One of the kids steers for this year. Wanted a all white Shorthorn to go to Ft Worth Steer this year, plus our County is a hair show in January. I've bred Shorty's in the past to be red and white but kid wanted to breed a white one. Kid understanding how hard it is to keep this dude white. Kids already work hard with the other calves working hair, rinsing, blowing, roto brushing, conditioning the hair and skin, adding in certain hair products that help grow hair. I got little secret shampoo mix that helps keep white white. It's old recipe used on white show lambs back in the day.

This area is so varied, with some parts of the county great for growing rocks and other parts with very good grasses. 1 animal to 15 acres, probably. Some places less and some a bit more.

In addition to mineral and salt blocks, I give a 39 percent cottonseed cube. Bison is geared more to the 'healthy' audience and they want this animal grass fed. Although this does produce a much leaner meat, I cooked some filet mignons last weekend that were outstanding. Some of the best steaks I've eaten.

Your last question is the biggest challenge. Unlike cattle in Texas, which have a number of auction barns within a reasonable distance no matter where you are in the state, there aren't a lot of like places for bison.

I have a lot of requests for hunts, for people who just want an animal or two on their place, for people who want a quarter or half for the meat. And there are always bison producers needing another bull or heifers. It takes more effort but you can get rid of them. It's just difficult to get rid of several animals at once. Have to gather them several times to get rid of a larger number.

Thanks for the info

BurnetAggie99 said:

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One of the kids steers for this year. Wanted a all white Shorthorn to go to Ft Worth Steer this year, plus our County is a hair show in January. I've bred Shorty's in the past to be red and white but kid wanted to breed a white one. Kid understanding how hard it is to keep this dude white. Kids already work hard with the other calves working hair, rinsing, blowing, roto brushing, conditioning the hair and skin, adding in certain hair products that help grow hair. I got little secret shampoo mix that helps keep white white. It's old recipe used on white show lambs back in the day.

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If you're in the game, you know the Woolite method.

Yep what we do for the white calves to keep from yellowing is mix Woolite, Exhibitor's Quic Silver whiting shampoo, Sullivan's Vita Hair Volumizer Shampoo, little dab of Oxy Clean, little dab of food grade coconut oil. Put all that in a foamer wash and scrub good. Let it sit, then rinse. The blow them out. Once they blown out they get Showcoat twice a day and then work the hair.

We have a couple heifers and a bull. Working on purchasing the breeding stock we would like to have.

Love em so far and the amount of meat from a steer is just enough for our family and freezer.

It was a one in a million shot, doc. - Frank Costanza

As a kid i had a denim jacket that had a patch that said:

"Santa Gertrudis- Beef for the '70s"

Got a couple of those... 537C and 839F are down at my partner's place in Sheridan, AR doing breeding duty ...

Yes sir.we are in Spanish fork this week. We just got a flood so will be curious how the bulls do tonight. The horses are looking for dry ground.

Shorthorn

Family's been raising them for over 30 years. We chase the show world fairly hard. All our kids show heifers, and we raise a few "shorthorn" show steers because I just can't get it out of my blood,.

Love the docility of the purebred shorthorn cattle, love the lessons. And as a side hustle, my kids sell between 3-5 finished steers for beef. It's fun as heck, lots of work, and I couldn't afford to do it without my real job. But it keeps our family close, allows us to see lots of country, and meet lots of great folks from all over the country.

Hope y'all have some good outs this week!

HBJ said:

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Shorthorn

Family's been raising them for over 30 years. We chase the show world fairly hard. All our kids show heifers, and we raise a few "shorthorn" show steers because I just can't get it out of my blood,.

Love the docility of the purebred shorthorn cattle, love the lessons. And as a side hustle, my kids sell between 3-5 finished steers for beef. It's fun as heck, lots of work, and I couldn't afford to do it without my real job. But it keeps our family close, allows us to see lots of country, and meet lots of great folks from all over the country.

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Let me know what steers shows y'all go to come by the stall. We do Show Heifers too but we all in mainly on steers

ClassicDane said:

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The words of Claytie Williams forever ring true!

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Those don't look like Brangus.

Brangus are 3/8 Brahman, 5/8 Angus...... those look like Angus or maybe up to 3/16 Brahman...... face shape and small ears. I like them though, I wish my herd looked that consistent.

Yessir correct, that is why I emphasized the words of Mr. Williams. Williams Ranch Company is a long time Brangus breeder, but has a nice set of Angus cows to pipeline the operation.

I am biased because we run a Brangus seed stock operation, but in Texas, nothing beats the hybrid vigor of Brangus cattle.

ClassicDane said:

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Yessir correct, that is why I emphasized the words of Mr. Williams. Williams Ranch Company is a long time Brangus breeder, but has a nice set of Angus cows to pipeline the operation.

I am biased because we run a Brangus seed stock operation, but in Texas, nothing beats the hybrid vigor of Brangus cattle.

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Agree.

I am on my fifth consecutive Brangus bull on my herd. I had an Angus one time. I think he was a little short (literally). Some of my cows were giants and he was really struggling to reach his target, and he pulled a muscle. That injury got the best of him and he could not perform. I also got rid of my largest cows. For whatever reason the two largest cows I had were not the best mamas anyway.

My original herd was from Registered Polled Herefords. After many generations of Brangus bulls breeding and keeping some of the females, most of my herd looks like Black Brangus. I still have a few black baldy cows but they are getting old and will be replaced pretty soon.

Allen76 said:

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ClassicDane said:

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Yessir correct, that is why I emphasized the words of Mr. Williams. Williams Ranch Company is a long time Brangus breeder, but has a nice set of Angus cows to pipeline the operation.

I am biased because we run a Brangus seed stock operation, but in Texas, nothing beats the hybrid vigor of Brangus cattle.

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Agree.

I am on my fifth consecutive Brangus bull on my herd. I had an Angus one time. I think he was a little short (literally). Some of my cows were giants and he was really struggling to reach his target, and he pulled a muscle. That injury got the best of him and he could not perform. I also got rid of my largest cows. For whatever reason the two largest cows I had were not the best mamas anyway.

My original herd was from Registered Polled Herefords. After many generations of Brangus bulls breeding and keeping some of the females, most of my herd looks like Black Brangus. I still have a few black baldy cows but they are getting old and will be replaced pretty soon.

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A well placed cattle prod and the new guy with a cup solves that problem

Allen76 said:

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ClassicDane said:

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Yessir correct, that is why I emphasized the words of Mr. Williams. Williams Ranch Company is a long time Brangus breeder, but has a nice set of Angus cows to pipeline the operation.

I am biased because we run a Brangus seed stock operation, but in Texas, nothing beats the hybrid vigor of Brangus cattle.

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Agree.

I am on my fifth consecutive Brangus bull on my herd. I had an Angus one time. I think he was a little short (literally). Some of my cows were giants and he was really struggling to reach his target, and he pulled a muscle. That injury got the best of him and he could not perform. I also got rid of my largest cows. For whatever reason the two largest cows I had were not the best mamas anyway.

My original herd was from Registered Polled Herefords. After many generations of Brangus bulls breeding and keeping some of the females, most of my herd looks like Black Brangus. I still have a few black baldy cows but they are getting old and will be replaced pretty soon.

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In an ideal world you'd have cows the size of Shetland ponies or the GC winners at stock shows of the '50's and ginormous bulls to make an industry standard sized calf at weaning/packing plant so getting rid of your largest cows is not necessarily a bad thing. Think in terms of groceries required to maintain the herd, a big cow requires a lot more grass/hay/feed than a smaller one and both only give you one calf per year. You can support a lot more smaller cows on a property than large ones, or at the same herd size you can protect your forages to a greater extent. Larger bulls, smaller cows make for a more profitable enterprise.

Do you sell the hides? If so, I'm interested.

Raised registered Herefords for years, but my base cow herd will have serious Brangus blood, and likely a Charolais bull servicing them.

I've always like the charolais cross calves.

I've always wondered if they yield more profit at the sale barn than an angus/black calf. Less dollars per poundbut more pounds.

chris1515 said:

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I've always like the charolais cross calves.

I've always wondered if they yield more profit at the sale barn than an angus/black calf. Less dollars per poundbut more pounds.

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That smokey gray calf is always a top seller

Favorites to look at:
- Santa Gertrudis (I used to call them Schwarznegger cows)
- Scottish Highland Cattle (trim those bangs!)

Favorite to eat:
- Japanese A5 Wagyu

Old RV Ag said:

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Allen76 said:

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ClassicDane said:

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Yessir correct, that is why I emphasized the words of Mr. Williams. Williams Ranch Company is a long time Brangus breeder, but has a nice set of Angus cows to pipeline the operation.

I am biased because we run a Brangus seed stock operation, but in Texas, nothing beats the hybrid vigor of Brangus cattle.

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Agree.

I am on my fifth consecutive Brangus bull on my herd. I had an Angus one time. I think he was a little short (literally). Some of my cows were giants and he was really struggling to reach his target, and he pulled a muscle. That injury got the best of him and he could not perform. I also got rid of my largest cows. For whatever reason the two largest cows I had were not the best mamas anyway.

My original herd was from Registered Polled Herefords. After many generations of Brangus bulls breeding and keeping some of the females, most of my herd looks like Black Brangus. I still have a few black baldy cows but they are getting old and will be replaced pretty soon.

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A well placed cattle prod and the new guy with a cup solves that problem

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Can be used on humans as well! You young men out there want to have nightmares, watch the Law & Order SVU episode https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629643/

Sweet dreams boys!

As a kid, I assumed the only proper cow was a Holstein, but my dad always bought Brangus. I figured this was because we were poor or second-rate farmers (which was not far from the truth).

My father hit the roof, when I mentioned Dexters - he worked for a company which bred Herefords, to eliminate dwarfism.

But he did understand the need to breed for beef per acre than beef per steer, like his era did.

I think the "large bull on small cows" could be an idea.

I have not sold any hides. And the animals I've processed, the hides were just discarded.

A lot depends on what you want to do with it. If you are looking for a hide with full hair, mine have been harvested in the summer and the animals have shed a most of their hair. If you want leather, it would work.

And I haven't discussed with the processor whether he will do any type of preparation such as scraping, etc.