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Beefalo
Jul 16, 2011 13:37:20 GMT -5
Post by haleiwa on Jul 16, 2011 13:37:20 GMT -5
Anybody have any experience with them? Years ago they were kind of a fad, but I don't hear much about them anymore. There might be an opportunity to graze some poor quality grass (but there is lots and lots of it) over here, and I was wondering if the bison component would make them a better converter of coarse grass than regular cattle. I also remember people saying they were harder to fence in than cattle; is that correct? Thanks for any help.
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RickNCMD
Hired Hand
coon hunter
Posts: 195
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Beefalo
Jul 16, 2011 21:18:38 GMT -5
Post by RickNCMD on Jul 16, 2011 21:18:38 GMT -5
If they are anything like the Buffalo we loaded this past spring, they have quite the pissy attitude. Whats wrong with angus? Them things can get fat off sticks.
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Beefalo
Jul 17, 2011 12:23:34 GMT -5
Post by bcreech on Jul 17, 2011 12:23:34 GMT -5
Longhorns would be a better choice than Beefalo
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Beefalo
Jul 18, 2011 3:56:59 GMT -5
Post by Rich© on Jul 18, 2011 3:56:59 GMT -5
Haleiwa..
Honestly, I really think the old Beefalo craze was just that. A hyped up venture that was pushed and advertised and promoted heavily to create a short lived capital gains movement.
You want coarse grass grazed along with every weed known to man and yet provide a meat that seems to be going hog wild in demand is goat and lamb.
I still can't get over the stigma of either animal to ever comfortably raise them. Maybe if I seen a profit loss sheet and the salesbarn check stub it change my mind but I'm tempted to believe that it is also a short lived ordeal. Someone with a hefty reputations going to come out and say that either meat is liable to irritate a cancer gene and 4 out of every 75 test participants showed signs of this gene being irritated and that'll be it. Just like that overnite the markets will tank and someone on CNN is going to have a hay day blabbering about it for the next 19 hours with zero updates on the firms whereabouts for an interview.
I know. I'm just a ray of sunshine this morning. lol.
What sort of beef market do you have on the islands? Is there a serious number of home raised and locally slaughtered usda meat there consumed to reduce shipment from the mainland?
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Beefalo
Jul 18, 2011 11:53:22 GMT -5
Post by haleiwa on Jul 18, 2011 11:53:22 GMT -5
The only outlets we have are calves shipped to the mainland (3 or 4 weight) or local slaughter, where three or four families (usually Filipino) will buy an animal and divide the meat among themselves. There is no inspected plant available that wants to handle cattle. Currently about 95 percent of our meat is imported, even though we export calves.
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Beefalo
Jul 31, 2011 21:56:49 GMT -5
Post by clayknob on Jul 31, 2011 21:56:49 GMT -5
How do you export calves (boat or plane) ? We send pigs airfrieght to S.A. occasionally and it doesn't sound pleasant getting them into the crates.
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ks8780
4-H er
Just a stone's throw from Dr. Love
Posts: 24
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Beefalo
Jul 31, 2011 22:31:25 GMT -5
Post by ks8780 on Jul 31, 2011 22:31:25 GMT -5
Haleiwa.. Honestly, I really think the old Beefalo craze was just that. A hyped up venture that was pushed and advertised and promoted heavily to create a short lived capital gains movement. I think we can say about the same thing for Angus can't we? Maybe not as short lived though. I have some experience with Beefalo cattle. Dad started with them in 1972 or so and we have had them every since. Purebred Beefalo is 3/8ths buffalo but they do not have the buffalo temper or any buffalo characteristics. If I showed you some beefalo cattle you would not know they were unless I told you. Our early bulls were mostly charolais cross of some type and carried the char. color. Our last 3 bulls have been blacks to fit in with the latest fad I guess. I have also seen a few reds around. My biggest problem is lack of bull selection as it seems the breeders are few a far between. Last 2 bulls came out of Arkansas. We used to get some from down at Sharon, KS but he quit several years ago Beefalos strong points are nice sized good growing calves and claimed lower cholesterol than regular beef. They also claim that they have an underlayer of hair to help in the winter. We also run angus and red angus bulls and have been feeding the calves for as long as I can remember ( of couse these last 2-3 weeks have not been nice to the steers in the lot now). I do not see a lot of difference in the feedlot between the breeds but we do sell 5-10 head of freezer beefalos every year to alot of repeat customers.
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Beefalo
Aug 1, 2011 12:24:29 GMT -5
Post by Rich© on Aug 1, 2011 12:24:29 GMT -5
I would probably not be able to put up much of an argument to that... While angus have many desireable traits so do many other breeds and when hanging on the rail if fed right and finished correctly it is hard for anyone of any range of expertise to tell what color the hide was before removal.
Personally, to me, feed makes all the difference in the world moreso then breeding. Yes, Breeding will help influence and boost certain performance traits such as marbling and muscle and size but feed in my taste influences taste and tenderness.
I have said for years and am adimant in my belief that a milo fed steer is a much sweeter and finer meat to eat then corn fed. Especially ones fed off of distillers grain. Last one I had like that I thought I was chewing on an old boot. A person can't tell the difference till you have one then taste the other. Remarkble immediate taste difference. Just like eating a hamburger from the store and then eating one that is home grown... you'll toss the store bought because you love your dog to much to give it to him.
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Post by haleiwa on Aug 2, 2011 2:08:28 GMT -5
How do you export calves (boat or plane) ? We send pigs airfrieght to S.A. occasionally and it doesn't sound pleasant getting them into the crates. They go in special containers by ship. It takes five days, and there is a wrangler rides along to feed and water them each day. It's a good paying job, but most of them only last a few years until they get too messed up on drugs and get fired.
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whiteriver1
FFA member
knows his shit (fertilizer)
Posts: 62
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Beefalo
Aug 2, 2011 10:59:28 GMT -5
Post by whiteriver1 on Aug 2, 2011 10:59:28 GMT -5
I like to eat Buffalo but when I was spending time at the Red Buffalo ranch in Kansas and they had some get loose I could tell real quickly that I should stick to regular cattle for my place.
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