Watcha think?

[Lon]

You've all been GREAT (well almost ALL) appreciate your support & compliments.
Let's get real. I post pics because I'm proud of them. They represent a lot of years of breeding and I personnally think they are pretty darn good.
Don't tell my cows they're pampered, they think I'm pretty mean to them. You should see the mature cows that come up front when they are close to calving. They stand at the gate at night, hoping they are close enough to calving that I will let them in the barn, so they can get out of the weather.

U know as i sit here in this Viacodin induced stupor, a few thoughts run through my head..One is I will be happy when this kidney stone decides to cut me some slack, another is that if I keep farting around on this board I am gonna get that GURU status...lol..and finally cows in Alabama, Missouri, Colorado, and of course 3rd countries are different than they are here in Texas......Most cattle here in Texas seperate themselves from the herd and go off and hide to have there calf, of course if they have a lot of Brimmer that may or may not be true. Then we get then fun of going out and trying to find those critters....I am sure a few of you have played the game of getting behind a tree, and bellaring like a calf, which if done right is sure to fool 9 out 10 momma cows....Off she goes to the calf.....Strange...I have never had the cows come to me beggin to get in a calving barn. That is behavior of feedbucket or 16% baylage cattle.During Hurricanes Rita and Ike they had to fend for themselves..I did loose one bull to the storms, a tree fell on him and killed him graveyard dead. I understand that I know nothing about cows in snow, but having said that I dont remember OldTimer talking about blowdrying his cattle. The cattle i had were far from pretty, but ask Caustic what type of cows it takes to run in the coastal swamps

A book that some of you might wish to read by Laurie Lasater might be a different point of view of the cattle biz. It goes against the grain of the land grant school thinking. For those of you that dont know who Laurie Lasater is...this is the cattleman that gave us the BeefMaster breed.. Some of u will say that this type of operation will only work in Texas. Think again, Mr Lasater has been dead for a while, but his herd lives on in Colorado it snows some in Colorado and gets a little cold so I have been told....lasaterranch.com...... have a look if you dare, as this is a SEEDSTOCK operation that is run like a commercial cattleman operation. May not be the prettiet cows, but its the type of cows and bulls that I would like to see more of.Be sure and look at the pics of the cows digging in the snow looking for something to eat......Them cows must be thinking where is all that balage and feed that I keep hearing about.I will know put on my hard hat and prepare for the snow or rain that i am about to recieve

well now here the cows will go off by themselves and have a calf away from the bunch and we are a long way from texas and im sure the cattle we run arent texas cattle. we dont have a barn here to put cattle in. it snows alot and get real cold. i tell ya what them cattle will be right in the creek pretty hard when its blowin snow and colder than a butt$*&^ dick up a snowmans a$$ out. if no trees ya can bet they will all crowd behind a windbreak as the same way. i would say wanting to go to the barn would be because they know what it is. if there is no trees or windbreaks (i dont know this cause i have never seen jeanne ranch but assuming if there isnt) than it would be natural for the cattle to crowd to the windbreak the barn would give them and want to go in. if not they would be dumb cattle be like one not knowing to go into the trees here. now i am sure you dont know what the snow is like on cattle so i let ya in on it. its hard on them. you can see a dang good cow loose some condition because she spends most of a week trying to just stay out of that cold snowy wind. you will notice in the cows we run there are some fat ones and some light ones. they get fed the same thing so alot of it is on genetics and age of the cow herself. but when it gets cold enough you sure aint gonna just feed your cattle prarie hay and expect them to get by up here without loosing condition. you better put some cake to her or some alfafa hay to her. cake works great cause then even if it is cold them girls will get out and grub. now we do cake cattle in the winter and i would say i can garuntee at leaste that the few saler cows i got are just as rangy as anything you got running on your place. will they make it in your environment i cant garuntee that but put your cows were we run ours and i am sure they wont come out in any better shape than the few rangy ones i got. i am also willing to bet if i pulled these cattle in cleaned them up new something about showing and had them trimmed than they wouldnt look near as rangy either, but it sure wouldnt make them show cattle that cant turn a buck out in the pasture. :2cents: and as far as the baleage i say to here good job we dont use it but still if she is putting up baylage that is just taking what she has and making the best possible feed she can out of it. would you not do something different if you could increase the quality of your feed without having to buy a supplement.

 

[houstoncutter]

Lon it sounds as if your doing what you have to do to turn a profit on your cattle in your climate...The Texas cattle comments about breaking away from the herd to calf was my attempt at satire.... Cattle most anywhere will seperate from the herd to calve, its natures way....but if that is a brimmer cow she might calve in the herd and that calf is expected to get up and follow the herd. Its a protection mechanism that some Brahman cattle still have....A animal that is standing at the barn to calve, has been pampered. I understand that is a pratice for some folks no matter where they live.

