The cow thread

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Many years ago, I was driving home from orchestra rehearsal around 9pm. All of a sudden I saw cows in the road. I didn't hit any, but was concerned for other drivers and the animals. The only farmhouse was nearby, so I stopped. The house was dark, but I rang and rang the doorbell and pounded on the door. It took the farmer several minutes to appear, then seemed annoyed I told him his cows were loose and in the road. That's gratitude for ya. This is the place:

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Small herd of Holstein - Friesian Cattle​

An important dairy cow which is a prolific producer of milk.
Originally from the Netherlands.
In 1886, one Bull and six females arrived in Victoria, Australia via New Zealand.
From those humble beginnings, Holsteins now make up 70% of the 1.6 million dairy cows in Australia. (1,120,000)
The overwhelming majority of Holstein cows have been artificially bred using genetics sourced from Australia and throughout the world.
 
Yes, this is a Cow thread, will a Bull be acceptabull? :LOL:
Not sure what breed this bull is, closest I can come to is a French Charolais.
Ideally suited to the harsh dry weather in Australia.
Introduced into Australia via semen imports from the UK in 1969.
A small herd of Friesian cows were inseminated with semen from one of the top French sires - Sucre, at Mt William station in Victoria.
After 16 years of breeding Pure Status was reached.

A frustrated French Charolais? Bull at Pinjarra Western Australia​

 
I was eleven years old when I first visited Montana in 1953. It was a cross country adventure from Chicago without expressways, and almost all two lane traffic. Somewhere in North Dakota and then exclusively in Montana, it was all ranch land, much of it still unfenced with cows frequently blocking the highway. We would pull up to them and wait, partly because we were not in a hurry, and partly because we weren't sure of the proper etiquette when meeting a herd of cows on the highway.

At one wait, a rancher came flying down the highway at 80 miles an hour in his pickup (Montana had no speed limits back then, except in towns) blowing his horn continuously, and the cows just casually moved off the road. OK, I guess this waiting for cows was unnecessary.

One of things I miss most about back then was that all the cows, at least close to 100% were White Faced Herefords. Those were rare in the Chicagoland area. We did have cows, but they were the dairy types. But White Faced Herefords just screamed, "Montana!" I guess they were well adapted to the brutal winters. I think I heard that.

Today, the Herefords are much rarer. Apparently better breeds, either more well adapted, or perhaps just more beefy are more the rule. I had friends that owned a ranch east of the Rockies in Montana. I don't recall a Hereford anywhere on their several square miles of land. They were all white and were breeds with unfamiliar names to a guy from the western mountains of the state where I ended up. Angus were becoming more popular too, along with others I could not name.
 
This was a few years ago when our neighbor’s Longhorn down below me got loose and somehow made it all the way up to the top of the hill to the other neighbor’s pasture that raises Angus. That is her baby. She was with calf when she escaped and had the baby at the other neighbors farm so they wouldn’t move her until the baby was old enough.

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JustDave said:
I was eleven years old when I first visited Montana in 1953. It was a cross country adventure from Chicago without expressways, and almost all two lane traffic. Somewhere in North Dakota and then exclusively in Montana, it was all ranch land, much of it still unfenced with cows frequently blocking the highway. We would pull up to them and wait, partly because we were not in a hurry, and partly because we weren't sure of the proper etiquette when meeting a herd of cows on the highway.

At one wait, a rancher came flying down the highway at 80 miles an hour in his pickup (Montana had no speed limits back then, except in towns) blowing his horn continuously, and the cows just casually moved off the road. OK, I guess this waiting for cows was unnecessary.

One of things I miss most about back then was that all the cows, at least close to 100% were White Faced Herefords. Those were rare in the Chicagoland area. We did have cows, but they were the dairy types. But White Faced Herefords just screamed, "Montana!" I guess they were well adapted to the brutal winters. I think I heard that.

Today, the Herefords are much rarer. Apparently better breeds, either more well adapted, or perhaps just more beefy are more the rule. I had friends that owned a ranch east of the Rockies in Montana. I don't recall a Hereford anywhere on their several square miles of land. They were all white and were breeds with unfamiliar names to a guy from the western mountains of the state where I ended up. Angus were becoming more popular too, along with others I could not name.
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We have a lot of white-faced Herefords in my area. They are raised as beef cattle. Their meat is very good. However, most people prefer Angus because they have the mentality that Angus is labeled as the best beef there is. It’s really a matter of preference. I prefer Hereford because the meat presents a more tender and less marbling taste and texture.
 

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