Andyva said:
Cattle buyers will use any excuse they can to give you less money. The two biggest things that shorthorns have going against them are Holsteins and Longhorns. A roan shorthorn "might be" a longhorn. A red calf with white spots "might be" part Holstein. I know that anyone who has been around cattle for five minutes knows the difference, but it is an excuse they can use. Shorthorn is a maternal breed. Keep shorthorn cows and breed to a black bull. Breed the top 10% to a high quality AI sire for replacements. Or, breed to a black bull for a few years and then take your lumps and use a shorthorn bull for your replacements for a couple years. If you have a few black cows running around, your whole calf crop won't be red. Everybody always cries about losing money on red cattle, the way I always figured as long as I have a calf with his feet pointing the right way, (down instead of up) I've got more money than I had.
When we were operating our feedlot, for several years I had a cattle dealers licence and bond and I used to sit in the auction marts along with the buyers and I saw many cases of absolute theft. I became convinced ( and still am) that most cattle buyers really don't have a good grasp on what a good feeding animal is supposed to look like. Most cattle buyers are very opinionated by color and it is oftentimes laughable. I have oftentimes seen a set of Hereford calves come into the sale ring, and one or two calves that do not have the feathering on their necks be cut out of the bunch. Oftentimes they were the best calves but they would sell for a couple cents less because they were no longer in a bigger bunch. Total stupidity.
I oftentimes sat beside a long time Jewish cattle buyer and I learned much from him over the years. One thing he told me, that has stuck with me to this day, is that a person will almost always make more money buying cattle than they ever will selling cattle. He also told me no matter whether the markets are high or low, there will always be bargains in every sale. The trick is to be confident enough in your own judgment to recognize the deals and e ready to buy. I remember sitting by him one day and as I was trying to buy some feeder calves, he leaned over and asked me if I would like to make $2000? I said of course I would like that, to which he said " go home and don't buy anything. " He said the best money I could make was not buying that day because a couple buyers were driving the prices too high that day. He said I should wait and be ready to buy in the next sale, as they buyers would have either filled their orders by then, or be realizing the mistakes they had made.
The color issue in cattle is to me, as outrageous as the racism issues we see in people. There is no basis for it and it is plain WRONG! If you like the cattle your Shorthorns, and are being discriminated against on the markets, I would suggest that rather than just allowing this to happen, to find another market. For example, I used to supply 4 local abbatoirs with their cattle, and every one of them as some time has told me how the Shorthorns I delivered to them had such excellent carcasses. In time, every one of them were asking me to supply them with Shorthorn beef. One of these abbatoirs even started to promote "Shorthorn Beef" and advertised that if you have not tried Shorthorn beef, you were missing out on a great beef experience. I also found that here, the discounts were oftentimes mainly at the auction mart level. Many cattle feeders preferred to have calves delivered directly to them as the sickness levels were greatly reduced, and I have found most cattle feeders are much better at appreciating good cattle regardless of color than the cattle buyers are. The cattle feeders will oftentimes be willing to pay a premium for good cattle delivered to them. I realize that many people don't have many large feed lots in their area, but it may be well worthwhile for groups of calves to be assembled so full loads can be sent together.
As I mentioned earlier, many western Canadian feeders ship many loads to the US for slaughter. That is just how the packing industry has positioned itself in the North American market place. I have asked several cattle feeders if their Shorthorn fats get discounted when slaughtered. Most of them say that they don't qualify for CAB premiums but they have higher percentages of them grade choice and prime so they feel they are being well paid for them.
The black color trend is probably never going to chance as it is just too big now especially in the US. A neighbor of mine, just returned home from spending his winter in southern California. He said that he only saw two herds of none black cattle from California to the Canadian border.
There is usually a solution to most any problem. If you are getting discounted for cattle of color, then you may have to start looking for a workable solution.
