Why are Hereford bulls overlooked?

[SimAngHerf]

Can someone help me understand why Herefords aren't utilized more often in crossbreeding programs except the legendary baldie. I know a lot of people don't consider them as terminal sires but there are bulls that have a lot of performance in them, are they just late maturing. What about utilizing them for replacement girls? I also think no other breed association has marketed or advertised like the Angus Association has and that has a lot to do with their status.

 

[Bright Raven]

I can offer this, when I retired in 2010 and was thinking about running some cattle on the farm, I never got one single recommendation to utilize the Hereford breed. Here in Kentucky, there are some good Hereford breeders but the pastures are mostly black.

 

[HDRider]

I have no real answer, but I don't have a conversation about Herefords without eye problems being brought up. Justified or not, it seems to always come up.

I plan on putting a polled Hereford on my 3rd calvers. Baldy is beautiful.

I'd say Hereford is the #2 breed in my area by looking at pastures around here.

 

[Aaron]

Just a regional thing. Far more Hereford, Charolais and Red Angus bulls travelling pastures here than Black Angus. BA fad has come and gone here, lasted a good 10 years; longer than the Limo fad.

 

[Coosh71]

Good quality baldies will top the sales here in our area. Feedlot buyers love them. A lot of ranches here run strictly Hereford bulls over BA cows. I agree with the "regional" comment.

 

[SimAngHerf]

I have no real answer, but I don't have a conversation about Herefords without eye problems being brought up. Justified or not, it seems to always come up.

I plan on putting a polled Hereford on my 3rd calvers. Baldy is beautiful.

I'd say Hereford is the #2 breed in my area by looking at pastures around here.

I to have heard numerous times of the old pink eye and cancer eye problems. I am by far considered a beginner compared to many of the veteran cattlemen on CT but I have more pink eye problems in my brangus than any other in "our" herd.

 

[SimAngHerf]

Good quality baldies will top the sales here in our area. Feedlot buyers love them. A lot of ranches here run strictly Hereford bulls over BA cows. I agree with the "regional" comment.

May i ask where your region is? I love the baldie crosses we have, they may not wean the >700lb WW (if you believe they are all grass) in the AI catalogs but they are easy keepers and dependable.

 

[SimAngHerf]

I can offer this, when I retired in 2010 and was thinking about running some cattle on the farm, I never got one single recommendation to utilize the Hereford breed. Here in Kentucky, there are some good Hereford breeders but the pastures are mostly black.

What recommendations were you given? Any reasons on lack of Hereford recommendations?

 

[Bright Raven]

I can offer this, when I retired in 2010 and was thinking about running some cattle on the farm, I never got one single recommendation to utilize the Hereford breed. Here in Kentucky, there are some good Hereford breeders but the pastures are mostly black.

What recommendations were you given? Any reasons on lack of Hereford recommendations?

My farm is in NE Kentucky. I sell at the Paris stockyards. Black cattle sell higher. I was told to go with BA but a vet who I have now become good friends with, recommended Simmental or Simangus. I currently sell mostly seedstock Simmental Cattle. They enjoy a good market here and across the Midwest. The Hereford is a remnant breed here. They are a very nice breed but you very rarely see them in a pasture.

 

[Coosh71]

We are in the Texas Panhandle. Even straight Hereford sell well here. Have many producers that have ran Hereford since early 1900s.

 

[bball]

Good quality baldies will top the sales here in our area. Feedlot buyers love them. A lot of ranches here run strictly Hereford bulls over BA cows. I agree with the "regional" comment.

May i ask where your region is? I love the baldie crosses we have, they may not wean the >700lb WW (if you believe they are all grass) in the AI catalogs but they are easy keepers and dependable.

This is one of the contributing factors for incorporating them into my herd.

 

[Bullitt]

Can someone help me understand why Herefords aren't utilized more often in crossbreeding programs except the legendary baldie. I know a lot of people don't consider them as terminal sires but there are bulls that have a lot of performance in them, are they just late maturing. What about utilizing them for replacement girls? I also think no other breed association has marketed or advertised like the Angus Association has and that has a lot to do with their status.

Crossing a Hereford and a Brahman to produce F1 Tigerstripe/Braford cattle is considered one of the best crosses here in Texas and other warm states. It is very popular to use the Tigerstripe cows with a continental bull for one of the best three-way crosses.

I think a Hereford X Angus is very good also, whether the bull is Angus or Hereford. The Black baldy heifers make good replacement heifers and the calves sell very well.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I'm over looking a Hereford right now... He's in a paddock. Gonna introduce him to my black gals soon..

