Why do you like your breed of cattle?

the angus111 said:

DL, I would of bought into that if you would of said he is kinda dumb,my daughter thinks i have good suck also!she always tells me i suck.i guess next time i will say thank you!as we get older,do you find it easier to say things that might not be politically correct or maybe even blunt or rude.i find myself rambling on,sticking my foot in mouth.whereas 10 years ago i would not dare say what i saynow.anyways thanks,i think!rusty

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A111 - It is amazing how a few birthdays loosen the tongue isn't it. Believe it or not 15 years ago I would never expressed my opinions on much of anything, but over the years I finally realized my opinion was the only one that mattered -LOL! Seriously though I think with the birthdays comes alot of experience and observations. I have never been accused of being politically correct or for that matter overly bright.

ROAD WARRIOR said:

the angus111 said:

DL, I would of bought into that if you would of said he is kinda dumb,my daughter thinks i have good suck also!she always tells me i suck.i guess next time i will say thank you!as we get older,do you find it easier to say things that might not be politically correct or maybe even blunt or rude.i find myself rambling on,sticking my foot in mouth.whereas 10 years ago i would not dare say what i saynow.anyways thanks,i think!rusty

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A111 - It is amazing how a few birthdays loosen the tongue isn't it. Believe it or not 15 years ago I would never expressed my opinions on much of anything, but over the years I finally realized my opinion was the only one that mattered -LOL! Seriously though I think with the birthdays comes alot of experience and observations. I have never been accused of being politically correct or for that matter overly bright.

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I doubt that you will be surprised to know that age hasn't really loosened my tongue - it was a combination of genetics and environment ;D ;D

DL - Genetics and enviroment do play a large role don't they. people that know me and my daughter say there is no doubt where she is growing up, yikes!

ROAD WARRIOR said:

A friend of mine that lives in Illinois says there is a black breeder on every corner. That might be just a little exageration but his point is that there are a tremendous amount of black cattle in his state. Many breeders = many cattle - common sence tells me that if there is an abundance of bulls for sale in any one area, the laws of supply and demand take over and the commercial man with cows just because he has x amount of acres that they can't drag a corn planter over will be bargain shopping, looking for a cow freshener. He knows that at the local sale barn black hided calves will bring a premium over colored calves (in most cases) so he buys the cheapest black cow freshener he can find, not having any idea of genetics or possible problems. Our area used to be exactly the same way. It has taken several years to develope a red market but if we ever get them one sold they will be back, I've been told by several customers that even though they take a few cents less for their red calves the pounds m ore than make up the difference. Edgucate your buyers if you can get them to listen - it's a long hard road but worth the drive if you truley believe in your cattle.

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Your defiantly right it is hard to change the mindset of some people.  When they see the black hided cattle bringing a premium at the sale barn its hard to convince them that red is the way to go.  I think since the association has implemented the Pro-Cow and feeder calf programs it has helped, but we still have a long was to go.  And educating people is the only way we can ever begin to change things or at least give them another option.

As the Reds gain popularity and exposure we continually chip away at the market share. This is evident in the amount of new breeders coming in from other breeds and the people watching us from the side lines. 20 years ago we were nearly a novelty breed that not many people had heard of and very few took seriously. Truthfully we are still in our early years as a breed.

I hope we can continue to maintain this momentum and keep growing.  I am still on the fence as to wether the multi-breed epds will work and if RA will really rise to the top.  I think alot of people were really skeptical at first and the board tried to ram-rod the idea through without much support from the members.  But I think now after a couple of years of playing with the idea, that they have considered ideas from alot of members and come up with a solution that will work for everyone.  Only time will tell.

At the convention where the multibreed EPD was pushed , only the politically correct board members were aware of what was about to take place. A friend of mine was on the board at that time and was just as blind sided by the whole deal as the general membership. Eventually my friend was strong armed off the board by threats from the national office. That kind of bothers me in the fact that the powers that be will resort to threats if you are not politically in bed with them. The concept of acrossed breed EPD's I think is alright, but I don't like the idea of being told that I am going to pay 2 -3 hundred thousand dollars to set up the systems and models just so the executive director can be klnown as the "one" that started it. The original group of breeds that were involved I don't think would have worked for the fact that they were all smaller breeds. If you're going to have acrossed breed EPDs, it should be acrossed ALL breeds not just 7 breeds. There will be a lot of change in the RA EPDs when this comes on line, probably the most change will be in the BW, YW and TM EPDs.

. "There are very few RA in MI and the ones I have worked on I would not take home to Mother!  What kind of foot and leg issues are you referring to with Heavenly? He also had a son Leachmans Heavenly 3043 (number may be wrong) but semen is not available on him. What RA bulls do you suggest for calving ease for heifers? Tell me about your sr sire (you may have covered him before but I can't remember where) and do you sell semen thru SEK? I love my Maines but most are related sometimes closely to the Maine calving ease sires - I have used Money Man this year on cows and if that works well could try heifers,; won't use Ali, and some of the others promoted as calving ease are not convincing....so looking to other options - esp with the red heifers - have a great one,[/quote]

I'm a Lowline raiser in Michigan and, obviously, like the Lowline cattle.  However, I notice your comment about not many RA's in MI.  Are you in Michigan?  I gotta say that in general there isn't a viable beef cattle industry of any kind in Michigan.  A very sad state for cattle, imo.  I started my Lowline biz in Wyoming.  Now, THAT'S a cattle state!  I'm ending it in Michigan.  Best wishes to you with your business.