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Why are Hereford bulls overlooked?
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<blockquote data-quote="SPH" data-source="post: 1501020" data-attributes="member: 20580"><p>I agree with a lot of the posts so far in this thread when it comes to positives and criticisms. I do think it's partially a regional thing when it comes to demand for Herefords from what I hear as some guys seem surprised to see sale results around here that struggle to sell good Hereford bulls in their area for anywhere near those prices. I will say right now I think that in good portions of the Midwest Hereford bulls are in high demand and there are a lot of breeders that are raising some good Hereford cattle in the region that are breeding with the commercial guy in mind. Our state Hereford sale averaged $250 more than the Angus this year and was the top selling breed at the Iowa Beef Expo and their sale is held at the same time as the Hereford sale. </p><p></p><p>We don't have a huge herd - most years we breed around 20-25 females but we usually keep the top 3 or 4 bull calves to sell as yearlings and the large majority of them have sold to commercial guys with black cows and several of them have come back to buy another bull again after they liked the results they got from the 1st bull they bought. One of our bulls this year sold to a guy that bought a bull from us 3 years ago and he told us he is done buying Angus bulls after using a Hereford bull. We aren't selling bulls at a discount or near sale barn prices but we do follow the market and production sales and price ours accordingly and most guys do not balk at our asking prices. We collect weights and data on our bulls through yearling including DNA testing and ultrasound at their BSE which we feel adds to their value when there is raw data behind them and not just blindly trusting their EPDs.</p><p></p><p>I think some of the negatives Herefords got a bad rap for over the years like calving ease, eye problems, prolapse, and udders most breeders have culled and bred out those problems over the years. First off I think that pinkeye is much more an environmental thing than it is genetic. We vaccinate for pinkeye before cows and calves go out to summer pasture and unless we have a really dry summer we hardly ever have to treat for pinkeye. The commercial breeder just down the road from us had a black Angus bull nearly go blind from pinkeye one summer while we didn't have to treat a single animal for it so I don't buy into the notion that it's a problem specific to Herefords. With calving ease, regardless what you may think of EPDs that is the 1 area we do not ignore when we make breeding decisions as we have been bitten more than once by taking a chance on a higher BW and CE EPD bull despite his actual BW being reasonable. There is a good chance that EPD is high for a reason because there are probably calving ease issues somewhere in the bull's pedigree that he has inherited and the accuracy behind the EPD is important to pay attention to as well. The prolapse issues usually can be traced back to certain sires that I think anyone who had a problem with culled as soon as they identified the source. And finally udders, that is an area I think a lot of Hereford breeders have made a lot of progress in. I see a lot more cows in Hereford programs today that have adequate milk and good teat and udder structure than there was 10-20 years ago. The 2 biggest problems were a cow that milked heavy but had big teats and a saggy udder or a cow that didn't milk worth a darn. Everyone has their own opinions on what they call a functional udder so there is always room for improvement when it comes to udders the Hereford breed has come a long ways in that area.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SPH, post: 1501020, member: 20580"] I agree with a lot of the posts so far in this thread when it comes to positives and criticisms. I do think it's partially a regional thing when it comes to demand for Herefords from what I hear as some guys seem surprised to see sale results around here that struggle to sell good Hereford bulls in their area for anywhere near those prices. I will say right now I think that in good portions of the Midwest Hereford bulls are in high demand and there are a lot of breeders that are raising some good Hereford cattle in the region that are breeding with the commercial guy in mind. Our state Hereford sale averaged $250 more than the Angus this year and was the top selling breed at the Iowa Beef Expo and their sale is held at the same time as the Hereford sale. We don't have a huge herd - most years we breed around 20-25 females but we usually keep the top 3 or 4 bull calves to sell as yearlings and the large majority of them have sold to commercial guys with black cows and several of them have come back to buy another bull again after they liked the results they got from the 1st bull they bought. One of our bulls this year sold to a guy that bought a bull from us 3 years ago and he told us he is done buying Angus bulls after using a Hereford bull. We aren't selling bulls at a discount or near sale barn prices but we do follow the market and production sales and price ours accordingly and most guys do not balk at our asking prices. We collect weights and data on our bulls through yearling including DNA testing and ultrasound at their BSE which we feel adds to their value when there is raw data behind them and not just blindly trusting their EPDs. I think some of the negatives Herefords got a bad rap for over the years like calving ease, eye problems, prolapse, and udders most breeders have culled and bred out those problems over the years. First off I think that pinkeye is much more an environmental thing than it is genetic. We vaccinate for pinkeye before cows and calves go out to summer pasture and unless we have a really dry summer we hardly ever have to treat for pinkeye. The commercial breeder just down the road from us had a black Angus bull nearly go blind from pinkeye one summer while we didn't have to treat a single animal for it so I don't buy into the notion that it's a problem specific to Herefords. With calving ease, regardless what you may think of EPDs that is the 1 area we do not ignore when we make breeding decisions as we have been bitten more than once by taking a chance on a higher BW and CE EPD bull despite his actual BW being reasonable. There is a good chance that EPD is high for a reason because there are probably calving ease issues somewhere in the bull's pedigree that he has inherited and the accuracy behind the EPD is important to pay attention to as well. The prolapse issues usually can be traced back to certain sires that I think anyone who had a problem with culled as soon as they identified the source. And finally udders, that is an area I think a lot of Hereford breeders have made a lot of progress in. I see a lot more cows in Hereford programs today that have adequate milk and good teat and udder structure than there was 10-20 years ago. The 2 biggest problems were a cow that milked heavy but had big teats and a saggy udder or a cow that didn't milk worth a darn. Everyone has their own opinions on what they call a functional udder so there is always room for improvement when it comes to udders the Hereford breed has come a long ways in that area. [/QUOTE]
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