 

[Isomade]

I fail to see the relevance in any of this gibberish. If they are a thousand miles away, in a totally different climate, and it works for them.....what difference does it make if they blow dry and feed their obviously very successful cattle. Success can be achieved in many ways in this business. I ain't never lived up north and I don't know what will and won't work, but you can bet if I can make a buck by blowdrying a few of mine I'm gonna get at it. Folks get too hung up on what works for THEIR area or operation and fail to realize it won't work every where. Now where can I git one of these dryers, and how much more will my commercial calves bring if I blow dry em and maybe dress em up with glitter? :lol:

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I fail to see the relevance in any of this gibberish. If they are a thousand miles away, in a totally different climate, and it works for them.....what difference does it make if they blow dry and feed their obviously very successful cattle. Success can be achieved in many ways in this business. I ain't never lived up north and I don't know what will and won't work, but you can bet if I can make a buck by blowdrying a few of mine I'm gonna get at it. Folks get too hung up on what works for THEIR area or operation and fail to realize it won't work every where. Now where can I git one of these dryers, and how much more will my commercial calves bring if I blow dry em and maybe dress em up with glitter? :lol:

Thanks Iso - WOW been gone a few hours and you've been a busy boy Houston! Better take a few more pills. Honestly, I do hope you feel better. Bummer to be hurting.
Just to clarify (not that I NEED to justify what or what not I do - bottom line - I MAKE MONEY AT IT)
Barn: My mature cows "know" that the only time they get in the barn is to calve. So, when I move them up close to the barn from the back 40, they aren't stupid - they want in the barn! out of the wind & on a dry bed. They don't even really get fed - I may throw down a flake of dry hay, but they aren't there to eat. They are there to have a protected area to calve - they get kicked out in the morning if they didn't calve during night - outside where I can observe them. Calf born - in 1 day - out to the weather. Calves do have protection from the weather after I kick them out - mom's don't.
Blow dry- we do blow dry our cattle at the shows - never at home. I mentioned that we used the blow dryer to blow them off before the pics - but that was to get the sh$t balls or dirt off of them as best as possible.
Baleage - best invention for putting up hay in NY. :banana: We RARELY get 3 days without rain. Extremely difficult to put up dry hay until mid summer (July/Aug) and that's real iffy. I don't own any hay equipment except the spears on my one and only tractor. If you wait for the weather to put up hay, you end up with crap hay done in July. We have ours done 1st week in June (which is still good early hay here - maybe about 2-3 weeks behind the dairymen)
Ignorance is bliss. My total cow cost has always been under $500/hd/year (taxes, fert, feed, hired hay labor, fuel, etc). The last 2 years my STEERS averaged $747. My breeding stock is a bit higher profit. So, you run your Texas herd the way you NEED to run it down there and I'll run mine under the stipulations dictated to me by my environment in as close to the best management possible.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Jeanne, since you have to feed them so hard to keep them looking good why not just send them down here where the weather is warm.
Be sure and send me a link to the sale catalog. I will not let a bargain go by like last year.

Kenny - Thanks! here's Doug Parke's site: http://www.parkelivestock.com/
It's not put together yet, but when it is, that's where it'll be.
If you PM me your snail mail address, I can have a book sent to you. I will have 10 lots in the sale (3 sets of embryo lots).
Oh - that brings up temptation - guess I will have to post a pic of our donors!!! Now, Houston will have something to talk about!!!

 

[jscunn]

Jeanne,
Really nice set of cows (as usual), you probably do have the best set of pictures on here. I know how hard it is to get good pictures of cattle, you or whoever does it for you does a great job. Good luck with them. Ohh and I like the black cow the best (probably just color preference), all four are very nice.

 

[TB-Herefords]

As to page one; I really like the red cow. As for the condition; when I see them that fleshy it usually means you have room for cattle if you so choose. Although a cow in workin clothes doesn't take the best pic, nor does it have the best sale pitch "Trust me she'll look better".
I resorted to calvin in the pastures quite a while ago and what I noticed is when I bring them into calve they will get really nervious and at times I think they take longer to calve. Really cuts down on the chores too. The lack of manure is a joy. I've had cows do both in herd calving and walk off by them selves to calve. As long as they do it alone I'm not to picky on how they do it. One questions; am I missing something, are those maine or simi's? I like this Icon :bs: , no implications, was just looking for the "I missed somethin, scraching my head" Icon.

