Bulls

[librarian]

XBar always makes a good point, but I don't necessarily agree with his point of view.  We might just be living in an extravagantly wasteful time that will play out.  Then we may all be homesteaders again.  A lot of investment is being put into  grass fed dairy cattle.  I work in a Food Market and we cannot keep Grass Fed Milk on the shelf because it sells so fast.
And c'mon those cows ARE nice and I bet if they were on all forage feed they would not be lumpy at all.

 

[librarian]

Just a couple pictures from yesterday to show what I am getting out of my bull, who is 1/2 Native bull from 1960's.  My bull is HHFS Amos.
The bull calf, walking with his 11 year old dam,  is a full brother to the 3 year old cow in the background. The bull calf was born in June.
I think the old genetics are adding body while subtracting frame size.  All this bull's calves seem pretty long bodied to me, but I am no expert.. I don't know if extra length is a virtue or a fault. Seems like more loin should be a good thing.
Thanks again for all the insights in this thread.  Maybe some one could start a new thread with pictures of their dual purpose and Native influenced cattle. There must be many such herds scattered around out there.

 

[MDitmars]

Dual purpose is no more than a title now even the people who are doing the big dual registry push must recognize this simply because there is a difference in what bull you would use for milk as apposed to beef.

The milking Society has actually kept records on feedlot before the shorthorn association. Yes shorthorns can be used dual purpose and you can breed to that effect but it is not advised. There are bulls that are bred for milk production within the milking shorthorn breed and other bulls that are used for beef production. Most of the bulls we are looking at on this thread are simple a beef shorthorn that are capable of being registered in the milking society. Due to parentage originating back with the Coates herd book.

to clear things up shorthorns are excellent for there milk but not for "milk" instead cheese and butter and other products requiring a high butter fat. Secondly smaller dairies could thrive on shorthorns for several reasons. Their milk value maybe higher due to higher butter fat. Shorthorns fleshing ability is noticeable and input during milking cycle can be less then "dairy alfalfa." Shorthorns statistically feed out quicker and grade better then other breeds due to size. The last point would be that shorthorn life span and resistance to mastitis makes them even more low cost/low maintenance. Average shorthorn can easily produce milk into 12 years and it is not odd for them to produce at 15-18 years, where as a Holstein is expected to be retired at only 6-8. Yes i understand shorthorns are not the best in any one category but they are efficient if nothing else. The information i provided is not my own but gathered through reading studies and statistics through out the internet. Everything here is readily found using Google.

XBAR i recommend you chat with Tim Ohlde about these animals not having function in the current beef industry. (Jake's proud Jazz was raised on his farm as well as numerous other decent cattle. He uses TPS Cornet Leader 21st for a reason.) He raises Angus as well as shorthorn and everything he raises is small.

Yes they bring back moderate frame and marbling but what people should be recognizing by now is that moderate frame reduces food input to maintain and to finish out. The less you have to feed, the more animals you can feed. If i can feed 11 moderate shorthorns that grade extremely well to your 10 big animals then i will be happy with that quality.

 

[RyanChandler]

I was only talking about these 2 cows and those their type.  They are the only 2 of their type is see on this topic.

 

[MDitmars]

Sorry my bad... we have strayed from the original topic a wee bit.

 

[RyanChandler]

Sorry my bad... we have strayed from the original topic a wee bit.

Those two would likely have the N designation on them as well.  It seems there's as much variation within the Native shorthorns as there is among the rest of the breed. 

 

[Okotoks]

Sorry my bad... we have strayed from the original topic a wee bit.

Those two would likely have the N designation on them as well.  It seems there's as much variation within the Native shorthorns as there is among the rest of the breed.

Something we forget is that at one time the ability of a cow to put on backfat, even fat patches and large briskets added to their value. This was before petroleum production became commonplace. The tallow or lard was used for candles, cooking etc. and was sometimes more valuable than the meat. As with dual purpose cattle that were great for the family farm the overly fat and "patchy" cattle fell out of favour in modern beef production. The fact those milk cows could get fat like that was probably a plus in the 1800's. When we bring back old genetics today we should be looking for traits that will be useful in todays cattle market. (or in a niche market you want to get into) That said the preservation of older genetics may be valuable in the future, who knows what will be required then!

http://www.independent.com/news/2007/nov/08/question-what-was-hide-and-tallow-trade/