 

[Ky hills]

In my opinion, in this area at least it started years ago with pinkeye/cancer eye issues and a perception that they were in general a weaker animal thus more prone to a range of health issues in general.
Then as the continental breeds became very much in demand they took away from the smaller framed British breeds. Then as the continentals began to fall out favor for issues of their own rite the Angus machine came to prominence with moderation and carcass quality being touted and thus the black hided era began, leaving Herefords behind yet again.
As a Hereford enthusiast I will say that as of right now I think the main reason they are overlooked is because of the market dock stemming from all of the above.
I am of the belief that Herefords can add a lot of positives to a herd. My experience has been that as a whole they are more docile and easy to work with than others. In our herd they seem to calve more regularly and raise heavier calves than our black cows.
They seem to me to crossbreed well with other breeds, the BWF is a good cross for about any scenario.
One of the thickest calves ever raised here was a Hereford x Limousin.
Years ago I crossed a Hereford bull on some Holstien and Jersey cows. Angus worked good on them, but I thought the Hereford added some more volume and size to their calves, and the resulting heifer calves made some fine cows.
We currently have a Hereford bull with cows and another young one soon to go out.

 

[u4411clb]

In my area you see allot of Hereford influence as a tool in the tool box. They cross great with Brahman based breeds to make replacements. From Brahman cross to get tigers to Brangus cross to get super baldie to Gert cross for Star 5 and the tried and true Angus cross baldie.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Ive used Hereford bulls over Angus and Simmental cows for commercial replacements. I haven't seen any pinkeye problems in my baldie cattle, that's a non issue so far. The problems I had with using Hereford bulls was the lack of growth in heifers and steers and calving problems. But selling good red baldie bred heifers for $200 to $500 less than my black balide heifers at specialty commercial sales hurts the most.
Hereford cattle do well living off the land and scrounging for a living. There's no question Hereford cross cattle do better than Angus and Simmental cross cattle under our management style.

 

[u4411clb]

My complaint about Hereford cattle is the huge variation among the breed. And I know all breeds have variation and in Angus you got the Occ group and the Sav group and the Gar groups but the difference in those does not compare with Hereford. You got the Hereford built lik Charolais the horned Hereford that are wide as they are tall the hatchet butt Hereford the polled Hereford with their issues. It is hard to find a good one that is affordable too. But I have and will again run some Hereford bulls.

 

[SimAngHerf]

In my opinion, in this area at least it started years ago with pinkeye/cancer eye issues and a perception that they were in general a weaker animal thus more prone to a range of health issues in general.
Then as the continental breeds became very much in demand they took away from the smaller framed British breeds. Then as the continentals began to fall out favor for issues of their own rite the Angus machine came to prominence with moderation and carcass quality being touted and thus the black hided era began, leaving Herefords behind yet again.
As a Hereford enthusiast I will say that as of right now I think the main reason they are overlooked is because of the market dock stemming from all of the above.
I am of the belief that Herefords can add a lot of positives to a herd. My experience has been that as a whole they are more docile and easy to work with than others. In our herd they seem to calve more regularly and raise heavier calves than our black cows.
They seem to me to crossbreed well with other breeds, the BWF is a good cross for about any scenario.
One of the thickest calves ever raised here was a Hereford x Limousin.
Years ago I crossed a Hereford bull on some Holstien and Jersey cows. Angus worked good on them, but I thought the Hereford added some more volume and size to their calves, and the resulting heifer calves made some fine cows.
We currently have a Hereford bull with cows and another young one soon to go out.

That was very well said, while I haven't been around long enough to see it as you described I definitely notice most markets favor the certified angus beef which requires >50% black hide amongst a few other characteristics.

 

[SimAngHerf]

Ive used Hereford bulls over Angus and Simmental cows for commercial replacements. I haven't seen any pinkeye problems in my baldie cattle, that's a non issue so far. The problems I had with using Hereford bulls was the lack of growth in heifers and steers and calving problems. But selling good red baldie bred heifers for $200 to $500 less than my black balide heifers at specialty commercial sales hurts the most.
Hereford cattle do well living off the land and scrounging for a living. There's no question Hereford cross cattle do better than Angus and Simmental cross cattle under our management style.

What were your thoughts on the Herf over the simangus? I'm sure our herds differ but May 1st I will be turning 2 Herefords into a group of simangus.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Ive used Hereford bulls over Angus and Simmental cows for commercial replacements. I haven't seen any pinkeye problems in my baldie cattle, that's a non issue so far. The problems I had with using Hereford bulls was the lack of growth in heifers and steers and calving problems. But selling good red baldie bred heifers for $200 to $500 less than my black balide heifers at specialty commercial sales hurts the most.
Hereford cattle do well living off the land and scrounging for a living. There's no question Hereford cross cattle do better than Angus and Simmental cross cattle under our management style.

What were your thoughts on the Herf over the simangus? I'm sure our herds differ but May 1st I will be turning 2 Herefords into a group of simangus.

For starters you'll have a lot of red baldies and some nice replacements. I sure wouldn't put a Hereford bull on SimAngus heifers. Most of our calves were of average size, but we had a few really big calves using Hereford bulls. We like our baldie cows their moderate in size and are having nice Angus cross calves. I'm kind of surprised how many baldie faced calves we're having using Angus bulls.