Florida: An Ideal Cattle State

by Florida State Live Stock Association

I can not urge you too strongly to know absolutely the breeding strength of anything you buy, and that means in a general way that you must buy known cattle. I realize, too, that there is a great shortage of bulls, and probably the only way that you can get what you want, because it goes without saying that you can not afford to pay the price for registered bulls in all your work, is to work in some way through a central community of interests, go to Texas and buy the bull calf crop of some herd of cattle that will show fifteen-sixteenths or better breeding. I urge this freely, because you must go below the line and none of our own cattle are available. I believe that if you bring these calves over here, say in November at weaning time, at the age of about six months, and give them some good winter help, that they will acclimate quickly, and will give you very fair returns in the yearling period, although, of course, you can not expect from them a real usefulness until the two-year-old period.

While the Hereford has been the redeemer of the ranges, practically every ranch man in Texas has felt that an undercurrent of Shorthorn is of the greatest advantage. We have used it persistently in our own work, and feel that it has given a most appreciable contribution to the weight and general quality of our cattle.

In the last few years the Brahma cattle have come into prominence, and every investigation that I have made shows that they will undoubtedly prove a great factor in the evolution of Florida cattle. They seem to be immune to most of the pests and do not require as much in the way of acclimatization. They show a wonderful growth in yearlings and they mark their progeny with size and distinct characteristics in a most decided way. The packers seem to like them; they kill out a large per cent of beef, and while I have never had any experience with them, all my observation has been in their favor, and I urge you to go as far as you can in utilizing them in Florida.

I am, however, convinced that you are going to need both the Shorthorn and the Hereford to combine with them. I am also convinced that both the Shorthorns and the Black cattle are going to prove very valuable adjuncts in your eventual work in the State, particularly as applied to small areas where the cattle are not asked to live as much upon their own resources. The experience, however, in Texas has been that the calf crop is not as great from either of these breeds as from the Herefords.

For your information, on the S. M. S. Ranch we have averaged better than eighty percent calf crop for the last ten years. I think that perhaps you will find the Brahma cattle even more prolific than the Herefords. I think, too, that in every possible way you should encourage the breeders of full-blood cattle in all of these breeds, and that you give them every encouragement in purchasing their progeny.

The introduction of good bulls is a comparatively simple matter, because they can be purchased, but a great cow herd can only be produced by accumulation, probably by a culling of at least ten per cent of all females every year during the process of up-grading. The yearling heifers should not be bred. We always cull them when about eighteen months old, cutting them ten per cent. Culling should be done both from an individual standpoint and from the standpoint of "Get." The culling process is the most important element in beef evolution.

The process of culling will not be extravagant, because looking to the next few years it would seem that canner cattle will probably be as strong as any other branch of the industry, and these culls are usually not only splendid canners, but furnish quite an element of cutters, which means cattle producing very fair meat for regular consumption. I believe, too, that on any range of appreciable dimensions you will find it an economy to produce your own bulls, and in starting any good sized property I urge that you keep that in mind. Get your cows just as good as you can get them; of course pure-breds will be better, and then use only the best registered sires in that herd.

I think advisable, too, in your branding, to put the year brand on all heifers, as it will be of material assistance to you in the matter of knowing the intensification of blood during the early process. It will not be so important later on when the cattle are all very high grade.

The use of the scrub bull is an economic crime; therefore no matter what you use in the way of a sire you are pointed upward, but I feel that it will be a distinct economy to try to get seven-eighths, or at least fifteen-sixteenths sires.

Another thing which offers a great economy in your country is the possibility of dropping calves an average of about two months earlier than they do in Texas. We do not like to have a calf come before the 1st of April. I believe that you can drop yours during January and February without any trouble, judging from the average condition of your cattle in a winter said to be from early October, the most severe you have ever had. Dropping a calf at that time will have him old enough to eat your young grasses when they begin to come. He will have a two months' pull over the Texas calf; will have at least two months longer to combine nursing and grazing to deliver him the first of November.