Ketchup arrived

[redcountry]

The bull we bought feb 18 on tean auction arrived today, none the worse for his travel.

We were a little taked back by his size!
I'm going to take a picture of him next to Whylie our charlois bull.

This buying a bull thousands of miles away has had its moments.I will say Mr.Kaiser has tried to make it as good as possible.

Now the proof will be in the next calf crop he has some stiff competiton with Whylie (char) lucky, larry, and glenn (limo) and no our limo's are not crazy or hard to handle.

There was a another bull and eight heifers from sask. on the same truck as ketchup arrived on, all semm's and verrry nice looking animals,
maybe the start of better east/ west relations.

regards Art

[cowman]

Just curious what does it cost to ship cattle that far?

[WoolyBear]

"we were a little taken back about his size"

Was he bigger or small than you had thought?

[redcountry]

It cost $600. to get him to ontario and $150.from ont to PEI.

A little smaller than we were used to, he came on the same truck as a yearling semmi and he was the smallest of the two, we took a little ribbing but we will see how his calves look.

[grassfarmer]

I'm happy he was smaller than you expected not bigger. These "smaller" breed cattle tend to look that way only because their legs are shorter. What's the point of extra height? it gives you six inches of extra daylight under the belly which doesn't weigh, you can't sell and can't eat!
We weighed some bred Luing heifers the other day - coming up to calving at 2 years. They look small but averaged over 1150lbs - we still have a lot to do on the genetic downsizing front!

[redcountry]

thats why we got this bull its hard to get our semmi/limo steers to finish under 1500lbs,

[cowman]

Grassfarmer: I do agree with you on the leg thing. The most important selection tool we had in the eighties was the old tape measure! Of course the theory floating around then was the taller the animal the more frame size and thus the more meat you could pack on that frame? But a funny think happened...the taller they got the less wide they got! And the smaller a gut got...to which the experts of the day replied "less waste at slaughter"! Unfortunately they started to look more and more like a Holstein every year! But if you raised them short you never sold any bulls!
Practically every mainline breed chased the "taller is better" fad and it ruined a lot of useful breeds. I would say chasing inches ruined the Hereford breed without a doubt and the polled herefords were worse than the horned cattle.

[cowman]

Red Country:I find it kind of amazing that it cost $600 to ship to Ontario but only $150 to PEI from Ontario?
Now not real scientific here but looking at my map of Canada the distance from Ponoka Alberta to mid point Ontario is about the same distance from Ontario to PEI?
I would think that kind of advantage in freight would definitely give an Ontario breeder a distinct advantage? It would be interesting to see how much it might cost to ship him the other way...PEI to Ontario? I wonder if the bill would still be $150?
Now maybe there is a reasonable explantion for this or something like he was shipped on a boat or someting and maybe that is a lot cheaper?

[redcountry]

when we ship cattle to better beef gualph ont they charge by the lb.
to pickup and return its a flat rate.

the to ont shipping was arranged by the seller.

[rkaiser]

Had a bit of a hiccup on the trucking thing. A handshake deal turned a bit sour, but we are going to help Art out with the problem. Seems that most folks can deal with a handshake, but there are still a few who can't help themselves.

Glad to hear that things are looking good Art. Just got back from Regina tonight where we dropped three to a fellow who could not have been happier. Kept talking about the thickness and the moderate size as well. Turned a lot of heads this year, and found some boys with some major numbers. The last five bulls I dropped off had herds to deal with that numbered over 3000 cows in total. I guess if they are happy, we'll have to talk cowman in to starting up a purebred herd of his own.

[grassfarmer]

Holy crap, Randy I'd better have another look at these black bulls - even 5 Luing bulls couldn't handle 3000 cows!

[grassfarmer]

Well, Randy, if you can supply bulls that will breed that many cows, more power to you !!!!!!!!!! LOL !!!

grassfarmer, I checked out your site last evening. Interesting info, I didn't know much about Luing cattle but glad I checked it out .

[rkaiser]

Yip grassfarmer, we're still working on the fertility figure every day. Those S.C. numbers in most catalogs refer to centimeters, ours are still in Imperial measurement.- Wink yourself -

[cowman]

Somehow or other I always get shots about how I am anti-anything not mainstream! And maybe I have helped that along by playing the devils advocate, whenever I get a chance!
However that isn't really the case at all! Hey boys I'm listening and have actually picked up a few things here and there from this site!
And yep, I think the cattle business is changing and you either change or die? In the perfect world we'd all still be raising those good old stout horned herefords and flogging the barley to them! But those times are gone.
And despite Mr. Kaisers contrary statements I have always thought Welsh Black cattle were very interesting cattle and built right...and that from a very limited exposure to them...my buddy runs a bull test and he used to have Welsh Blacks on feed there.
Now I will admit I don't think I've ever seen a Luing other than in a few books. I have on book on modern beef production from England that talks highly of them.
And finally I think I said there was a guy out by Delburne Alberta who had a herd of Galloways....and I said they looked like good functional cattle?
Now when the day comes that my customers(the feedlot) starts demanding these type of genetics...that will be the day I'll change? Does that make sense? When the market said "Those straightbred herefords just don't cut it anymore"...I changed! When the market said "We don't want those Simmies" ...I changed! And when the market said "we want more Angus in the mix" I changed!
Sometimes reluctantly...I will admit.
Now often people like to portray their particular choice of breed or crossbreed as being superior in utilizing feed and there is a lot to that! Obviously when you get too much Simmental in them they have a hard time competing with a red baldie...by the way some of those old Char cross cows can be as tough as the best!
I think you can find "tough cows" in many breeds and crosses that can get out and rustle and get the job done!
Now I'm not saying some of these minor breeds aren't superior when it comes to getting by on less feed? The fact is I just don't know?...but I do enjoy listening to you guys when you talk about it! Don't know how much is fact, wishful thinking or just plain old BS...but keep doing it.

[rkaiser]

Cheers cowman. And we all know that you and I will keep coming back for more due to the thickness of each of our own skins.

By the way, I have a good freind who can't wait to see my next bull sale catalog each year. He calls me the Ernest Hemmingway of Bull Shit. But bull shit in this industry does not always mean lies. More a way of exposing the best of what you have and making that exposure more appealing than the next guy. There are Ernest Hemmingways in every breed, including Simmentals, and God love - em I say.

Every breed in Canada has a place in this wonderful diverse industry we call the cattle industry. The longer we can keep em all going, the longer we stay away from the goal of the mutinationals to turn our industry into what what is called the chicken or pork industry.