Less well known Shorthorn herds

shortybreeder · Jun 14, 2019

What are some smaller or well less known shorthorn herds out there that are worth traveling to take a look at? I'm specifically looking for productive cows that aren't pampered, but still have a decent enough phenotype to produce County fair calves or "first time showman" calves.

I have nothing against the big name herds, but most of them are already on my list of places to visit this summer/fall, and I'm looking for more suggestions of where I might be able to find some quality cows for building my herd.

cflem · Jun 14, 2019

What part of the country are you from? There are some cattle out there that should fit what you are looking for.

mark tenenbaum · Jun 14, 2019

iowa and kansas have several-the cattle are reasonable and national quality pm me if you are interested O0

aj · Jun 15, 2019

Don Holliman from Mcdonald Ks. I don't think they paper the Shorthorn cattle any more since Bolze got canned.

shortybreeder · Jun 15, 2019

I'm from MN, but I have enough airline miles to get me to any airport and I travel a fair bit for work. I'll be out around Richmond VA later this month, then Mississippi and NC later this summer. I plan to attend the Revival in Michigan, and down to Lauer's for their sale, PVF for their female sale, so anyone I can stop at on the way to those sales would be great as well.
I also plan to travel through Illinois and possibly Indiana for the several sales down there (Hahn, Leveldale, etc.) Mark I'll send you a PM quick for some suggestions as well.

mark tenenbaum · Jun 15, 2019

No problem glad to help-Thats a pretty diverse cross section-JMO-If you sre going to sell any type of show calves-they can be maternal but they have to be thick-and there are cattle like that in no nonsense commercial conditions-Straight performance cattle are very tough to show anywhere-but can do ok with a mix of thick butted breeding in there-So you go to herds that have spent alot of money in certain instances but arent in the advertising-promotional flow-If they were still around-Id say Backenhus ot Schombergs In Nebraska for examples of type-or where those cattle went-Ive got a few suggestions O0

Doc · Jun 15, 2019

Martindell Farms and Sharben in KY for sure !!

BlazinA · Jun 17, 2019

If you are ever in the Des Moines area we are about 25 minutes south. We have built up our shorthorn herd over the past 25 years to about 50+ cows. Our goal is to raise a few steers/heifers for the show ring and then feed out the rest for our locker beef market. We have AI'd a lot to build up our quality but most recently used a lot of Farrer's bull like Starburst, Near Perfect and Hear Me Now, & King Of Men. We kept a couple of son's last year for in herd use only. The majority of our herd bulls have come from the Strope's , O'Neil, NE. Our current herd bull is a Red Reward son that came from Sullivans originally but we purchased from Stropes. . You can look at our web site www.amosherefordfarm.com to see pictures of winners/sires. Herefords are our main herd.

We will be selling the majority of our 2019 heifer crop starting this fall . We need to cut back on numbers. AI heifers are out of Red Sensation and Kane Captain but the majority sired by Sull Red Bounty.

You are welcome to look anytime.

shortybreeder · Jun 17, 2019

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, keep em coming! I'll have to sit down and try to map out all of these destinations and I'll for sure post an update once I've picked up my cows. I only have space for about 10 more cows, so ideally I'd like to pick up a couple here and there to get a diverse base of good cows with a bit of diversity.

ska · Jun 18, 2019

i wish i could help. maybe try looking on Facebook? or asking if any of the OG's on steer planet if they know anyone.
best of luck

ska <beer>

mark tenenbaum · Jun 19, 2019

Hey Blazin A-Heifers like the ones you sold at the Iowa Beef expo-Little shorthorn plus or whatever are what some of the kids back here want-Ive sold some cattle for Brad Davis-so keep me posted-Right now I have a good friend whos looking for a good polled hereford bull (I keep telling him get the stoutest horned one you can find)-Maybe a hereford or Shorthorn hiefer to show They are very competitive-do a great job and have whooped up on some big time midwestern cattle-Pm me-Ill give u my email quick cell pics of calves on grass are fine O0

BlazinA · Jun 20, 2019

THANK You for compliment Mark. We keep working at it. I am not sure how to private message on here but my email is [email protected]. I hope to start taking pasture pictures now that the cow/calves are in a better pasture and the bull is out.

shortybreeder · Jun 20, 2019

Here are a couple cows I really like for an idea of the type I'm looking for. I'll also try to find the thread where I posted a pic of my best commercial cow because I can't find the pic on my phone right now.

