I am a fan of baldies.
We have mostly black baldies and a couple red baldies we will be putting a polled Hereford on this year.

I'll jump on the corriente train. If you set on having cows(meaning a female animal who's purpose is to be pregnant, birth & wean a calf, repeat till death) then if you don't have much experience I would start with these. They are smaller farm so less intimidating for a newbie. They shouldn't need calving help, they'll eat mesquite leaves & cactus when the grass is all gone. They generally always look a little bony no matter what you supplement them with. You should be able to easily find someone to AI given your location. This will probably be cheaper than having a bull. Maybe not if you have 20 cows. Also depends on the bull. Can be fun to keep a steer & eat it. Also an experience to invite a more experienced friend over to help castrate calves.

Do you have any working pens of any sort?

I've got 50 acres. I got 4 so far (had 5, lost 1) to maintain the ag exemption. Losing the battle to Mrs. FunnyFarm on uniform color because "thats no fun"

Brahma Female (exposed to angus bull) (4yrs)
Hereford Female x Charlais bull cross Heifer (1YO)
Brangus female x hereford bull cross (1YO)
Hereford x Brahma tiger stripe (sale barn special but had good temperment and was confirmed bred) (5yrs)

Really looking for 5 more and will replace as needed. My Hereford/Charlais cross heifer is the best looking one in the herd, and all are relatively docile and broke to feed.

Think I'll search for a few Baldies and a few Brangus.
Wouldn't want the Mrs. and Little Funny Farm to get bored lookiing in the pasture LOL

9 on 50 acres? Is there any number your tax office requires?

Please tell me what is meant by 'baldy' as I've never heard of this in relation to cattle breeds or crossbreeds.

mefoghorn said:

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Please tell me what is meant by 'baldy' as I've never heard of this in relation to cattle breeds or crossbreeds.

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Black Baldy is traditionally produced by crossing Hereford bulls on Angus cows. You can also get Black Baldy using Hereford bulls in black Maine's, Black Limmy's, Black Simmy's and so forth as well.

There is also Red Baldy's as well.

mefoghorn said:

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Please tell me what is meant by 'baldy' as I've never heard of this in relation to cattle breeds or crossbreeds.

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White face. Black "baldy" is a black cow/calf with a white face.

You will also hear/see the term modled face, which is a cow/calf with black and white mixed on their face.

Doesn't just have to be black though.

Sounds like I need to find me a Hereford bull sometime in the future. Anyone have a young Hereford bull for sale with a good temperament, good feet, and preferably polled around the Bryan/College Station area?

I would stay aware from polled Hereford. They bred the behind out of them. If you look at some, you will see what I am talking about.

Bonfire97 said:

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I would stay aware from polled Hereford. They bred the behind out of them. If you look at some, you will see what I am talking about.

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good to know.

There was a lease with 25 head so I got the ag exemption from that. Definitely overgrazed, so once the lease was up I let it rest a year. plenty of grass now.

Neighbor just tried to get his in ag and tax office claimed 10 was the number, though I've not found any regulations stating that.

In past I know it was 5 - but I don't think that 5 is enough head to be worthwhile for the same headache as 10 would be.

Tried to DM you but it won't go thru

84AGEC said:

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Tried to DM you but it won't go thru

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OP doesn't have stars, so they can't get DMs

Ag97 said:

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Sounds like I need to find me a Hereford bull sometime in the future. Anyone have a young Hereford bull for sale with a good temperament, good feet, and preferably polled around the Bryan/College Station area?

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Maybe not all polled Hereford bulls lost their behind...the three we bought from Skrivanek have been reliable bulls, great calf crops. Skrivanek has been doing this for a long time...

10 polled Hereford bulls; Fertility tested. 10 horned & polled Hereford cows; most 3-4 years old, 10, 10-13-month-old open polled Hereford heifers for sale.
Contact: Joseph Skrivanek
Caldwell, TX 77836
979-567-3131
979-567-3857
979-224-4698

generic interweb pic....

And the sale barn usually reflects that

Out of curiosity, how much would it run to have my cows AI'd instead of running a bull? I'm wondering what the cost breakdown would be of just selling my bull and having my 8 cows AI'd vs what my bull eats in groceries every year? If I could add one cow for an extra calf, wondering if that would pay my AI bill for the year?

Doctor51 said:

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Red angus all day long. Handle the heat incredibly well and can make incredible beef. They are called the maternal breed with phenomenal cows.

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Beautiful marbling!

Ag97 said:

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Out of curiosity, how much would it run to have my cows AI'd instead of running a bull? I'm wondering what the cost breakdown would be of just selling my bull and having my 8 cows AI'd vs what my bull eats in groceries every year? If I could add one cow for an extra calf, wondering if that would pay my AI bill for the year?

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It probably would pencil out on that low of a number.

I don't find bulls to be that troublesome, but I suppose they do tend to get into more mischief than cows/calves.

Cost is going to vary widely based on a number of factors, namely:

• Do you have the facilities to do it or do you need to haul them to a vet's office
• Semen choice
• Can you sync of your cycles

Roughly speaking, I'd guess in between $50 and $100 per AI.

You need someone to set up and put in straws It's a 10 day long involving 3 days of working cows.
$75-$100 per cow depends on straw cost.
And you will probably get 50-60% bred.

84AGEC said:

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You need someone to set up and put in straws It's a 10 day long involving 3 days of working cows.
$75-$100 per cow depends on straw cost.
And you will probably get 50-60% bred.

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Agreed, I was just trying to keep it simple.

Not to mention, if you don't have a clean-up bull there will also be preg check cost down the road.

My bull does like to find a loose wire to squeeze through a couple times a year to go visit the neighbors cows when he can smell they are in season. Good thing I have an understanding neighbor that doesn't mind his cows throwing a black calf every now and then.

I might be able to work something out with him to let me run his bull with my cows for a month or two to clean up any of mine that might not take.

I've got pens and a squeeze chute that could be used to AI the girls but I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in doing it for 8 cows at a price low enough to make it worth it. This is a hobby/tax write off more than anything so I wouldn't be worried about purchasing any kind of high dollar straws.

Something to think about I guess.

Work with your vet or tech. You can insert CIDRs and give the initial shots at home. Depending on the protocol used, you can then haul them to the facility where they will give the second shot, patch them, and watch for standing heat. Usually a three day process. Then take them home and after about 17 days put another patch on them to see if any come back into heat by the 21st day. After 30 days you can home blood test them yourself.

Or you can take a class in it and do it all yourself. Bovine Elite in College Station puts on regular classes. They also have all the supplies you need and will even rent you a tank.

Dr. Dorn at Rafter D Genetics says that if you have less than 20 cows, the economics work out to AI instead of keeping a bull. I want my cows calving at the same time. I don't have a separate place to keep a bull for 9-10 months. When running a bull full time on cows your calving can get very spread out.

With 10 or fewer cows, I might be concerned about a young bull becoming a fence jumper.

I would stay away from anything with Brahma in it (Brangus, etc.) unless you have good fences and pens.

A.I. can be a lot of work and you will still need a clean-up bull. Lease a bull and have it over with!