I completely agree with you on the longhorns. If you have the time to make it work in a niche market it could be profitable. Problem is finding the market. They are good for roping cattle though. We raise alot of corrientes and they are basically the same thing. These we sell to ropers. You can do pretty good raising these. If they are good looking roping cattle you can get $450 for them in a year. They also don't need alot but you want to feed them lots of protein to get good horn growth.
I was also doing Corriente for a while, then we did the Longhorn /Corriente mix, by mixing the breeds you could get a little quicker growth for ropping cattle as well as quicker/broader horn growth.
One way to market the Longhorn meat is with in friends and family connections. Word of mouth. Atkins dieters should love the Loghorn for it's health qualities. I will sell the cow to an individual or two who may want to share. I sell by the pound per hanging weight. If the new owners want to pick out their head of cattle that is fine. I ask them how they want their meat cuts (steak, roast, burger, ect) Then I deliver the Longhorn to the processing plant (I am lucky, the plant is less than 2 miles away). Once I get the hanging weight, I collect my money.
They pick-up their meat and pay for the processing at that time. Currently the processing is .38 per pound hanging weight. Depending on market conditions and prices, I can usually get twice the market value, and the comsumer get some great, healthy meat (burgers, steak, roast, stew meat) custom cut and processed at a price of less that ground chuck in the grocery store.
Couldn't agree with you more on everything. We do the purebred corriente's just because you can usually sell them for $100 or more per head being registered. They seem to last longer for roping than the longhorns do. But if I was in it for the meat aspect I would definitely do what you are doing.
The only thing I do different than you is I sell on the hoof. I also have the customer call the butcher and tell him how they want it. The customer then picks up the beef at the butcher and pays the butcher bill.
anyone have any input on buying registered vs commercial?? i have been looking at buying 3-7 reg. angus bred heifers instead of commercial. any pros/cons?? is there a lot more risk in the 1st calf heifer vs a more experienced cow?? and what should the price diff be??
It all depends on how you want to do it. Selling registered cattle is usually more profitable BUT you really need to have them in tip top shape. This means preconditioning them before sales which takes time and more effort. If you just want to calve them out and let them run on pasture and then take to the sales you're going to be better off with just commercial cattle.
You are also going to have more upfront costs. I would buy the best cows that you can afford and then ai to the top bulls. That is how to really make it pay. Buying a top bull is going to be tough to do for a limited herd. Plus keeping a bull is royal pain if you are on a small place. The good thing is you are surrounded by some of the best registered angus herds in the country. You will have no problem getting some good stock and ai'ng to top bulls.
I suggest that you try good quality commercial animals first if you have little or no experience with cattle. See how you like it and get a little further up the learning curve. There are some calving risks associated even with mature cows but this is increased with first-calf heifers. Many factors affect calving ease some of which are: a) Size, structure and genetics of the female, b)condition of the female, c) the genetics of the bull (referred to as birth weight epd) Good quality, young cows that have already delivered their first calf are hard to find and are expensive but I believe I would go this route. I tryed the other way and became very discouraged when I lost several calves and one mama. I would use AI bulls on a herd of the size you mentioned. It's not economically feasible to keep a good or bad bull for that number of cows and you can get superior genetics by going AI.
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