What's hybrid vigor? This baby is PUREBRED ANGUS!

[TennesseeTuxedo]

LOL - I had some that were off the frame chart! I can remember we always shaved the bellie bald because you wanted them to APPEAR as tall as possible. :shock:
Not the kind of cattle I like (or liked at the time) but they were what I got paid the most money for. I "LOVE" the style of cattle we are at now.

I agree, I think we've found a good balance.

 

[Ky hills]

LOL - I had some that were off the frame chart! I can remember we always shaved the bellie bald because you wanted them to APPEAR as tall as possible. :shock:
Not the kind of cattle I like (or liked at the time) but they were what I got paid the most money for. I "LOVE" the style of cattle we are at now.

I agree, I think we've found a good balance.

Phenotypically, for the most part I agree, however its an ongoing process and I believe that due to some trends less visible that some good things like fertility and efficiency are still being diminished.
One thing is for sure I don't miss the type of cattle that the frame score charts don't go high enough to measure, nor do I want to have the belt buckle equivalent cattle either.

 

[Ebenezer]

I always wondered how western Herefords could be on open range for a 100 years with long horns, and Spanish cattle, and magically come out of it as "purebred."
Makes one wonder... :lol:

Obviously, some didn't.

There have been some interesting DNA studies done in recent years. One study shows that Lents Anxiety 4th Herefords compare very closely to the "original Hereford" population in England. The Line 1 herd at Fort Keogh only varies slightly, but the "mainstream" North American Hereford sample greatly varied from its "original" English counterpart.

Some more details, like the majority of that mainstream "departure" occurred after the early/mid 70s.

Additional information is supposed to be in the works, but is slow in coming.

Bottom line, as I understand it, is North American Herefords largely aren't "Hereford" anymore.

I think it naïve to think that a departure couldn't happen. That time frame of the 70's sounds very logical, with the arrival and subsequent rise in popularity of the various continental breeds. I have stated before that a neighbor that is an Angus fanatic vehemently denies any outside influence in Angus stating his theory of breeding long bone to long bone thus giving the fast rise of large framed Angus. In my thinking it would have taken a fairly large population of outliers and a concerted effort to use them to accomplish that and AI in beef wasn't that common place then I don't think. The same individual that made those statements about Angus changing but remaining pure, boasted that Herefords were impure.

Angus of that time seemed to pick up a bit more white and some were known to have horns and scurs. Probably due to showers of moon dust and such.

 

[gizmom]

I had a friend decide to line-breed a certain genetic line (I am 99% certain of the bull he used but don't want to call a name because of the 1% uncertainty). Anyway several years into the experiment he had two of the coolest looking black and white calves you have ever seen. Deep with a ton of muscle expression just not Angus lol. That was the end of that experiment, something other than Angus in that woodpile for sure.

Gizmom

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Cattle breeding takes too long, and life is too short..

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Cattle breeding takes too long, and life is too short..

...to not crossbreed.



:lol: