300 Years of Herefords

Welcome to the Cattleman’s Corner. I’m Brian Hale sitting in for the late Howard Hale as we continue his legacy of speaking with cattlemen and women from around the globe. Nearly 300 years ago, farmers in Herefordshire, England founded the Hereford breed in response to consumer beef demand created by Britain’s industrial revolution.

Now, centuries later, here’s Shane Bedwell, Director of Breed Improvement, on more about the Hereford breed. Yes sir, Brian, I appreciate you having me on. The American Hereford Association is experiencing some really great times in growth.

The demand by the commercial cattlemen we’ve seen here in the last five years has been tremendous. And using Hereford genetics, we’ve seen bull sales increase not only in volume but in sale price all across the U.S. My belief is that our breeders that have been in business for a long time have really stayed committed to making the cattle problem free and stayed committed to passing on those genetics to the commercial cattlemen to add pounds, to add efficiency and add fertility in their crosses. That’s good news not only for your breed but for the whole industry, right Shane? Absolutely.

I think we’ve done quite a bit of extensive research and studies and we look pretty good there in that arena. That was Shane Bedwell, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Breed Improvement for the American Hereford Association. Balancer cattle are registered hybrid seed stock that have documented pedigrees and expected progeny differences.

Balancer animals are 25 to 75 percent galvey with a balance of angus or red angus. Balancer cattle combine the galvey growth, muscle, leanness, fertility, longevity and low yield grading ability with the carcass qualities of the angus. Balancer cattle offer a simple and powerful way to maintain hybrid vigor and a profitable blend of British and continental genetics without a complicated cross-breeding system.

Visit gelbvieh.org. That’s it for today’s Cattleman’s Corner. Thanks again for listening and may God bless. I’m Brian Hale.