This is a very good discussion. I agree that we should remain open minded to what type of Shorthorn another person wants to raise. We do not need all Shorthorns in all parts of the world looking exactly the same. There are huge differences in environments, and there are huge differences in market demands and acceptablility. For example, an animal with " good hair" has a totally different definition in Australia than it does in North America. A good haired animal in Australia is one that sheds very early and is slick most of the year. Of course, a good haired animal in North America more than likely resembles a muskox ( or at least can be clipped to look like a muskox!). The UK market demands much larger framed cattle and it is based on muscle and less on marbling. I saw some cattle in Scotland that would be hard to sell in North America, but I also saw some that were powerfully good and would definitely be popular here.
It is always interesting to me, when I see what bloodlines are sought out by breeders in certain parts of the world. Just last night our online embryo and flush sale ended and it was interesting to see what lots were popular with which breeders. There were a few lots that were popular with breeders from several parts of the world, but then we had some where it was basically a few British breeders bidding against each other. We had buyers numbers issued to breeders in 6 countries, 10 US states and 6 Canadian provinces. After the sale was over, an American breeder phoned me and in our conversation, he said he could not believe why anyone would be interested in a certain set of embryos we offered. This set of embryos sold for $1200 each and it was almost entirely breeders from another country other than Canada and the US that bid these embryos to this level. The American said they were the last embryos in the sale he would have been interested in. I also had conversations with several breeders from England, Scotland and Ireland and most of them commented that they were most interested in embryos that did not have US Shorthorn bloodlines. I find this interesting, in that wherever we live, we think we are on the right track in regards to breeding good cattle.
I am open minded enough to realize there are some pretty good cattle in every country and from most any bloodline. Another example... most every visitor we have to view our herd, asks me about one particular cow when they see her. I intentionally never point her out and just wait to see if they notice her. Here in Canada, I hear so often that American show genetics cannot cut it in the real world. I have always said that this statement is probably partly true. There are some that won't work in most real world situations, but there are some that will work in a lot of different situations. There are also some animals with " non show " genetics that can't really compete in any herd in any environment! My cow is an American cow that has a US National Champion as her sire, and a US National Champion female as her dam. She is without any doubt one of the easiest fleshing females I have ever owned. She has never had 1 pound of grain since arriving here and lives with the rest of the herd on grass and hay. She is also one of the best investments I have ever made. I paid $10,500 US for her, and she has produced many times that amount in revenue for me. I bought her because I loved her moderate frame, her tremendous depth of body, and her sound structure and great udder. A commercial man who saw her, bought a set of 4 embryos in our online sale last year at $1200 each because he said he wanted his cows to look like her, and he doubted he would ever be able to buy a son of hers. ( he obviously hasn't been to a lot of Shorthorn bull sales!). He implanted all four embryos last summer in some of his commercial cows and has some calves due this spring. He is hoping for all bulls!
We all see these critters slightly differently and that is what makes this business very unique and most interesting. A few years ago, I had a bull that I had decided was going to be put in our deep freeze as I did not think he was high enough quality to sell in our sale. The day before he was supposed to go to get slaughtered, another bull broke a leg and seeing he did not have a temperature, he replaced this bull to go into the deep freeze. I ended up putting what I thought was my poorest bull in our sale and he topped the sale! I told my wife that I thought we should just buy our beef from now on, as I obviously didn't know what I was doing! Last year I decided I was going to leave a bull at home as I did not think he was big enough to go through the sale. Seeing he was cataloged and there was room on the truck, I decided to take him to the sale and if he didn't sell he would just come home again. He sold for $7100 in the sale! The guy that bought him is super pleased with him as he wanted a small framed bull with a low BW. That is what he got! As I said, everyone sees these cattle slightly differently and everyone is looking for something slightly different.
I see so many breeders who talk negatively about what someone else is doing and/or producing. I used to allow these comments bother me, when I heard a negative comment that someone said about me. My dad is responsible for helping me start to let these comments not bother me anymore. On one occasion, when I had heard what some other breeders had said about what I was doing, my dad said " well, you must be doing something right, if people are starting to talk about you". Since then, I have just basically done my own thing and lived or died by my own decisions and my own successes and lots of mistakes. I oftentimes think that if everyone spent as much time trying to improve and market their own cattle as they do trying to pull others down to their level, most everything would work so much better. There is room in any breed for everyone and we do not need everyone agreeing on everything. I have always said if we all liked the same cow at a sale, there would be one or two that sell really well, and the rest wouldn't sell.
