What it takes to register cattle

[BK9954]

What process is it to register cattle. What do I need to have. When do I need to weigh them etc... really looking at selling my commercial and going registered. Just want to know the hassle that goes into it

 

[Muddy]

Buy quality registered cattle first. Average looking or junky registered cattle won't help you in a long run.

 

[dun]

Depends on the breed registry as to what is required.

 

[tamarack]

Shorthorn registration requires you to first join association then have to pay per head of animals to register the calves. You have to dna the bulls you will be using and have them tested for genetic defects before you can register the offspring. There is a fee for every step.

 

[shortybreeder]

Agree with Muddy. Buy good quality registered cattle because average-low quality will just be an expensive train wreck. And Tamarack summed up the shorthorns pretty well. You don't HAVE to weigh them, but it is definitely recommended so that you have some data behind the cattle you sell. That typically means birth weight, 205 day weight, and 365 day weight if you're selling yearling bulls.

 

[BK9954]

Registered brangus

 

[Muddy]

Registered brangus

Personally, you're better off with commercial cattle, unless you want to raises highest quality brangus cattle. But they won't be cheap.

 

[cbcr]

If your commercial cows are producing quality calves, you could breed up to a purebred status, takes 3 crosses to reach 87.5%. Some breeds such as Charolais, Shorthorn though require a higher percentage to be considered purebred, 15/16.

Some of the herd books are closed, Angus and Hereford are. So if you are considering either of those breeds, upgrading is not possible.

It may be a little slower, but it will pay off in the long run. Commercial cows won't bring as much as it will cost to replace them with registered animals. By breeding up, when you sell the calves that are not kept for replacements, then you could use some of that money to buy a registered animal to put into the herd.

This will also give you some time to build a reputation for producing good cattle. This is very important for being able to market registered animals.

Do you know any of the breeding on your cows, Sires etc? What kind of records do you have on the herd you have now?

 

[BK9954]

No history on the brangus I have now. The commercial brangus for sale around here seems people dont have a strong history either or want over $2000 for them. If I pay that kind of money I might as well invest in quality registered. Like my neighbor says, it cost the same amount of feed for registered or non registered, it matters if you can market the registered though.

 

[Jessica06]

The IBBA uses THR (total herd reporting), so you have to at least report a calf or a non-calving reason every year. Also, you will have to pay a THR fee for every cow, every year in order to keep them active. I think it's $21/head. That covers registering a calf, and one transfer fee before they turn 2.

Would you want to sell bulls, or just have females with papers?

 

[farmerquig]

really depends on your market/region... we are new at this and not sure it was the right route to take.
Have some quality animals but no (local) market that I have found.