Angus vs. Highland ?

[Rachel.And.Yue]

Mine are not registered, and this seems to be a problem with some local Highland breeders. They don't want to flood the market with
low quality stock. I don't really understand this with cattle, I just want to raise 1 calf a year for my own freezer. I am not interested in selling
live cattle to anyone else, but I do like this breed.

If you are just breeding one calf a year for your own freezer then you can go ahead and cross your cow with another breed. If you want a bigger sized calf go with angus or something similar. If you want to stay small, go with a dexter or dexter like breed. The temperament of the calf will depend on the personality of both parents.

Did you explain to the local Highland breeders what your plan is? Are there any near you with non-registered stock who will not have a problem with this?

Rachel

Excellent advise. We got really lucky when we bought our bull he is the sweetest of all our cattle, I can already see his disposition in his calves which are all less than 2 months old, they are more friendly, have not been as disrecpptful of fences as last years, they are still rambunctious but all the calves have been when young. It's going to make for some tough decisions going forward as to keeping him or his daughters going forward.
The guy we bought him from I would never deal with again knowing what I know now. He and the two heifers we bought with him were what I would consider abused/mistreated he is the only one of the three we have left on our farm. Last summer was intresting watching him mature/grow/fill in, seeing him now he barely looks like the same animal.

Thank you. Always nice to hear about a bull with a great temperament. Not all bulls are untrustworthy as most farmers will tell you. In my experience it is the bull that passes on the personality the most. We have had mean bulls here, (mostly Herefords, Angus and Charolais), but luckily the gentleness and calm personalities of our cows rubbed off enough on the calves that they have all been friendly. We have also had some great bulls here that their calves are probably the best we have had.

My own bull is the most gentle bull I have ever seen. I bought him as a calf, brought him home barely handled as a weanling, and just over the winter he had bonded so well with me. I can go up and rub all over that bull even now that he is fully mature and in with his cows, whenever I want. Today we had some visitors at the farm so I went up to my bull to show them just how easy he is to work around. They found it amazing that I could walk up to a bull, while he is laying down, kneel next to him and rub him all over. These people had always been told that bulls are dangerous and to never trust them. I raised him similar to how I raised my stallion. If I use a certain tone in my voice when saying his name he knows to stop whatever he is doing. So far he has passed on his good traits to each of his calves.

But all bulls are different and some breeds have more aggressive ones then others. My bull is an Irish Dexter. The sweetest guy you will ever meet but the Dexter bull we had when he was brought home is one that could not be trusted. Around humans or animals. This bull went through 3 fences, the long way around our property, just so that he could attack my stallion. Almost killed him too, so right after that he was sold. I suspect that he was an abused bull considering where we got him. That is one place that we will never go near again.

And not just bulls. I have seen many mean cows too but that is usually just in how they are raised.

My suggestion would be to look at how the bull is around people etc. and then look at his offspring. But do not just assume that because his offspring are great that it came from him. Like I stated before, we have had some mean bulls but our cows passed on enough good genes that the calves were great.

It is all a game of chance really when just starting.

Rachel
PS hope I am not rambling lol

 

[jhm47]

Bred 107 heifers for some customers on Friday. One of them had a story to tell about his experience with a bull. This bull had been perfectly gentle for the 4 years that they had owned him. One day last week, they were moving some heifers from one pen to another, and the bull got agitated suddenly. He ran to the opposite side of his pen and charged at the gate on the other side. Hit it, broke off the two railroad ties that were holding the gate, and charged my customer, who leaped into the back end of his pickup. The bull hit it broadside and pushed it about 15 feet, nearly knocking my friend out of the back end. The bull turned back, ran into his pen and stood there like nothing had happened. This all happened in the space of less than a minute. Now, this customer has about 400 cows. He has raised cattle all his life, and knows how to handle them. He has had countless bulls, and rarely has had trouble with them. This was an expensive bull that he used on his best cows, and he never had a bit of trouble with him before.

I cringe when I hear about people "petting their bulls all over". It just takes one split second, and a person can be hurt badly or worse. No matter how gentle they can appear, they are dangerous. A bull should never be made a pet.

