What I look for as a commercial producer

From reading the posts on here I feel a little dumb compared to most of you guys on Breeding philosophies and what you are trying to acheive with raising bulls and quality females
How I run my operation is to have a pretty uniform set of cows not going to extremes in either direction
I for one wouldn't say they are the best or worst cows out there but a pretty decent set of Comm Black cows

as for Bulls I look for bulls that will give me carcass traits and also be maternal enough so I can keep some replacements hfrs right now I am usually keeping 25% 30% of my hfrs as replacements again I try to pick the ones right in the middle
I could probably keep more than the 25%- 30% BUT the main reason I don't is financial and the other reasons is I might start edging out of the parameters of the type of cow I want

From reading on here I probably DON'T use the type of bulls that you guys prefer but so far it has worked for me and I do try to find consistant breeding in my bulls by folllowing the same lines of bulls or atleast buying pairs of bulls that have similiar pedigrees and traits

what makes me money is to be able to put together consistant uniform loads of calves that I can ship and yes I do have some that don't fit in with the 90% of the herd when it comes time to sell but that 10% is usually a uniform set within their group

I guess my main goals is Uniformity and consistency

if anyone sees a problem with the way I do things and what I am striving for I would like their input
Greg seen my cows,bred replacement hfrs, bulls and fall calves this weekend
I am sure the bulls I run aren't what he would run but they have done what I want them too so far
I hope he will give his honest opinion on my cows, hfrs and calves on this topic as I would like to Know how my herd of cows and operation compares to others
as for pics I am not very good at picture taking and my photos usually wind up in the recycle bin

do you finish your cattle Creech; or at least stay up with their performance after leaving your place?

I saw Brad's cows and told him what I thought. His cows are good. He actually has the 1200 lb cows that everyone claims to have. They were as uniform as peas in a pod. Great uddered. Guessing here, but looking at the weaned fall calves, they wean at least 50% of their weight. I was impressed, not only in the cattle, but they way he took care of them. Good Manager.

Gregory Walker wrote:

I saw Brad's cows and told him what I thought. His cows are good. He actually has the 1200 lb cows that everyone claims to have. They were as uniform as peas in a pod. Great uddered. Guessing here, but looking at the weaned fall calves, they wean at least 50% of their weight. I was impressed, not only in the cattle, but they way he took care of them. Good Manager.

this is not a promotional conspiracy , is it?

MKeeney wrote:

do you finish your cattle Creech; or at least stay up with their performance after leaving your place?

I have finished some in the past and even if I don't I get my data back so I know how they are performing
I have 3 or 4 buyers that I sell to and can get the carcass data back
I wish I was a little smarter on the feeding end and was more of a risk taker on the marketing end I would feed more than I do and one of these days I hope to do so but I need to increase my numbers some more and I have a good market for calves so for now I am content with selling them after weaning

Gregory Walker wrote:

I saw Brad's cows and told him what I thought. His cows are good. He actually has the 1200 lb cows that everyone claims to have. They were as uniform as peas in a pod. Great uddered. Guessing here, but looking at the weaned fall calves, they wean at least 50% of their weight. I was impressed, not only in the cattle, but they way he took care of them. Good Manager.

Thank You Greg
I was hoping you would give me an honest opinion on what you thought of my cattle
I don't get out much and am always interested in others opinions on how my cattle compare with others

I am always open for constructive criticism and advice because a person that is closed to outside information and advice can start going backwards in his operation very quickly

I hope if seen things that I am doing wrong that you would bring them up and explain how I am doing it wrong or how I could improve in certain areas
as for weaning wt % I am usually right around 50%
I didn't weigh my calves this yr because a rat ate thru the cords on my scales an I haven't gotten them fixed yet got to do that before shipping tho

MKeeney wrote:

Gregory Walker wrote:

I saw Brad's cows and told him what I thought. His cows are good. He actually has the 1200 lb cows that everyone claims to have. They were as uniform as peas in a pod. Great uddered. Guessing here, but looking at the weaned fall calves, they wean at least 50% of their weight. I was impressed, not only in the cattle, but they way he took care of them. Good Manager.

this is not a promotional conspiracy , is it?

No conspiracy as I don't sell anything but calves and I am not interested in the bull or hfr markets

MKeeney wrote:

Gregory Walker wrote:

I saw Brad's cows and told him what I thought. His cows are good. He actually has the 1200 lb cows that everyone claims to have. They were as uniform as peas in a pod. Great uddered. Guessing here, but looking at the weaned fall calves, they wean at least 50% of their weight. I was impressed, not only in the cattle, but they way he took care of them. Good Manager.

this is not a promotional conspiracy , is it?

Yes, but we are promoting the sale of hedge apples, we have them available for $29.95 for 4 lbs, with free shipping. Look for our website,,, Hoosier Hedge apples, coming sooooooon!!

(Brad's neighbor has a website and sells them for insect control to people. Lynn was pretty upset because she has tossed thousands of $$$$$ out of the yard into the woods over the years.)

Gregory Walker wrote:

MKeeney wrote:

Gregory Walker wrote:

I saw Brad's cows and told him what I thought. His cows are good. He actually has the 1200 lb cows that everyone claims to have. They were as uniform as peas in a pod. Great uddered. Guessing here, but looking at the weaned fall calves, they wean at least 50% of their weight. I was impressed, not only in the cattle, but they way he took care of them. Good Manager.

this is not a promotional conspiracy , is it?

Yes, but we are promoting the sale of hedge apples, we have them available for $29.95 for 4 lbs, with free shipping. Look for our website,,, Hoosier Hedge apples, coming sooooooon!!

(Brad's neighbor has a website and sells them for insect control to people. Lynn was pretty upset because she has tossed thousands of $$$$$ out of the yard into the woods over the years.)

Don't forget LA-LA pops she has already registered a domain for them
she called Laurie this morning telling her what all she had done with the La-La Pops and is almost ready to go global with them

Lynn wants in on that, so add a LY to the end....

Bart,
anyone who has rat`s interfere with their weighing is going to fit in well here; just teasing about the conspiracy..