|
|
|||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
By Candace Krebs Interim Editor
Among seedstock producers, switching breeds used to seem a little like sacrilege.
But the old-time nostalgia of breed loyalty has gradually been replaced by a more pragmatic ideal: the dollars-and-sense dictates of the marketplace.
Joe and Norma Hoagland might have found a way to straddle the fence.
The Leavenworth Hereford breeders want to maintain the traditional white faces and markings of Herefords but turn them black. A few years ago, they bought the rights to the American Black Hereford Association, and moved it from Kansas City to their ranch office in Leavenworth County.
The concept isn’t just generating excitement at their annual sales, snagging the interest of out-of-state buyers and drawing media attention. Quite simply, it’s keeping them in the purebred business.
And- for those who aren’t purists- it looks like a way to help the breed keep up with marketing trends.
“It’s amazing how many of the Hereford breeders are also selling Angus,” Joe Hoagland says. “Hereford registrations are continuing to decline. We’re selling a lot of semen and bulls to Hereford breeders.”
“What you have to do in the seedstock business,” he continues, “is figure out what’s going to be popular five years from now and breed for that.”
After black-hided cattle took off and the Hoaglands had trouble selling their straight Herefords in local markets, they switched over to registered Angus. But by then they were behind the curve. Their one county alone had seven or eight Angus breeders. “It was a numbers game,” Hoagland says.
“That’s why we did this,” he says. “It’s a little different product.”
Black Herefords have special appeal for several reasons. On black cows, a homozygous Black Hereford will throw black-hided calves 100 percent of the time, whereas Hereford bulls on black cows throw red calves about a quarter of the time. An estimated 70 percent of America’s cows are now black.
As a separate breed rather than just a black-baldie cross, the Black Herefords also retain more of the hybrid vigor, or heterosis, typically associated with the F1 cross.
The offspring qualify for both the Certified Hereford Beef and the Certified Angus Beef programs.
“There’s a huge commercial demand for these bulls,” he says. “We had a guy who was procuring cattle for the Certified Hereford Beef program who wanted to buy 500 bulls. We only sold 21 bulls in February.”
“It’s amazing how many people know about it.” He said. “Occasionally, we’ll get some hate mail from Angus breeders and from Hereford breeders. A lot of people call and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
At least for now, the Black Hereford Association has a practical, commercially relevant focus.
“This breed is very much Internet based,” Hoagland says. “The advertising is all done over the Internet We’ll have online registration.”
No breed journals, no fancy breed shows.
“Right now, the fees in the association are higher than normal. People can register calves fro traditional Herefords if they use registered bulls. It becomes a real expensive thing to input all of that data.”
“We’re also trying to bank money in the association for hiring someone to do the development of EPDs. We just paid the programmer to write our computer software.”
They applied to and received approval from the International Association of Breed Associations to designate the semen by breed at collection.
But even traditional concept of individual breeds is starting to seem quaint.
That’s the opinion of Bill Able, the one-time chief executive officer for the Charolais association who advised the Black Hereford organization’s founders.
“He feels that to some degree breed associations may not be as important as they were in the past,” Hoagland says. “People can trace the performance of their cattle on their own laptops. You can develop your own genetics right on your farm.”
Some breeders already offer composite bulls that are the product of different breed combinations, he points out.
“I think this is really troubling the Angus association. It’s kind of diluted the value of black cattle. The Black Hereford throws the white face so you know it’s a Hereford. It’s a mark of distinction.”
Speaking of which, Hoagland admits traditional Herefords are still his sentimental favorite.
“I like the appearance of a herd of Hereford cows. On green grass, they just look so pretty,” Hoagland says.
Then adds, “For us the cattle business has always been about making money. We haven’t been a recreational breeder. It's fun to be involved in something that’s new like this.”
 |
|||
| This Black Hereford cow-calf pair represents a new approach for the J&N Ranch, Leavenworth. | |||
 |
|||
| Joe Hoagland wants to offer the cattle business "a little different product." | |||