Jerry/MT - 11/19/2017 14:00


I presume you are wanting to transition into commercial type cattle not seed stock.
Here's a few pointers I've learned over 40 year and they are all important:

There is more variation within a breed than between breeds. (So don't get all worked up on what the breed associations are hyping.)
Learn to use EPD's to select your bulls.They will impact your herd performance the quickest.
Pick your cows carefully. They are the basis for building your herd. Look for good feet and udders, remembering that these are beef cows not milkers.
Don't select on single traits.
Match the cows to the environment (grass production, weather, management, etc). You won't have a productive 1400 pound cow on desert range!
Decide what are important characteristics for selection. (for me it was calving easy, fertility, moderate production traits, disposition, maintenance energy)
Ruthlessly cull cows that are not meeting your selection criteria.
Continue culling the bottom 10-20 % of your herd to improve it.
Become a great pasture manager. Grass is the renewable resource that make beef production work so err on the side of protecting the resource.
Remember "You can't starve a profit out of a cow". You know that because you dairied.

I ran Polled Herefords for years in Western Washington, but in Montana's environment there were some characteristics, (mainly due to un-pigmented skin) that made them not work for me. I switched to Red Angus mainly because the breed association requires whole herd reporting which leads to very accurate EPD's and the red hide is 20°F cooler than black hided cattle. Our steers wean at 750 lb and the heifers are about 35 pounds behind them on all forage and no growth promotants. I haven't pulled a calf in 10 years of Red Angus calving. I feed in the late afternoon and our cows calve in the daylight hours. We matched our herd to our land base and our pasture production.

Sadly, age has caught up to me an we delivered our last cows to new owners on Friday. The calves will go at the end of the month and we will either run yearlings in the summer or lease out the grass.

For whatever it is worth, that's my advice.