What is the least expensive breed of cattle

[warpaint]

A live calf will always bring more than a dead one!

About the only time you will ever catch me take one to a sale barn is if the cow is to old to produce anymore, or is too rank to handle. With the exception of crosses, we raise purebred stock. Ropers are high in demand here also.

 

[dun]

I can't speak for anyone else but I guess I just come from the belt and suspender school of thinking. I'd rather take a chance on losing money on the calf then take a chance on losing the heifer. It doesn't take more then a couple of $7-800 hickeys to tear the dickens out of your margin of profit. Maybe the big outfits can handle that and never look back but the small producer would have a hard time with it. Experiance is all any of us has to go by and I for one don't think it's a lot of fun to be one my hands and knees in the mud or the snow trying to pull a calf or sewing up a prolapse. Or for that matter riding up on a dead heifer hiding in the brush that had problems.Z

It all goes back to proper bull selection and for that matter proper heifer selection.

dun

 

[ROB]

Don't know how this compares to any of your'alls longhorn experiences, but here it goes:

I sold a braunvieh heifer at our local salebarn last January. She was a nice thick 700 lb. spring calf born in May. Outdone every other heifer (Angus and Angus-Braunvieh cross) in the same comtemporary group. All the others averaged about $1.15/hundred wt. - she brought 85 cents. $210.00 dock!!! All because of color. Talked to some guys that had attended the sale - they thought she was a really nice looking calf...better than most of the others sold her size (which sold as replacements)...but they wouldn't think of buying something non-black with all their buddies hanging around. Should have kept her for a butcher calf...will know better next time.


ROB

___________
Gloom, dispair & agony on me...deep dark depression-excessive misery...if it warn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all...you know the rest!!!

 

[Rustler9]

I've never understood and I guess I never will the mentality of folks who'd rather breed their heifers to a high birth weight bull and take chances as to whether the heifer and/or her calf makes it. If there's so many low birth weight beef bulls out there, then why don't more people use them? I would still rather have a live calf that I can market even if it does get docked by the cattle rustlers at the barn than to have a dead heifer or calf. I just don't see how that adds up to any type of profit. Plus, I like my stock enough to not stress them out any more than need be. Yes, I know the cattle industy thinks it has to be black and polled but a Charolais crossed on a Longhorn will make as much money as a black calf. I've seen it done, it happens all the time and it will continue to happen. Polled Char bull on Longhorns cows=big, yellow calves that will more than pay for their mamas in one season. I knew when this post was started that the Longhorn breed would get bashed as it always does. But that's ok. Again, I will never understand someone who's too stubborn to breed those first calf heifers (no matter what breed they are) to a Longhorn bull to get a live calf that will definitely make more money than the one that got dragged off to the ditch. Longhorns will never gain in popularity like the beef breed____________ (insert your breed of choice that's been turned black-and on no there was no Angus added to the wood pile, they just naturally evolved into blackness) but I just wonder what everyone will do when the black fad goes away. The cattle market is so trendy and breed popularity comes and goes. Don't you thnk it will cahnge again?

 

[WORANCH]

I've never understood and I guess I never will the mentality of folks who'd rather breed their heifers to a high birth weight bull and take chances as to whether the heifer and/or her calf makes it. If there's so many low birth weight beef bulls out there, then why don't more people use them? I would still rather have a live calf that I can market even if it does get docked by the cattle rustlers at the barn than to have a dead heifer or calf. I just don't see how that adds up to any type of profit. Plus, I like my stock enough to not stress them out any more than need be. Yes, I know the cattle industy thinks it has to be black and polled but a Charolais crossed on a Longhorn will make as much money as a black calf. I've seen it done, it happens all the time and it will continue to happen. Polled Char bull on Longhorns cows=big, yellow calves that will more than pay for their mamas in one season. I knew when this post was started that the Longhorn breed would get bashed as it always does. But that's ok. Again, I will never understand someone who's too stubborn to breed those first calf heifers (no matter what breed they are) to a Longhorn bull to get a live calf that will definitely make more money than the one that got dragged off to the ditch. Longhorns will never gain in popularity like the beef breed____________ (insert your breed of choice that's been turned black-and on no there was no Angus added to the wood pile, they just naturally evolved into blackness) but I just wonder what everyone will do when the black fad goes away. The cattle market is so trendy and breed popularity comes and goes. Don't you thnk it will cahnge again?

Your assuming that if it's not a LH its high BW . You can get low BW in other breeds plus get a calf that will grow.
I don't think that a 70lb calf is to big . A 1000lb heifer should have a calf 7% of her body weight . If she can't it's my fault for keeping her as a replacement.