shortybreeder · Jun 20, 2019

http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/the-big-show/breeding-suggestions-58699/
Unfortunately I can't get the other cow's picture to save in a small enough format, but here's the only commercial cow we have left. She's been so productive I couldn't let her go and I'm working on breeding up her progeny to purebred status.

mark tenenbaum · Jun 20, 2019

That roan is real nice-kinda looks like a hi $ Cates cow or at least may nave some of that breeding O0

(WRS) · Jun 20, 2019

If you are in the Indiana area you should get a hold of Chad Ennis and make a stop at Shady Maple Farms. They have a lot of really nice shorthorns and shorthorn pluses. They utilize a lot of out cross genetics and their cows have to meet commercial standards. Phenotypically their cattle seem to match what you are looking for.

A couple more places to visit would be Ed Meyer Shorthorns and Meyer Family Shorthorns (Alan Meyer). They both have great shorthorn herds that don't get as much publicity as they should. Both farms have a wide array of genetics as well.

There is something for everyone at these farms and if you got the time they are all worth the visit.

shortybreeder · Jun 20, 2019

mark tenenbaum said:
That roan is real nice-kinda looks like a hi $ Cates cow or at least may nave some of that breeding O0

Thanks Mark! I actually got the opportunity to buy her in March and her bull calf by JDMC Standout looks like a real stud so far, we're probably going to retain him as our next herd sire since he'll be an outcross to everything else we have and likely everything else I plan to buy. Here is her reg #x4206998 she's a Deerhorn by Alta Cedar Samurai out of a Homedale Flash cow.

shortybreeder · Jun 20, 2019

(WRS) said:
If you are in the Indiana area you should get a hold of Chad Ennis and make a stop at Shady Maple Farms. They have a lot of really nice shorthorns and shorthorn pluses. They utilize a lot of out cross genetics and their cows have to meet commercial standards. Phenotypically their cattle seem to match what you are looking for.

A couple more places to visit would be Ed Meyer Shorthorns and Meyer Family Shorthorns (Alan Meyer). They both have great shorthorn herds that don't get as much publicity as they should. Both farms have a wide array of genetics as well.

There is something for everyone at these farms and if you got the time they are all worth the visit.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll certainly look into them

mark tenenbaum · Jun 20, 2019

(WRS) said:
If you are in the Indiana area you should get a hold of Chad Ennis and make a stop at Shady Maple Farms. They have a lot of really nice shorthorns and shorthorn pluses. They utilize a lot of out cross genetics and their cows have to meet commercial standards. Phenotypically their cattle seem to match what you are looking for.

A couple more places to visit would be Ed Meyer Shorthorns and Meyer Family Shorthorns (Alan Meyer). They both have great shorthorn herds that don't get as much publicity as they should. Both farms have a wide array of genetics as well.

There is something for everyone at these farms and if you got the time they are all worth the visit.//// ED Meyer has some of the better Shorthorns I know of-And a great guy If you want show cattle a person can afford that will compete with the big names like cates and the Sullivan breeding-His cattle are as good as they get-They are a different phenotype and alot thicker than the maternal types tho.If you want to sell calves for kids to show-You really need to take that into consideration.Because there are ALOT of good cattle in Minnesota and iowa-Wisconsin-Dont know if he still has horns-but he always has top notch cattle and some like: lucky Charm and Williams Nat Jr Show winner had a major effect on the breed-Curt Lehman in Wisconsin If they dont look the part-you might be wasting time marketing for county or otherwise as far as steers.. DTR has a pretty good mix and those cattle live in VERY harsh conditions so they HAVE to be maternal to survive there.-They have won Divisions and Grand Champs consistently at ALL the national deals and at state fairs-Both with Plusses and Purebreds-I think its Katrina Moe in Minnesota who has shown and won with a plus or two from them in Minnesota every year for the past 4 or 5 years.Dont forget Tenn and KY-The breeders down there have gone to major expense to get the most competitive genetics-the cattle ARE MUCH BETTER THAN THE MARKET DICTATES THERE O0

shortybreeder · Jul 8, 2019

The Haumont herd has been brought up several times in the cow families post, and I'm curious if this is a herd that would be worth investigating for foundation females? I'd never heard of them before these discussions (at least not that I can recall) but then I saw their ad in the shorthorn country this month and noticed they're all Native cattle.
From my understanding, the Native shorthorns aren't really going to achieve what I'm after in regards to feedlot performance and competitiveness in the show ring, but I've never gone out of my way to look at a herd of Native shorthorns.

Less well known Shorthorn herds

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