FYI: The bull was hauled to the local sale barn. He weighed 2550 lbs, and brought $1.03 /lb. The $2600 paid for about half of the damage to the pickup, which needed a new door and front fender.

 

[Cricket]

Glenmar--did you look at AI sites for Highland semen? I've seen that they have both Highland and Galloway available now.

JHM47--have you ever considered writing a 'sticky' thing for the cattle section on AI? Including what shots you can give to induce heat? Or if you've written it up in a thread, could we find it and move it to the sticky section?

 

[GLENMAR]

I have seen some semen for sale. I need to get a catch pen built first. This cow is 6 yrs old. I was advised to find a bull that would
produce low birth weight calves. I would need a Highland or Dexter. She may also need a few shots to start her cycling. She has never been bred.
I emailed one AI tech who advertised on craigslist, but he never called me back after saying that he would get me price.

 

[Rachel.And.Yue]

I cringe when I hear about people "petting their bulls all over". It just takes one split second, and a person can be hurt badly or worse. No matter how gentle they can appear, they are dangerous. A bull should never be made a pet.

Technically most animals should never be fully trusted. They can all do lasting damage, some more then others.

I do not "cringe" as you say when I see and hear about people petting their bulls all over, as something bad can happen in many different species. After all, people raise horses to accept being touched all over. Including the stallions. I raised my own stallion to like being touched so that there is less chance of him doing anyone harm. That is why I trained my bull in the same way. There is less of a chance to get attacked when the bull is used to human contact then if you left him alone because "he is untrustworthy". I hate when people judge a species/type of animal based on what most people say about them (with some exceptions such as piranhas!) . After all, look what happened to the pit-bull breed. All the pit-bulls I have met/worked with have been amazing dogs but because of certain situations they have a bad rep. And Arabian horses as well are considered the "crazy" breed. It is all about how the animals are raised and their genetics. Like I have posted before, responsible breeding is a must.

We do not buy a bull that we cannot work around and any we have not raised ourselves are not completely trusted. I do not smother my bull with attention or treat him as a pet and quite frankly large animals, such as cattle and horses should never be considered a "pet". You are just asking for trouble if you treat them like a dog. They were not bred to be pets.

Anyways we are getting off topic here.

Getting semen in order to breed your cow is a good idea if you can afford to do it. You have more options this way since it is cheaper to get the semen then to ship a cow/bull. But the vet costs of inseminating the cow can be expensive.

Good Luck!

 

[greybeard]

Bred 107 heifers for some customers on Friday. One of them had a story to tell about his experience with a bull. This bull had been perfectly gentle for the 4 years that they had owned him. One day last week, they were moving some heifers from one pen to another, and the bull got agitated suddenly. He ran to the opposite side of his pen and charged at the gate on the other side. Hit it, broke off the two railroad ties that were holding the gate, and charged my customer, who leaped into the back end of his pickup. The bull hit it broadside and pushed it about 15 feet, nearly knocking my friend out of the back end. The bull turned back, ran into his pen and stood there like nothing had happened. This all happened in the space of less than a minute. Now, this customer has about 400 cows. He has raised cattle all his life, and knows how to handle them. He has had countless bulls, and rarely has had trouble with them. This was an expensive bull that he used on his best cows, and he never had a bit of trouble with him before.

I cringe when I hear about people "petting their bulls all over". It just takes one split second, and a person can be hurt badly or worse. No matter how gentle they can appear, they are dangerous. A bull should never be made a pet.

FYI: The bull was hauled to the local sale barn. He weighed 2550 lbs, and brought $1.03 /lb. The $2600 paid for about half of the damage to the pickup, which needed a new door and front fender.

Worth seeing in print again!
I'm glad my beefmaster bull is standoffish--he moves away from when I get close and that's how I like it. I don't want to pet him and I sure don't want him petting me. I can work him ok, but that's as close of a relationship as I want.

It happens a lot more often than people might think. A little reading material for those who like to get close and personal:
(these are people who have been around cattle most of their lives)
http://www.cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84693