought)
The first one raised a great calf. She never bred back with the rest of the herd. 3 years old and feet went to h-ll too. Bag was so-so.

The one I have now looks pretty good. I haven't pregged her. Shes in good shape. Raised a nice lil black hereford looking calf for her first. Udder isnt that great but functional. Long skinny teats, smallish to medium bag. Made adequate milk. We will see soon if she gets to stay. Really easy to get along with, a bit standoffish tho. I raised her on pasture from a weanling.


I watched a very long time herd sellout in Enid Oklahoma last year I think it was. These were registered animals from a very long time breeder north of Enid.
The older cows looked terrible! Bags were terrible. Feet were terrible. And the eye problems, holy carp!
There was a bunch of younger stock as well that mostly sold as pairs. (They did a very good job sorting at the barn)
The younger ones looked ok, but nothing to write home about.
I have a hard time believing this ranch was improving the animals much. Just breeding more bad traits into the herd for decades I guess?? Idk.

Anyway. I was not impressed.

Surely the hereford breed has come along better than what I've witnessed. I do know that a standout top quality hereford animal is kind of hard to find from what I've seen.

My bull came from a small breeder down by ada ok.
His animals looked pretty dang sharp!
All mamas were horned with the old style curved downward horns from being weighted/trained I presume. Hes sold several breeding bulls that I'm aware of. I'm pretty pleased with the bull I bought from him. Hes polled/scurred. I've had no horned animals out of him.
On my mutts, he does make a pretty consistent calf. Tho, with mutt cows, there can sometimes be more white than I like.

So to conclude my rambling thoughts...
Surely my experience with herefords is very limited??
Is there better animals out there that breeders have improved to consistant udders/milk. Good feet. And less eye issues.

Or have most of them done like the above mentioned, now defunct breeder?

The ones above look nice, but no horns or feather neck white. And quite a bit of eye pigment. Maybe they will hold up well!

I would rather have a skinny pregnant Corriente than a fat , pinkeyed, prolapsed, big titted Hereford with a calf to dumb to suck
which is how I view most of them past 4 years old............

I feel the need to clarify a bit about my earlier post.
Some of those younger animals did look pretty ok as I said in my quoted message above.
But when 7,8,9 yr old cows from the same herd come in the ring with the above quoted issues, (in addition to toes that rival aunt Gertrude).... thank you, @Lee VanRoss ,what can a guy expect from those younger females??

As a new guy watching that sale, one would presume more of the same from the offspring and younger animals, no??

I meant no offense to the (now defunct) breeder or anyone who breeds hereford. I firmly believe there are good animals out there and they can be improved upon.

But 7,8, and 9 yr old cows with those issues do not fit my criteria for longevity and production traits. Sorry!