It has been awhile since my last post but over this span a wonderful thing has taken place. Calving season has arrived. I raise beef cattle and for the most part they calve relatively easy, but calving always brings up worries in my mind. No, not whether my cows going to calve successfully, though that is on my mind as well there is something
that weighs more heavily. Most farmers breed to a black Angus bull now days, this is a huge problem in my mind. The trend started with the fact that Angus beef supposedly has a prime amount of marbling, small amounts of fat throughout the beef which makes it taste better. Because of this many commercial beef producers are striving to produce naturally polled(hornless) calves with black hides. Due to this many breeds of cattle which don't come in a solid coat color, such as longhorns, and Randall linebackers are in endangered. With black cattle prices so high small sized farmers who would like beef but desire calves to sell to pay for feed cost are having to resort to black coated cattle. For small time farmers, such as myself,it is difficult to take the hit on a spotted beef cow when its just as easy to breed a black one and make money off of it. Its simply uneconomical for small scale farmers to breed any other cattle. This is the outlook most have on this subject. One in which I don't fully understand. Beef is beef regardless of coat color it taste the same practically. Angus beef has caused a whole new market of fraud. Hardee's so called "Angus beef" actually comes from HOLSTEINS!! That's not even a beef cow! As long as the color of the hide is 51% black it can be marketed as 100% Angus beef. Personally if I am paying for Angus I want Angus! By attempting to breed a majority of our nations cattle to be black we
are loosing some important genetic diversity. The high prices of black hybridized cattle is contributing to the depleting valuable gene pools and breeds of cattle going extinct. So make the switch! Breed heritage breeds of cattle whether you are going to breed black or color and avoid breeding black hybridized cattle. So make the switch and my color the new black! SIDE NOTE: I realize this blog post discusses a highly debatable issues. Most post will not be like this one, but in order to establish a base for my blog I first need to allow those viewing this blog to understand what I stand for and that homesteading isn't just about farming but also about protecting something we deeply love, the farm life.
that weighs more heavily. Most farmers breed to a black Angus bull now days, this is a huge problem in my mind. The trend started with the fact that Angus beef supposedly has a prime amount of marbling, small amounts of fat throughout the beef which makes it taste better. Because of this many commercial beef producers are striving to produce naturally polled(hornless) calves with black hides. Due to this many breeds of cattle which don't come in a solid coat color, such as longhorns, and Randall linebackers are in endangered. With black cattle prices so high small sized farmers who would like beef but desire calves to sell to pay for feed cost are having to resort to black coated cattle. For small time farmers, such as myself,it is difficult to take the hit on a spotted beef cow when its just as easy to breed a black one and make money off of it. Its simply uneconomical for small scale farmers to breed any other cattle. This is the outlook most have on this subject. One in which I don't fully understand. Beef is beef regardless of coat color it taste the same practically. Angus beef has caused a whole new market of fraud. Hardee's so called "Angus beef" actually comes from HOLSTEINS!! That's not even a beef cow! As long as the color of the hide is 51% black it can be marketed as 100% Angus beef. Personally if I am paying for Angus I want Angus! By attempting to breed a majority of our nations cattle to be black we are loosing some important genetic diversity. The high prices of black hybridized cattle is contributing to the depleting valuable gene pools and breeds of cattle going extinct. So make the switch! Breed heritage breeds of cattle whether you are going to breed black or color and avoid breeding black hybridized cattle. So make the switch and my color the new black! SIDE NOTE: I realize this blog post discusses a highly debatable issues. Most post will not be like this one, but in order to establish a base for my blog I first need to allow those viewing this blog to understand what I stand for and that homesteading isn't just about farming but also about protecting something we deeply love, the farm life.
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