You're right...I'm not sure what my problem is today. I'll try again. In my small, tiny herd of 15 cows, we could either just have cows and breed them to a clean up bull and maybe sell a calf or two every year as a show calf, or we could have cows that will produce show stock, and we AI to many bulls that are used to produce show calves. Now, even though we breed for show calves, we still want to maintain maternal traits, which is why we DON'T breed to terminal sires, and we don't keep any heifers back in the herd out of terminal sires. We kind of have a wide range of genetics in our small herd, and I would be glad to discuss them, but I don't want to hi-jack your thread with all of that. Basically what I'm trying to say is that we are trying to breed heifers that can work in the show ring, and then go ahead and make good cows.
What I meant when I said that I didn't have much use for a "commercial" cow is that if there are two types of Shorthorns, as many people say there are, I have to lean a bit toward the show end, because a small-time operation like my family's will have a hard time marketing bulls or replacement heifers to a commercial cattleman. We will have a lot more success selling show heifers to people, whether they are 4-H exhibitors, or someone that wants a heifer that will compete at a higher level.
I have a feeling that this still doesn't convey what I'm trying to say, but oh well...that 2nd round of exams for the semester will kind of fry your brain....