neighbor kid, bull trimmer

so maybe 15+ yrs ago i was renting stubble from a real good farmer/hay grower.

his kid, about 15 @ the time, didn't like farming or wrenching, or grease, liked horses and cows.

i maybe helped him a little bit, on the takeoff, smart hard working kid, din't take much.

they've moved away, he's into several enterprises and does a lot of bull trimming, club calve stuff, embryo transplants, etc.

kid gets around, got back from denver stockshow, now working his way to texas, does fort worth, etc.

always had strong opinons.

he was trimming down the road, i went down to watch him work (i'm exceptionally good at this~~) and shoot the bull (another strong suit)

he's gotten to hate angus dispositions.

he says when he started, maybe 2 honky ones outa 10.

now maybe 2 good ones.

hits every damn one with ace, on the way in.

and don't like the direction the breed has taken.

he says the herefords he works, if there's an onery one, the guy tells him about it and generally adds "if he wasn't so damned GOOD, i'd whack his berries off~~!

he says herefords are really coming on strong, very hot right now, mentioned restaurants that will start featuring 'certified hereford' beef, and thinks with normal weather, black baldy cows will be a wonderful thing to own, mentioned figures 3,000-4,000$ possible in next couple yrs.

only one guy's---granted one that gets around---opinion. i realize this is kinda a 'black' neighborhood, i'm personally into baldys---i bought 6 hereford bulls about 7 yrs ago----surpising how many people commented and wanted to know where i got them--sold the last one last season---and he wasn't crippeled, wouldn't take ya and hadn't broke his tool.....fwiw

Thanks for posting his opinions!

I'm getting ready for my 3rd baldy calf crop to hit the ground. I have a lot of work to do to improve the baldy cows I'm making and wish I had more cows... . I picked raising them because I like to look at them and love seeing horned Hereford bulls out on black cows..... but am also happy with how everything else is turning out on having them also.

Realistically good black baldies have always been easy to sell in this area. As far as Angus disposition getting worse. Might be happening with the bull of the month club users who use 6-10 new AI sires every year. But the good honest breeders who really know cattle are breeding better dispositions today than 10 years ago. They have to stay in business.

I know the cattle on this operation are a lot easier to handle today than 10 years ago and I bet on most progressive operations the same can be said.

Might be that a lot of these breeders never go look at their purchases, those numbers don't lie.
Just maybe some of these younger guys that now the video sale is the deal, still never see their purchase.

Cowman: You may be right but then they really are just hobby ranchers then and not real cowmen. Just my opinion though.

Got a sale catalog the other day from a couple who have been in the seedstock business about 10 years now. 24 Angus bulls sired 16 different ways. How do they expect customers to acceive uniformity when they aren't producing it?

I should mention she was a club calf type when younger.

gcreekrch said:

Got a sale catalog the other day from a couple who have been in the seedstock business about 10 years now. 24 Angus bulls sired 16 different ways. How do they expect customers to acceive uniformity when they aren't producing it?

I should mention she was a club calf type when younger.

Click to expand...

That's an excellent point! I've talked to breeders, said "so, tell me about your program"

"Well, our sale starts @ 1 o'clock"

And the first 6 pages of their catalogue is "sires"

I have to agree.... If you're going to buy bulls..... Look for a seedstock producer who has what YOU want and stick with them.... Don't buy bulls from every tom, dick and harry....

We learned to not just look at the bulls for sale, but it really helps and is
really important to go look at the cow herd producing the bulls.

We have talked about this before.
If you look at a catalog from SSAP you will see cow families and some home raised bulls going back generations. Same deal where I get my Angus bulls. I was comment on one big sale up here and you didn't see their herd prefix back past one generation on the Dams side. and never on the bulls side.
That's not saying that AI bulls can't pull in good traits but it is nice to see them stacked up.