 

[houstoncutter]

Purty show cows,only thing missing is the picture is the feed bucket in front of em!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

TB-Hfd - these are purebred Simmentals. "someone" mistakingly wrote Maines & everyone else jumped on it, because I have been a long time poster here & "most" everyone sorta knows me.
Being easy fleshing is part of my criteria when I pick out what will go in the sale. I sure don't want a hard doer that I would have to make excuses for and wouldn't bring very much $$$. Hard doers get shipped (culled). They usually don't survive in my program - despite what HC is trying to make everyone think. My cow herd is kept on grass & hay and have to breed back in a 63 day breeding season.
Houston - get over it! Are you that jeolous that my cattle can look that good on hay?? When you consider they received a small amount of shell corn from age 8/9 months old to maybe 14/15 months old and haven't seen any before or since. Do you REALLY think that the grain over a year ago is making them in this condition??? Go take another pill. They are in better condition NOW than they were when we bred them. If you put any fat on a heifer prior to breeding, it will ruin their milking ability. No milk = no cow.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Jeanne,
Really nice set of cows (as usual), you probably do have the best set of pictures on here. I know how hard it is to get good pictures of cattle, you or whoever does it for you does a great job. Good luck with them. Ohh and I like the black cow the best (probably just color preference), all four are very nice.

js - thanks. Getting them to stand in that "perfect" pose takes the longest. I had a couple of good friends come out. One took the pic & the other "played monkey/bull/calf" to get them perky.

 

[Jovid]

Jeanne,
Really nice set of cows (as usual), you probably do have the best set of pictures on here. I know how hard it is to get good pictures of cattle, you or whoever does it for you does a great job. Good luck with them. Ohh and I like the black cow the best (probably just color preference), all four are very nice.

js - thanks. Getting them to stand in that "perfect" pose takes the longest. I had a couple of good friends come out. One took the pic & the other "played monkey/bull/calf" to get them perky.

Who does the photoshop work?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Who does the photoshop work?
The only touchup done was to take a halter off the black 2-yr old & the solid black fall bred - and I did that. But, I can post the original pic if you doubt me. The red & blaze face did not have a halter - not broke to one.

 

[backhoeboogie]

This thread has been amusing to follow. I have not commented so thought I might throw in now - just in case.

Those are some nice cows. Don't know how they would work here in this climate - and never will. That does not matter since they'll never live here. I'd be proud to own them. I have owned a bunch that were much worse lookin animals. Have owned a few others I was proud of.

Jeanne, It is not so much what we think, (or what I think) but rather , are you satisfied? It sounds as tho you are earning enough nickels off of them.

Congratulations.

 

[Roan]

This thread is just hilarious, Jeannie continues to have beautiful cows, who cares how she raises them, they make her money and are very easy on the eye. Not my breed but would take one any day of the week. Keep up the good work Jeannie. :clap:

 

[Gators Rule]

I've been reading this from about 40,000 feet up in the air in order to obtain a good viewpoint of the whole story. Here's the view from 40,000 feet.

One person has great (and correct) cattle that get some feed for 5-6 months one time in the beginning of their life, allows their cows to calve in a barn, and then ushers them back out, feeds them winter baleage, takes some to purebred Simmi shows, blows the cow off when they get their picture taken......AND MAKES A PROFIT.

Another person who is no longer in the cattle business (?) thinks it is sinful for a cow to know what a feed bucket is, would never let a cow calve in a protective environment (cow must be tough), doesn't believe in baleage, would not be caught dead at a purebred show (the sound of a blower apparently whizz's him off), and thinks all well conditioned cattle are fed in a feedlot.....AND IS NO LONGER IN THE BUSINESS.

who is right, and who is wrong?

p.m. Beefmaster are commercial cattle with registration papers. I'm not dissing them, but just stating that beefmaster are basically commercial cattle.

 

[Farmgirl]

Good assessment Gator. The challenger in this thread lives in a drastically different climate than the cattle shown. That makes a tremendous difference. Comparing apples and watermelons!

My 2 cents.

Farmgirl

 

[houstoncutter]

I've been reading this from about 40,000 feet up in the air in order to obtain a good viewpoint of the whole story. Here's the view from 40,000 feet.

One person has great (and correct) cattle that get some feed for 5-6 months one time in the beginning of their life, allows their cows to calve in a barn, and then ushers them back out, feeds them winter baleage, takes some to purebred Simmi shows, blows the cow off when they get their picture taken......AND MAKES A PROFIT.

Another person who is no longer in the cattle business (?) thinks it is sinful for a cow to know what a feed bucket is, would never let a cow calve in a protective environment (cow must be tough), doesn't believe in baleage, would not be caught dead at a purebred show (the sound of a blower apparently whizz's him off), and thinks all well conditioned cattle are fed in a feedlot.....AND IS NO LONGER IN THE BUSINESS.

who is right, and who is wrong?

p.m. Beefmaster are commercial cattle with registration papers. I'm not dissing them, but just stating that beefmaster are basically commercial cattle.[/quote


Its amazing how some people have tried to make our discussion on this thread personal... If you will read my first post you will notice that I said that Jeanne had some on the best looking seedstock cattle on this board. I simply said they were not my cup of tea. Jeanne I am not jealous of your cattle, but you seem to get a bit testy when somebody mentions that you have blow and show cattle. I have looked at your website, lovely grandchild by the way, and I saw nothing that really changed my mind. I did see one pic of some cows digging in the snow for something to eat. So maybe you do make em hustle a little bit.

