Supa Dexta":2vcmab61 said:
I see the points you're making.
whats the difference hereford polled vs horned
- Thread starter ez14
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I see the points you're making.
I was a member of another site, Hereford. Yes, I do raise polled Herefords but I do look for the facts from a reliable source. After reading many negative comments on the polled Herefords I was banned from that site when I submitted this information. The administrator had his own opinions also. I believe the source is reliable and unbiased. Please note who did the research. I agree whenever we select for one trait other traits will suffer. However the polled genetics first arrived over 100 years ago. I do take note of the number of polled and horned bulls in AI books to indicate the wishes of breeders. My simple advise is raise what you wish but if you wish to promote a breed stop the infighting and let your customers make their own decisions.
http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_horned_vs_polled
http://beefmagazine.com/mag/beef_horned_vs_polled
The only issue I have with the report is how long ago the study was done. When I ws talking about selection for only the polled trait, I thought I made it clear that it was when the polled Hereford first got started being popular. 50 years later, or even 25-30 like the study things had pretty much stabilized and there really wasn;t much difference other then horns.farmguy":2usenpbv said:
The issue today is that people still remember the old times and don;t allow for the improvements that have been made. All the recall is "the way it was".
Years ago we lived near 3 small charolais breeders. The wife and I kept busy pulling big(huge) knotheaded calves for the owners. Today if I told her I was going to use a charolais bull she would shoot me, even though the old lady next door has been using them for 25- years or more with no issues other then those expected in any livestock breeding enterprise..
I'd consider a horned Hereford over my Angus cows if I could find a good one in the area. Don't shoot me mrvictordomino!
In some circles this is a really hot topic that some will have a very strong opinion 1 way or another and you won't change some of those people's opinions regardless if you present relevant examples how their opinion isn't always factual. Personally if you don't care about horned or polled status then all that should matter is the quality of the herefords you are looking at because you can find very good cattle both polled or horned and you can also find some poor ones too and wether they have horns or not is not the reason behind it but the quality of the genetics and animals behind them. That's just how I view it, I don't have a negative biased against horned herefords and I really wish some of the guys on both sides would quit pitting the horned vs polled thing against each other and just focus on improving the breed as a whole instead of spewing crap out there that one is better than the other.
We raise polled herefords but you can find some horned genetics in some of our pedigrees which whenever you have a recessive gene it will occasionally come to the surface once in awhile so we do get some horned calves once in awhile. The main reason we raise polleds are we just don't like messing with horns. Yeah I know you can either paste them just after birth which we do if we detect horns which aren't always present at birth or dehorn after weaning. We'd just rather not have to deal with dehorning at all and breed them polled so we only buy or use polled bulls, preferably homozygous polled if possible too.
I also think where you are located plays a big part of how marketable horned or polled herefords can be too. In some areas of the country horned herefords are king while other areas some breeders may find polled herefords more desirable. Once in awhile we'll have a dehorned bull or heifer in our private treaty offerings and they are just as good if not some of the best calves in the group but we find that since they are horned there is less interest in them than our polled calves. Maybe that's because we're a polled breeder, we had several commercial breeders pass on probably the best bull in our sale pen a few years back because he was horned. We would tell them that if they were using him on purebred or predominately black angus crossbred females that the polled Angus gene is the dominant gene so wether the bull is polled or horned should not matter but some guys around here will avoid horns at all costs regardless. He eventually sold but he should have been the 1st bull any commercial breeder should have picked out of the pen so depending on your market and how "informed" your audience is might dictate just how marketable a horned or polled hereford may be.
Some of the comments made above are legit though. The frame race with the polleds especially was a big one that really hurt the quality in the 90's and thankfully breeders finally came to their senses and brought frame down to a more moderate size while adding back the muscle that they lost by breeding those big lanky framed cattle that lacked it.
We raise polled herefords but you can find some horned genetics in some of our pedigrees which whenever you have a recessive gene it will occasionally come to the surface once in awhile so we do get some horned calves once in awhile. The main reason we raise polleds are we just don't like messing with horns. Yeah I know you can either paste them just after birth which we do if we detect horns which aren't always present at birth or dehorn after weaning. We'd just rather not have to deal with dehorning at all and breed them polled so we only buy or use polled bulls, preferably homozygous polled if possible too.
I also think where you are located plays a big part of how marketable horned or polled herefords can be too. In some areas of the country horned herefords are king while other areas some breeders may find polled herefords more desirable. Once in awhile we'll have a dehorned bull or heifer in our private treaty offerings and they are just as good if not some of the best calves in the group but we find that since they are horned there is less interest in them than our polled calves. Maybe that's because we're a polled breeder, we had several commercial breeders pass on probably the best bull in our sale pen a few years back because he was horned. We would tell them that if they were using him on purebred or predominately black angus crossbred females that the polled Angus gene is the dominant gene so wether the bull is polled or horned should not matter but some guys around here will avoid horns at all costs regardless. He eventually sold but he should have been the 1st bull any commercial breeder should have picked out of the pen so depending on your market and how "informed" your audience is might dictate just how marketable a horned or polled hereford may be.
Some of the comments made above are legit though. The frame race with the polleds especially was a big one that really hurt the quality in the 90's and thankfully breeders finally came to their senses and brought frame down to a more moderate size while adding back the muscle that they lost by breeding those big lanky framed cattle that lacked it.
Tim/South
Well-known member
It is easier to find a good horned hereford than it is to find a good polled hereford.
1982vett
Well-known member
Probably depends where you are. Not to hard around here.Tim/South":14l1sq4i said:
Muddy
Well-known member
It is hard to find a horned hereford of any quality other than mini ones here but the polled hereford is dirty common as black angus cow. Plenty of quality polled hereford bulls tho.Tim/South":1zq6l5dj said:
Muddy
Well-known member
I agree with you. Ive noticed it on Facebook and many people commented that it is cruel to dehorning and castrating the livestock. It is very scary that most people would believe anything on the Internet even if it's not true, just like the Belgian Blue being stereotyped as a "GMO cattle on steriods".Supa Dexta":25tb1wka said:
JMJ Farms
Well-known member
Muddy":3jhkiyao said:
What amazes me is that people who don't know don't know their a$$ from a hole in the ground are worried about a cattleman cutting off a bulls nuts or dehorning. Yall will have to forgive me because I think along the lines with Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men". He said, "I have neither the time nor inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the very blanket of freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather him just say thank you......." I feel the same way about the beef I provide.
BUT, I do agree more stringent regulation is getting much closer.
RisingCreekHerefords
Active member
IMO, there isn't much of a difference now that the registrations have merged and breeders have started using both. Both polled and horned animals can have similar genetics. For example, the bull sensation has sons that are polled and horned. Same genetics, different options.
JMJ Farms
Well-known member
Here's a fact about a polled hereford. I like mine :deadhorse:
ez14
Well-known member
thanks for the replies and info every body
ohiosteve
Well-known member
Cattle born with horns are smarter than cattle born polled.
JMJ Farms
Well-known member
Alan":1x0nwr57 said:
The truly best hereford is one that only grows one horn. A half polled :lol2:
ez14
Well-known member
Does the horn come out in the middle :lol:JMJ Farms":6eyur3qb said:
JMJ Farms
Well-known member
ez14":302he46f said:
On the best ones it does :lol2: :clap: :lol2:
