Horse meat or beef? Whats best??

[ivbinconned]

My neighbor sold 6 1400 lb cows and recieved $1200, $200 each! Next day sold lame gelding for meat...recieved $300?

[kato]

Boy, talk about 'something's wrong with this picture'.

[WoolyBear]

The real reason that the lame gelding was worth more is that HORSES don't get BSE.

[cowman]

Maybe that old horse makes better lean hamburger for MacDonalds? Or perhaps the Frenchmen are extra keen on horsemeat this year? LOL
Go to any horse sale and you will see the market is not depressed. People like to buy horses...I don't know if they ever ride them...seems like they just like to have them around for a status symbol or something.
I have a very hard time feeling sorry for anyone belly aching about the poor prices they are recieving for their grain and cattle, when they have five or six useless plugs eating their heads off!
In my local municipal paper last month, there was an article that said the county had 6000 horse! In a county that has a population of 18,000! This is ridiculous...although I shouldn't bite the hand that feeds me, as I am selling hay to feed these pets! The horsey set never balks at the price although you want to make sure you have the money in your hand before you deliver, as they are notorious non-payers!

[cowman]

Again cowman you hit the nail on the head. A neighbour sold their entire herd of cattle three years ago, and spent the entire amount on four paint horses. THey have more horses now than they had cattle then and sell one or two a year for a few hundred bucks. They might ride a horse twice a year;have custom made saddles; a fancy stock trailer, and have a TRAINER in southern AB., as well as a farrier and horse vet.,and of course they belong to various associations. But they seem to feel they are making a lot more money than they were in the cattle business !!!!!
I might be dumber than a post but it seems that even at todays prices cattle are a better choice, take less pasture, eat lower quality feed, and don't need trainers or fancy saddles !!!!! Of course horse lovers are a breed all their own and if they enjoy what they do, more power to them !!!

[kato]

They are a lot like cattle people in a lot of ways, except as Emeril say's they 'kick it up a notch'.

The main difference is the degree to which they are emotionally attached to their animals. Since ours eventually end up as someone's dinner, we can't afford to fall in love with them. Not good for the emotional health.

Their lifestyle IS the goal, and will be pursued whatever the cost. The cutoff line is a lot higher than that of a cattle producer regarding how much money is enough to spend in order to spend time with their livestock.

That's enough philosophy for today, better get back to the book keeping.

Then after a while I think I'll go give my horse a carrot! (If I can get past the donkeys..LOL)

[kato]

This is so funny!

After I made the last post, and worked away at the books for an hour or so, the neighbour called to say that my horse was out on the road. He got out when my husband was feeding the cows, and now he wanted back in. I drove down to the pasture, called him from the car window, and he followed me back to the gate. Before he walked back in the pasture, he got his carrot!

I've always known he was a smart horse, but do you think he may have gotten ahold of a computer and read that post? He seemed to know a carrot was coming....

Maybe I can get him to predict when the border will open????

[kato]

kato, we all know that critters are not dumb !!! I have one cow that stands by the barn door a few hours before she is going to calve, she does that whether it is -30 or 10 !!!!! In the warm years during calving season she is usually the only one that calves in the barn vs the open front calving shed !!!!
Just wants her added 'creature comforts' I guess !!!
Of course she is one that should have gone down the road but due to BSE is still here !!!!!

[cowman]

An old vet once told me if you drive in a yard and there are a bunch of horses around, you aren't going to get paid!
Now I'm sure that isn't always true, but the fact is I doubt one in ten actually make any money on horses.
Myself I'll take a good solid quad anyday over a horse, but then I'm not into the cowboy stuff too much anymore!
I sure prefer a good squeeze shoot to a rope and a willow tree...although occasionally that is about the only solution!

[Horse]

Feeder horses 20/35 cents a #slaughter 45/60Cents# I dont see that as to high and as for pets how about the purebred cattle breeders and thier high prices and as for all the money being made on cattle I have a lot of neibours that would love to have that formula.

[cswilson]

Quad ranchers are soo cute-bitch about the cowboys hayburners than you get the call-we dropped 4 pairs in the bush can you saddle up and get them-my new bull is lame can you come treat him blah blah blah-we raise all our own ranch horses here and couldn't operate without them. Quads are for fencing and skidding moose out lol.

[cswilson]

using working ranch horses is a bit different than drug store cowboys saddling up and thinking they can work cattle !!! I remember a real WRECK at the neighbours one time when some 'city slickers' were invited to help with the branding. They had talked big and said they were ROPERS....those of us who knew what we were doing, were laughing so hard we nearly forgot what we went over there for !!! Mind you, the city slickers had the nicest tack and the fanciest pickup and trailer.....and the horses didn't look bad either !!! I won't get into the quad vs horse arguement, both are valuable on the farm or ranch !

[cswilson]

Ohhh bet u had team ropers there-you can always tell a team roper not much but you can always tell one-our branding crews are pretty much invite only and if you are rough on cattle you get asked to put your horse away and are not asked back. With a.i.ing and such I get to work with just about every management and handling system-I'll take a set of ranch cows worked off a horse any day. The absolute cows to handle are the old' we just bait them with chop kind'. Everybody in the cattle business should be taking a bud williams or dylan biggs clinic and putting it into practice-it will only make you money to learn how to handle cattle right and those two guys can sure teach you how.

[cswilson]

Ohhh bet u had team ropers there-you can always tell a team roper not much but you can always tell one-our branding crews are pretty much invite only and if you are rough on cattle you get asked to put your horse away and are not asked back. With a.i.ing and such I get to work with just about every management and handling system-I'll take a set of ranch cows worked off a horse any day. The absolute cows to handle are the old' we just bait them with chop kind'. Everybody in the cattle business should be taking a bud williams or dylan biggs clinic and putting it into practice-it will only make you money to learn how to handle cattle right and those two guys can sure teach you how.

[kato]

Team penners, same thing. I think that sport should be changed so the guys who can pen up the most cattle without breaking out of a walk should win!

I much prefer to watch a good cutting competition. Now that's poetry in motion.

As for the quad/horse thing, even though quads are nice to have around the yard, a quad won't watch your back. Last year my neighbour got stampeded by a bunch of heifers that ran right over him and his quad, and laid him up for most of the winter. He couldn't get out of the way fast enough. A good horse would have seen it coming.