Blog

Painting of Old Jock
20Mar-23

Angus Cattle – Origins, Coat Colors, Linebreeding and Crossbreeding

  Most Aberdeen Angus bulls trace back to Old Jock, a bull from Scotland in the mid-1800s and old cow, Old Granny.  Over time these some of these cattle were polled meaning “without horns.”  Their offspring were exported to the United States into Kansas in 1873, as well as into Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.  Angus cattle are either black or red, with red being recessive.  In the United States there are two separate breed associations (black angus – American Angus...

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20Mar-23

Angus Cattle – An Explanation of the differences between Registered Angus, Certified Angus, and Commercial Angus

  You may be wondering what the difference is between Registered Angus, Certified Angus Beef and commercial Angus.  If your are looking to buy an Angus bull, this article could be helpful. Registered Angus have birth record registration papers, similar to when pure bred dog is registered with the American Kennel Club.  This means not only is the animal “purebred” but also that it has registration papers.  Registered Black Angus are registered with the American Angus Association in the United States.  So,...

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20Mar-23

Performance Angus Bulls

Hoff Limited Edition Registered Black Angus Bulls have an ability to mix well with other breeds of cattle. They have a high marbling rate, with a lower bone mass to muscle ratio than some of the other continental breeds, like Charolais.  In the 1960s bulls were imported into the United States from Scotland and England into the herds in the United States to add thickness and breed character.  Over the last fifty years, there have been some remarkable black angus bulls...

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Muscular Angus Bull
12Feb-23

What to look for when buying a bull?

  Fertility is the single most important economic trait for cattle ranchers. A bull must be fertile, have high semen quality, and high libido or drive. Bulls must have a proper hormonal balance and cover their herd. Jan Bonsma was a famous cattle scientist who traveled the world during the last century. He could look at cattle and judge their fertility. Mr. Bonsma noticed visual traits that predicted fertility. His methods work for all cattle breeds. Fertility is a highly inheritable...

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29Apr-20

Our Texas Cattle Ranch

This is a photo of Big Valley one of our fields at the ranch in Brownwood Texas! These are some of the tall pecan trees on the banks of the Pecan Bayou Bayou River at the Ranch. Angus cows have to hold their body condition in dry weather in Texas. As a result, we expect them to calve in less than a 365 day interval and raise calves on a grass forage diet, with hay supplementation in the winter months.

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2Aug-19

Our Cattle Pens

We built cattle pens based on Temple Grandin's S-curve design last year. It is amazing how easily the cattle move through the chute and how quickly we can treat the cattle with their semi-annual vaccinations. There are several components of the design that can be incorporated, even as modifications to an existing pen system. The key feature that we think works well in our pens is the S-curve rounding pen, which flows into a S-curve lead-up chute. We added a palpation...

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