I'd never heard of black hereford until your post. Most of the herefords around here are brown. Not unless, the black baldies I see are black hereford vs a crossbred.
So, the baldies do have something else in their genes, probably hereford (maybe other crosses, I'm not sure). But yeah, the black hereford is a real breed...usually if/when we tell someone about black hereford, ppl think we're full of it and just meaning baldies. The tree BH cows have been some of, if not, our best.
Yep, you learn something new every day. If I was going to keep cows around Herford, and Shorthorn would be at the top of my list. I'm a big fan of docile cattle. Angus are a little too crazy sometimes for me. I fed out / raised Lowline Angus for a number of years.
Most of our angus/angus cross are pretty good temperament. Father in law has had a couple that I'd just as soon shoot in the pen and take the loss, or pullmout the knives, just to prove who's in charge. Wife and I made a deal when we started...too many good cows to keep a crazy / mean one. Got a Heifer now that's too crazy to stay in pen and go on the trailer, tears stuff up....found that out when she was supposed to go to the market with others. I imagine if I can line it up with a processor, she'll get popped in the pasture, loaded on a trailer and boogied down the road. I need to see if I can look back and figure out who her mama is, and see if it's any kind of trend. I know she's not from a BH.
My neighbor raises some black herfords...they seem pretty chill, except maybe when the calves get culled out...but even that is really just 2-3 days of balling...don't think they tear things up or anything. I don't think I can recall any of them breaking through fences or anything either...even holstein dairy cows will do that occasionally.
Yeah, my wife has said that Holstein can be hot. (She was a dairy science major, and some other major too). I married into cows, yippee. Ours may act the fool for a bit when we pull calves off, but like you said it's mainly just noise. Sometimes the calves may get stupid, but usually not a problem, and hey they're calves it's kinda what they do. I'd like to have all black herefords. The guy we got our 3 BHs from stopped trying to raise them and just went commercial herd. Probably wasn't worth trying to "specialize" or market something different around here.
Gramps always said Holsteins were big and dumb. Only reason there are so many of them, is some one in govt wanted low fat milk. he made butter and cheese, liked Jerseys better
They are big n dumb, I agree! But they are great producers...that's why everyone has them...high milk fat is a good thing... they just skim it off if it's supposed to be low fat...still pays more though, so high fat content is a good thing. Milk Components: Understanding Milk Fat and Protein Variation in Your Dairy Herd
I am with you brenndatomu but those same Holstein require greater inputs (feed) for that high production, easier to get in Ohio than looking at base of Mt Washington. Why he liked Jersey
I've heard that Jersey bulls are horrible to keep. I had a ram for my sheep for a number of years. I carried a pitch fork anytime I was around him. I'm glad those days are over with. I don't miss him or the sheep at all.
We had a mean ole rooster in the barn that was like that...he attacked the neighbor one day and got "pitch forked" to a hay bale...he went n laid in the corner for 2-3 days and we were glad to see him gone...thought for sure he'd die...NOPE! Meaner than ever afterward too! He attacked me one day and those spurs had my legs bleeding all over the place! Stupid bird...he was too old and tough to bother eating him too...but I thought about it anyways, just for spite!
The Holstein cow is changing with respect to percent fat in milk. Milk fat above 4% is the new normal
Yes, dairy bulls are generally worse than beef bulls, and Jersey has a reputation of being particularly bad. I grew up in a pasture with Hereford bulls, and never had an issue, but you don’t have to look far to find recent news stories of people being killed. We decided to do only AI, and never had to worry.
Thanks! I sold my cow herd a couple of years ago to a friend, and now I pasture his calves over the summer. Last summer they included some that were born here before I sold; this summer they are all here for their first time, and are a bit wild. I’m spending time getting them more calm so that I can move them through the grazing rotation without panicking and running through a fence.
