curtis":38iqdk78 said:
Will the Hereford and Red cattle in general make a comeback? Around here you can count the Reds on one hand and have lot of fingers left.
What about the cattle with ear, when will the sale barns quit docking ?
TIA
Kind of a loaded question there. Herefords and "red" cattle aren't necessarily the same thing. I think Red Angus have been doing well, Herefords not so well, while red Limis and spotted Simmentals have about disappeared (at least around here). We did have a pretty red Limi heifer come through the fence to get to our bull recently, though. She had a good disposition, too.
If you describe a "comeback" as reds of equal quality selling better than blacks, I doubt it will happen anytime soon. The demand for black cattle is huge. Branded beef programs, plus the fast food "angus" burgers are really taking off. Some of those "angus" burgers may use Red Angus, too. When prices go down, producers look for anything that will help with discounts and possibly earn a premium. And prices seem to be headed down.
IMO, the best thing to do if you don't want to go with black cattle is to feed them yourself. Cut out the sale barn buyer and put them in some sort of retained ownership program. Many state's extension services run a retained ownership program for their producers.
The sale barn is not going to stop docking. Producers are going to have to do something: retained ownership, age and source verification, breed ear tags, video marketing.....