Well I am glad to see that the Hereford breed is not the only breed that has issues within the breed. The whole black thing is as much hype as it is the path. In 1980's or before the Angus breeders made a game plan and have executed it pretty much flawlessly, what they didn't figure on was all the people jumping on the band wagon and turning their red and whites - BLACK. Now what I see is a whole lot of black cattle being represented as Angus or at least 50% and they are not quality cattle, and the feeders and packers have caught on to this.
While I love my Hereford cattle what happens in the showring really has zero effect on how and what I breed, however I do appreciate the cattle that are in the showring. I have participated in Denver and while I didn't bring a banner home I had fun and promoted my cattle and my ranch. I breed my cattle to look the way I want them to look and preform, I like EPD's but don't like the fact that so much emphasis is put on them. When did evaluating the animal for what they are become old fashioned? I find a few of the things discussed in this thread very interesting for instance breeding for hair, heck yeah I want hair, is it a genetic flaw or defect - NO. I like bigger cattle frame 4's and 5's are on the small side for me, but part of what dictates that is the environment that my cattle have to survive in. I guarantee you that the Canadian shorthorns are bigger than the American counterparts and it all has to do with environment.
My kids enjoy showing steers and while I raise Herefords I realize that they cannot compete against the clubby bred steers, so I have become a student of the clubby breeding and I am trying to learn as much as I can about how animals are bred and what might work well on my Hereford cows, last year all I bred was older cows because of birth weight, this year I bred my replacement heifers to Capiche and Jake's Proud Jazz and I am really excited about what I am going to get. So I am cross breeding and the cattle are useful, and the buyers that have seen them tell me they wish that I had several pot loads of them because they will feed and finish a high quality carcuss. They could careless about the color and more about the quality! Will I continue to do some cross breeding, you bet, I like the results that I have had. Will that consist of some Short Horn, probably. If the bulls that I used this year turn out to be as good as I hope then I will continue to use them and a few other bulls as well. In the end high quality cattle will always be useful regardless of their color, is the showring effecting what the commercial cattlemen use? NO But I bet most of them enjoy looking at the showring, if for nothing else it is entertaining.
