Spring Longhorn Calves

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Any of those gonna fetch $380k at auction?

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I wish. But ours are just a hobby to have something cool to mess with. We're not into the latest greatest genetics. I stepped up on our bull 2 years ago, but most of our cows are average at best. Hopefully Candy Gumdrops will infuse some better genetics in these young heifers and our program will move forward.

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Nice looking calves.

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Thanks, they are fun. It's exciting when we get a new one. My mom lives on the property, but won't check them because the mamas can be protective.

As soon as I get the call, I drive out there and "check their oil" to determine sex and get some pics. Some of those pics where the calf looks wet is because they are only an hour or so old.

Good eye, that 3rd bull calf is turning out to be the best of the bulls.

The 3rd heifer is pretty new, still need some more time to evaluate her against the others.

So far this heifer is my favorite. The star on her forehead looks like a longhorn skull to me.

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I would like to see them at 6 months.

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It's a slow process. Longhorns especially are a lot of delayed gratification.

For example, these are some of my coming 2 year olds. They are almost breeding age, but you can see how slow the horn development is compared to mature cows that are 4-8 years old.

Those pics have a 1986 hue to them.

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That little guy looks like my GSP.

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I've read a good bit about longhorns and think they're beautiful cows. They may be what I go with.

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I tell anyone who will listen. They are the perfect breed for weekend ranchers.

Unless you have 300+ acres, a cow/calf beef operation is not going to be profitable.

Longhorns survived for hundreds of years on their own, and as a result, they evolved some great traits. For example, running wild in South Texas and Mexico, they had no one to care for them. If a cow had calving problems, she died. As a result, only cows with good calving ability survived and passed on those traits. I've only had to pull 1 calf in 25 years of dealing with them. Ask an angus or charolais rancher how many calves they pulled last year alone. Another trait is food. They survived on cactus and leaves. They'll make it in a pasture with little to no food, where an angus would shrivel up and die before eating a vine or dead leaves. Of course, we feed ours well to benefit the cattle.

Lastly, unless you want top of the line genetics, they're relatively cheap. I'd start with a few young heifers. These days they can be bought for $750/head all day long. That can and does change though. Nonetheless, buy some young heifers. Let them grow a year and go get a nice bull.

We are at the point now where we are at full capacity. I keep my best young heifers each year, sell all bull calves, and dispose of any older or unsound cows. That pays for the hay, wormer and things like that. On good years we'll make a little more and put that into fencing or something along those lines. On bad years, you may be a little short, but not so far in the hole you can't afford to throw up a couple hundred bucks to get enough hay, etc.

You don't have to buy from me, but I told Felciana the same thing on a back channel email. I'm always happy to show my cows, and if you're really interested I know at least 60 breeders in LA and TX. I can find you some good cows for a decent price. I stay plugged into the loop and I can tell you where to go look.

They're great cows, and cool as shite to look at.

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anybody around us that has longhorns ive talked to always talk about how wild they are

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In the old days, that was definitely true. And every once in a while one matures that is "high headed" meaning you can tell by the way she watches your every move, she'd come after you if you cornered her up.

However, there has been a big push in the industry the last couple of decades to cull that trait out. It's always the prettiest one too. But when they have 2 baseball bats attached to their head, you can't risk it. Half of my herd will eat range cubes out of your hand.

This is a beautiful heifer

They do have some pretty coloring, along with tiger stripes they are my favorite looking cows.