 

[Rustler9]

No, I'm not assuming that only Longhorns have low birth weights. I hear people talk about other low birth weight bulls of other breeds so I assume that they exist. My question is why don't more people use them if they don't want to use a Longhorn bull?

 

[dun]

No, I'm not assuming that only Longhorns have low birth weights. I hear people talk about other low birth weight bulls of other breeds so I assume that they exist. My question is why don't more people use them if they don't want to use a Longhorn bull?

Maybe because of the same reason people want black cattle,marketing

dun

 

[WORANCH]

Marketing is a good reason to use something besides LH .

 

[WORANCH]

A live calf will always bring more than a dead one!.

1 How much less will the LH calf weigh at weaning?
2 How much less per pound will it bring?

How many calves would I have to lose before it would pay to use a LH?

 

[dun]

Marketing is a good reason to use something besides LH .

I was referring to the marketing of lh bulls as easy calvers, sure wasn;t talking about the calves

dun

 

[ALACOWMAN]

the biggest reason is what will the longhorn do on the feed lot? their not gonna finish out with the rest of the group. some breeds finish too quick thats another problem for them too

 

[Rustler9]

WORANCH wrote:

1 How much less will the LH calf weigh at weaning?
2 How much less per pound will it bring?

How many calves would I have to lose before it would pay to use a LH?

1 It all depends on what breed of heifer you breed the Longhorn bull to. There's not going to be a big difference in weight of a crossbred, maybe you're thinking of straight Longhorn? Remember that you get heterosis (hybrid vigor) when crossing two different breeds. Now, there's skinny, small framed Longhorns as well as other beef breeds. I'm assuming that the bull is a good, beefy type bull as well as the heifers.

2 That too depends on what breed you cross with. When bred to Charolais, there shouldn't be any difference in price. The Char x Longhorn crosses that I've seen look like any other breed that's been crossed with a Charolais, yellow to cream color. 80% polled if the Char is a true polled animal. These usually bring the same as any other Char cross at the sale barn. Longhorns also cross well with Angus, Brangus, Beefmaster. Use a solid red or black Longhorn bull to get more solid colored calves. In most cases they're only going to bring less if they can figure a way to get them for less. They use spots, speckles and horns to dock you.

3 How many calves can you afford to lose? I hate to lose one, two really bites.

 

[Ratfish]

This post makes me wonder about what people would raise if they did it for their own food (slaughter and freeze) and didn't need to worry about market prices and so forth.

 

[KenB]

This post makes me wonder about what people would raise if they did it for their own food (slaughter and freeze) and didn't need to worry about market prices and so forth.

Interesting question, something that I would like to know also.

 

[WORANCH]

WORANCH wrote:

1 How much less will the LH calf weigh at weaning?
2 How much less per pound will it bring?

How many calves would I have to lose before it would pay to use a LH?

1 It all depends on what breed of heifer you breed the Longhorn bull to. There's not going to be a big difference in weight of a crossbred, maybe you're thinking of straight Longhorn? Remember that you get heterosis (hybrid vigor) when crossing two different breeds. Now, there's skinny, small framed Longhorns as well as other beef breeds. I'm assuming that the bull is a good, beefy type bull as well as the heifers.

2 That too depends on what breed you cross with. When bred to Charolais, there shouldn't be any difference in price. The Char x Longhorn crosses that I've seen look like any other breed that's been crossed with a Charolais, yellow to cream color. 80% polled if the Char is a true polled animal. These usually bring the same as any other Char cross at the sale barn. Longhorns also cross well with Angus, Brangus, Beefmaster. Use a solid red or black Longhorn bull to get more solid colored calves. In most cases they're only going to bring less if they can figure a way to get them for less. They use spots, speckles and horns to dock you.

3 How many calves can you afford to lose? I hate to lose one, two really bites.

1 I think you will get to many fine boned calves with white on them .

2 useing a char bull on longhorn cows I agree.

But we're talking useing LH on heifers (any breed ) And just like you posted , They use spots, speckles and horns to dock you.
No reason to take the dock when you can use a low birth weight beef bull .

 

[Brandonm2]

This post makes me wonder about what people would raise if they did it for their own food (slaughter and freeze) and didn't need to worry about market prices and so forth.

If all I was doing was raising meat for me and economics, shows, and marketing had no effect, I think it would still be Herefords; but they would be smaller Herefords......frame score 2 or 3 (little Angus would work as well). I obviously don't want to feed out a steer too 1400+++ pounds and then stick him in a freezer and minis are too extreme.