Why Not Wiley Cattle
I’m Susan Allen this is Open Range . At the beef sales I attend it is always interesting to note the variety of character types within the same breed of cattle. Yes, for those of you outside of the ranching industry, cows have definite personalities meaning if you are planning to pick up a few for the back forty and jump in on the cattle boom you’d be wise to research just why disposition in cattle matters. So stay tuned. If you are a neophyte in the cattle industry or even contemplating picking up a few cows genetics specialist Bob Weaber recommends building your herd with docile cattle. Initially that seems oblivious mellow cows are less headaches, possibly literally but yes much easier on corrals and fences and doctoring yet there are other reason calm cattle make good sense and in many cases more money. According to Weaber calves that are more docile at weaning time have heavier weights then those that are more aggressive. In fact one study he was involved with over a 55 day post weaning period found that the calm calves gained .8lbs per day more then their friskier counterparts. This finding translates to the feedlot as well where the more docile animal processed feed more efficiently again creating better daily gain. like with horses a good mind can be inherited. Studies have found calm traits have a 25 to 40 percent rate of being passed on in cattle. The flip side is that a cow can be too mellow, and when cattle are on range and need to fend off predators and forage for food, a little shutz-pa is a good thing.
