aj said:
Atta boy jit. Plant your feet firmly. Work both sides of the fence. Never take a stand. Tell people what they want to hear. Never definitely say anything and no one will be offended. Talk in vague generalizations. Wait till your buyer is in front of you and get his position and then take a stand.
aj... I think the main reason you get upset with me is because I DO take a stand. When I read the ridiculous comments you make about certain lines of cattle ALL being bad, or you can't show an animal and be competitive without being crooked and change BW's and birth date's, or several other accusations you make about the breed in general. To be honest, I have never seen anyone more willing to bad mouth the breed they use themselves to make a living. I guarantee you, that if I was even one tenth as disillusioned about the breed I have decided to raise,as you appear to be,I would call a quick dispersal and I would be in another breed in a heartbeat. I have had purebred herds of 70-100 cows in 6 other breeds but have decided that the Shorthorn breed offers more of the things I want in my cattle. The other breeds I have had, have given me a true appreciation of how good the Shorthorn cow is. The last breed I dispersed was a herd of 100 Charolais cows. Despite having pretty good sales and always selling all the bulls and even topping a couple of the better Charolais bull sales in the area, I do not miss them.
I agree with you that the Shorthorn breed has some areas that need improvement. Show me a breed that doesn't. I will be honest and say that I would not trade the Shorthorn cattle shown in Denver for the Angus cattle shown in Denver this year. If fat is supposed to make show cattle good, then the Angus have some really good show cattle. And as I have mentioned before, I have lots of friends in the Angus deal, and they are telling me about the large BWs they are starting to get from some well known Angus sires that are supposed to have had 70-75 lb BWs themselves. There are lots of issues in every breed, and the Shorthorn breed is NOT the only one who is dealing with this situation. As I said previously, this BW deal has developed over time, and it will take some time to correct it, and I have every confidence that it is starting to happen. More breeders than I could ever imagine are looking for lower BW bulls to use, but my point is , and has not changed, is that we need to not only reduce BWs but let's design some cattle with calving ease while we are going in this direction. I have seen far too many cattle with low BWs that are either no earthly good, or give up too many economically important traits, that are being selected simply because they have low BWs. That is NOT a good enough reason in my opinion to make a decision like this.
Besides taking a stand, I also do not tell people what they want to hear. I tell them what I think... and I also have tried to tell you what I think, but I think you prefer to translate what I write in some ways it was not intended. Have you ever thought about trying to talk about the good qualities of your breed, or putting forth some reasonable and constructive ideas of how to make corrections to the breed. I think you offend many more people than just me, including many from outside the breed, when you trash the breed like you do. I have had numerous people who have never owned a Shorthorn or never plan to own one, ask me if you actually raise Shothorns or if you are a person who just hides behind a computer screen and likes to bad mouth another breed of cattle. I simply tell them that you are a Shorthorn breeder who doesn't agree with where the breed is going. Correct me if I am wrong in making that statement.
I would also appreciate it if you could tell me how to plant my feet firmly without taking a stand. It is because I am not afraid to take a stand, and because I think this breed has a place in the beef industry ( even if it is very small) that I get myself in some trouble on here. If you are going to accuse me of something, pick something I don't do, rather than not taking a stand. You obviously should go back and read some of my comments on BW issues and genetic defects.