Of course now I have this Good Buddy from Fla that wants to chime because I am no longer active at this time....Funny... a year and a half ago when I sold my 365 head herd, I didnt think my comments had anymore merit than someone who had 10 head...Gator if your in the commercial aspect of the cattle biz as I was, you will get in and out cattle biz riding the cattle cycle. Sell high and buy back in cheap...A little something you might know Gator,or maybe not,I think the later, there are times after severe drought or disaters in your area that tax rules are eased up.. If you sell your whole herd at those times your taxes on the cattle are figured at capital gains rate of 15% versus in my case a rate of 39%. I am in this to make money not have a hobby ranch...and yes I expect a cow to carry her weight. She will get wormed once a year, no shots, very little hay, no feed,and in late winter into spring some top noch rye grass and clover thats what the good Lord made grass for. Baylage which is the same thing as feed. Jeanne said her bailage was about 14 to 16 percent protein...Most top of the line sweet feed at the feedstore is 12 to 14 percent. If that cows doesnt bring in a good calf, she goes, no excuses. It doenst make my way the right way or the wrong way, just another way....Whos right or wrong? Nobody we just run different facets of the biz.

Finally Farm Girl, I as a commercial cattleman want to know if the bloodlines of a bull that i might buy from Jeanne can hustle and get the job done..If you have been around this business anytime at all, you will find a seedstock producers pushing the attributes of there latest greatest curvebending bull.. I have become jaded in my opinion of seedstock producers over the years. They play all kinds of little tricks to make their epd's look better on their bulls. Could one of Jeannes bulls come to the Old and Lost River bottom and survive, maybe...you see I treat my bulls like the superstars they should be. I will slip some cubes to them when ever possible and when i pull em out they will go on the best pasture I have avaible... Every once in a while I get a bull that can work and stay in good shape....Needless to say I go back to the seedstock producer who sold me that bull....beggin for more like him.........and 95% of the time the producer who raised that bull, runs a really tight ship and doesnt baby his livestock.

 

[VCC]

not trying to pick a fight, but I dont like any of them. They are fitted show animals, animals that have been pampered their whole lives. I understand that to be competive in the show ring that these animals have to be treated in this manner. They may or not, be reflective of their breed which I assume is Maine, but they do not represent cattle in the real world, and those are the types of animals I like to look at. Of course that is only my personal taste....As for being show cattle they look good ,I have never seen u put a pic on this board of show cattle that did not look outstanding. (must translate to "best Looking seedstock on the board")

Purty show cows,only thing missing is the picture is the feed bucket in front of em!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you will read my first post you will notice that I said that Jeanne had some on the best looking seedstock cattle on this board.

Now had you made your that last comment first, I am sure this post would not have been so entertaining, I wonder how deep that snow is in the heart of winter, heck even the bison try and leave Yellow Stone because the snow is to deep. In my neck of the woods we have to feed hay in the summer if you can't irrigate, we have grass all winter.

If you can manage your animals, your land, make a profit and have cows that look like hers, there is no need to be jealous. I would bet those cows could go any where from NY to WA and keep there condition on, would I send them to FL or AZ no but then I would not send any of your Beefmaster's to MT (they make think they went to heaven in the summer but come winter they might just be seen hitch hiking back south in a hurry)



Jeanne I would take anyone of them a feel like I had something worth having

 

[ALACOWMAN]

one of few threads,, where you have to explain why they look so good.... some cattle dont look worth a dam no matter how much groceries you run through them.... like the other thread on''genetic potentail'' you can polish a turd,, but all you get is a shiney turd

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Houston, I'm sorry, we have all been having a good time at your expense. We all live in different "worlds". I am very confident about the quality & hardiness of my cattle. They have gone all over, from Louisianna, to Maine, to Canada, to Illinois. Nope don't think any have made it down to good ole Texas (where I lived for 5 years as a child - outside of Mesquite). My cattle aren't your cup of tea, but I am pleased with them and excited about the response all our good posters have given.
Thanks, to all of you. I'm pretty thick skinned - just hate the thought of someone might read negative posts & get the wrong impression.
And, BTW, I'm PROUD of the fact that we "blow & show" - nothing to hide :banana: :banana:
Although, when Robert's around, it's hard not to let him "dress up" some of them - and he & Rodney don't use a lot of "product" - just a light touch!