The best cattle

[roly]

Hello Agrifriends
Can I have your comments on the best breed for NE Saskatchewan to produce a black calf

in the UK colour is not important but a long body and good rump is

[coppertop]

wow roly, you have really opened up a topic !!!

Angus cattle are excellent, but many breeds crossed with angus produce black calves . My herd is purebred limousin, and half of the herd is black. I have used black purebred limousin bulls on my red fullblood limousin cows and that cross has given me about 70% black calves.


You will get a lot of excellent advice on breeds of cattle here on this site, not just the color but the type of cattle that bring the best price.

Good luck, are you all settled on your farm now ?

[rkaiser]

You will find lots that work Roly but none better than these -----http://www.westernrancher.com/CelticCattle.html

[whiteface]

You got guts roly, comeing on here and asking all us level headed, unbiased souls about the "best" cattle. You want black, eh? Well you got lots to choose from, lucky for you, they're ALL black now, even the once pure white Charolais are turning out darkys now much to the pleasure or the black-crazed industy.
Our poor pathetic herefords haven't been "allowed" to "go black" yet, read "find a way to scam it through" so once in a while a group of decent herefords outsells the bunch of blacks (yes, I've seen it cowman, not very often but maybe once, LOL!) because at least with the white face you can be guaranteed you're getting a bonefided hereford (you know, guaranteed to prolapse, need a skateboard under her udder, regular treatment for cancer eye and so darned quiet she doesn't even know she had a calf so returns to the snow to feed and leaves her calf to freeze). All super positive traits to have in quality cattle!
Seriously, roly, there's good and bad in all of them. Find what works for you and run with it! Have a good day all!

[whiteface]

No conciet in your family, Randy, YOU'VE got it all (the conceit that is!) Hope calving going well and sorry to hear that the construction guys are out to take you for a ride on the construction of your new house. Thems the perks to living in God's country. The house builers can ask whatever they want these days. Be good!

[rkaiser]

Yes whitey, i've got it all, and I'm trying to teach it to my kids as well. Confidence is all that life is truly about, and you know darn well that modesty is part of me and it too.

Have you built a pool in the backyard yet from all the dough you're raking in from yer non agventures these days whitey?

[coppertop]

yup randy, you are a living picture of an unbiased, hummble Alberta cowboy !!!

roly, I neglected to mention some of the best cows in the business and those are black/baldies or black/broc faced cows. They traditionally are hereford/angus crosses but could include Galloway ( okay kaiser, you can send a dozen long stemmed roses for that one ), black limo etc. crossed with hereford cows and get some outstanding black baldies.

The color of the cattle isn't as important as the quality of cows within the breed type you choose.

[grassfarmer]

I don't believe this "black is best" story roly, I've outsold every black calf in the auction with both tan charolais and solid red Luing x calves the last couple of times I've sold.

I think it's fair to say the tan
charolais calf has probably been the most popular among feedlot buyers for many years. Some top bull sellers conceded recently that for the first time in their lifetimes black calves outsold tan charolais per pound .... but how many pounds lighter were the blacks?

The colour of cattle you choose to breed won't make a significant difference to your farm profitability.

[coppertop]

ah, but the type of cattle you choose does, and grassfarmer the breed you choose does as well.

Calving ease, milking ability, feed conversion are all traits to look for as are fertility, which varies from cattle in every breed.

My advice for what its worth, is that you will not go wrong with black cattle regardless of what breed mix they may have. I would suspect that breeding a Luing bull to black females would produce some fairly attractive good doing calves grassfarmer, and likely they would do well in the market place as long as they weren't too extreme in hair coat.....no don't get in a snit over that comment, but it is a plain fact.

Everyone on this site that has cattle has likely topped the market at one time or another with a good set of calves roly, so pick good cattle within the breed you like, breed them to a good bull that has the traits and characteristics you want to build into your herd and all the best of luck to you. One thing I would certainly advise is to purchase from reputable cattle producers vs picking up animals from auctions, same goes for your herd bulls.

There are any number of folks on this site that either raise good bulls of a particular breed or know people who do.

[whiteface]

A pool is not a cost feasible investment to any property. For resale value, many consider it completely high maintenance and a total liability, especially if the people looking to buy a property have kids that can't swim yet.
Just a little advice for all the real estate investors out there. But since you all know that I am totally high maintenance, conceited to the core and spoiled as hell and since you asked Randy, yes, I will likely have to have a pool eventually, just don't know for sure that it will be on this property. I think....
Swansia point in Salmon Arm on Shushwap lake. My husband can play on his lake toys and I'll lay around and get fat by the pool. Wow! Can hardly wait!
Yes Randy, I do know you are much more modest than the national average. Don't go changeing! Glad you knew that I was ribbing you with my conceit post. Have a good day all!

[grassfarmer]

Coppertop,
"you will not go wrong with black cattle regardless of what breed mix they may have." rather a sweeping statement is it not? Seems a lot of people agree though and there are plenty poor black hided cattle in the country as a result.

[wd40]

wow roly - fact is that if you take their hide of their all the same color. You'll find more outlyers within a breed than across the breeds.
Angus wouldn't be where it is if it wern't for Chinnia (spelt wrong)
Hereford would be where their at if it wern't for the Main Anjou.

I bought a group of bred heifers some years ago. Rancher did a gate run on the pen and I wound up with 2 perfect RWF - feather necked moms, from a heard that had been closed for 30 yrs.

[coppertop]

grassfarmer, there are good and inferior cattle in every breed, even I suspect Luing has the odd one that is less than perfect.

[grassfarmer]

Coppertop,I'm not disputing that or claiming every red cow is a winner - you are the one saying that you can't go wrong with black cattle - whatever breed or mix they are. Absolute nonsense!

[coppertop]

ah yes grassfarmer another lesson from you on just how inept I am about the cattle business. And here I have only been toiling away with cattle for 30 years in good old Alberta.
I would certainly suggest to anyone getting in the cattle business in this day and age to talk to successful cattle producers in the area where they are locating and get some good advice on what breeds work well and sell well in that area, vs listening to any of us for that matter. Although I do think there are a lot of folks on this site that have been in the business for many years and have experience with various breeds.

Black cattle sell well, good ones of course, and I would certainly give roly credit for knowing good from inferior cattle grassfarmer. Telling him he could not go wrong with blacks was based on the asumption that he knew cattle, which I am sure is the case.