vanridge said:
Wow! That's awesome! It's great to see them go to commercial guys. Have you noticed an increase of shorthorn bulls going to commercial cattelmen in the last number of years? Saskatchewan seems to have a rising shorthorn market..... I'm just curious because my dad thinks that we should go "mainstream" and stick with angus or "something normal". Thankfully, my hubby and I disagree with him
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I would say that the interest in Shorthorn bulls here is the best I have seen in my lifetime. It isn't just a Saskatchewan thing, as many of the commercial buyers in this sale were from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Getting commercial producers to start using Shorthorn bulls is a slow steady process. It takes years to cultivate and promote and it is often hard discouraging work. You really have to believe 100% in the product you are producing and that it offers something good for the industry. There can be many set backs but the rewards are great when they are acheived. I think one of the high moments for me in many years was having an Angus breeder tell me, that one of his biggest bull buyers told him that he wasn't going to buy any Angus bulls this year. The commercial rancher told him that he had been trying a few Shorthorn bulls in the past few years, and he had decided he was buying all Shorthorn bulls this year. Hearing this, made all the hard work over the past many years seem more than worthwhile! This commercial man bought in the sale yesterday, and he bought 4 bulls at an average price of $5440. ... and he wants some more! The Shorthorn breed is still a very small breed in the overall industry, and we are far from walking on easy street. We are slowly starting to get acceptance and we need to continue to add to our share of the market.
Another interesting thing is, in talking with some of these commercial guys who were buying Shorthorn bulls yesterday, they don't think Shorthorn bulls are hard calving. One guy said that the Shorthorns are calving as easy as the Angus bulls he has used and he is getting more pounds at weaning. I guess these guys just haven't got the memo yet ... about the BW issues with Shorthorns!!!These are guys who calve hundreds of cows on pasture and they are liking what the Shorthorns are giving them.
As I said earlier, gaining market share for Shorthorn bulls is not a quick fix situation. It has taken decades of time and effort. It involves raising sound structured cattle that cattlemen can relate too. They have no interest in frills and want thick meaty bulls. Here in Canada, we are seeing more commercial producers who feed their cattle to finish starting to use Shorthorns. While this breed is first and foremost a maternal breed, it also offers some very economical factors like feed efficiency, and large increases in marbling and REA over many other breeds.
Some people don't think Shorthorns can be both maternal and good carcass cattle. Well, we are proving this to be very true. In the case of our Sun Country sale bulls. we had them ultrasounded by one of leading ultraosound techs in Western Canada, who literally does thousands of animals each year. When we finished the ultrasound testing, he said that this group of bulls was one of the very best sets of bulls for REA and IMF that he had tested in a long time. Personally, I think another reason we are seeing increased commercial interest in Shorthorns here in Western Canada, is more than just producing good sound cattle. Another big factor is that we have a number of breeders who are dedicated to producing good cattle for the commerical industry. These outfits have struggled through much adversity over the years, but they have kept their eyes on the goal.
Another interesting fact.... I had a rancher from the interior of British Columbia, phone a few days ago, and he is interested in a Shorthorn bull. He lives in rugged ranch country... some of the most rugged in Canada. I asked him why he was interested in uusing a Shorthorn bull when his herd has been predominately Hereford breeding. He said that he had used a Shorthorn bull 15 years ago and still had a few daughters and granddaughters of him in his herd. He said they are the hardiest cows he has and that they can roughage for food and retain their condition for more days than his other cows. He said it was time to add more Shorthorn to his cow herd.
