Commercial Show Cattle!

BelgianBlue13

Well lads,
was at tullamore show today,great stock at it like always!
i am now moving into breeding + showing commercial show cattle.
I am starting with some very nice young cows,charolais x blues.,also some limo's.. All have great width throughout,packed with muscle and overhanging hindquarters!
Im going to start from scratch with these few cows and i need some help from some experianced men!
For these young cows i will be using bulls ONLY from progressive genetics.
I would probably go for blues,chars,limos,blondes,parthenaise anything like that and i would prefer to stay on the safe side of the calving diffuctly.
So any advice on some bulls from PG that can produce fatstock show champions would be great!
Also i will be looking for some tips + hints and just lots of help on showing cattle!
Any reply will be gladly appreciated!!
Thanks
bb13

THE LINK WALSH

you will need pockets full of cash to support this venture.it is for those who love doing it because if you are tryin to make money stay away from showing commercial cattle.try to breed limo or char x cattle as alot of the commercial blues ive seen at shows are definately purebred

pakalasa

I always wondered about this. What kind of prize money is available? I can't imagine it being that high.

BelgianBlue13

ok so ill prob be breeding limos then.and it would be more of a hobby than trying to make money

BelgianBlue13

pakalasa wrote: »

I always wondered about this. What kind of prize money is available? I can't imagine it being that high.

local shows are very poor.The national shows would be very good though!

BelgianBlue13

keep me filled with info lads!!!!!!!!

1chippy

I cant really see the point of showing comercial cattle for any sort of gain. Bar maybe some sort of rivalry between you and some neighbouring farmer. Purebreds yes as a way of bringing the profile of your herd up but comercial i really dont see the benefit. Dont get me wrong it is brilliant going looking at these animals and someone has to bring them. Personally if i had them to the stage leg wax has his i would be delighted and like him get the honour of being asked to bring cattle to the likes of the ploughing, i can understand. but to spend the amount of time to bring animals to a show, with preparations, grooming and training and even having a shiny ifor williams i just cant see it being beneficial.
Are you sure today isnt a little bit of overenthusiam after seeing a field of top notch animals.
I'd be happy if i could work out how to post pics of the screws i have up here.

blue5000

BelgianBlue13 wrote: »

ok so ill prob be breeding limos then.and it would be more of a hobby than trying to make money

You will probably have to change your name on here so:D

redzerologhlen

If you are on Facebook look up the jalex herd up north, if you want to have any hope of winning that's what you need to be producing. Muscle is easy enough to get but it's power, scope, length and a good set of plates you need more so than absolute muscle. Take a look at their pictures, he has won so many shows he has a trophy room!!

BelgianBlue13

blue5000 wrote: »

You will probably have to change your name on here so:D

i will!!

BelgianBlue13

1chippy wrote: »

I cant really see the point of showing comercial cattle for any sort of gain. Bar maybe some sort of rivalry between you and some neighbouring farmer. Purebreds yes as a way of bringing the profile of your herd up but comercial i really dont see the benefit. Dont get me wrong it is brilliant going looking at these animals and someone has to bring them. Personally if i had them to the stage leg wax has his i would be delighted and like him get the honour of being asked to bring cattle to the likes of the ploughing, i can understand. but to spend the amount of time to bring animals to a show, with preparations, grooming and training and even having a shiny ifor williams i just cant see it being beneficial.
Are you sure today isnt a little bit of overenthusiam after seeing a field of top notch animals.
I'd be happy if i could work out how to post pics of the screws i have up here.

its a hobby for me mate..

BelgianBlue13

can some of ye help me with AI bulls?
and thanks redzerologhlen thats a big help!!

tismesoitis

when i was younger i was full of the same sort of entheusium(i'm presuming ur one of the younger posters on here). Looking back i can give you an idea of what i learned from my experiences.
learn to judge the type of cattle you intend showing. just because they heve a massive rear end does not make them a "show" animal.
You also need to learn how to prepare these animals for the show... not only the grooming but the feeding training and handling in order to maximise the appeal of your animal in the eye of the judge.
You need to broaden your horizons as far as where you purchase your semen..because imo pg are a great crowd to deal with but they do not carry the best bulls in either BB or limousin!!!The top and most successful breeders will go anywhere and pay (almost) any money for the right bull.
My advice to you bb13 is if ever you get the oppertunity to do farm work experience make sure you get into one of the top show herds in the country the likes of milbrook,newtown or the likes. Best of luck

Richk2012

redzerologhlen wrote: »

If you are on Facebook look up the jalex herd up north, if you want to have any hope of winning that's what you need to be producing. Muscle is easy enough to get but it's power, scope, length and a good set of plates you need more so than absolute muscle. Take a look at their pictures, he has won so many shows he has a trophy room!!

Just looked at that briefly redzer , Nelson Alexander is the co owner with his son James .
Is that Nelson Alexander the N.I tractor dealer ????

BelgianBlue13

tismesoitis wrote: »

when i was younger i was full of the same sort of entheusium(i'm presuming ur one of the younger posters on here). Looking back i can give you an idea of what i learned from my experiences.
learn to judge the type of cattle you intend showing. just because they heve a massive rear end does not make them a "show" animal.
You also need to learn how to prepare these animals for the show... not only the grooming but the feeding training and handling in order to maximise the appeal of your animal in the eye of the judge.
You need to broaden your horizons as far as where you purchase your semen..because imo pg are a great crowd to deal with but they do not carry the best bulls in either BB or limousin!!!The top and most successful breeders will go anywhere and pay (almost) any money for the right bull.
My advice to you bb13 is if ever you get the oppertunity to do farm work experience make sure you get into one of the top show herds in the country the likes of milbrook,newtown or the likes. Best of luck

yes,i think i should have some experiance! do you know of any herds looking for people to show their cattle?

mantua

Richk2012 wrote: »

Just looked at that briefly redzer , Nelson Alexander is the co owner with his son James .
Is that Nelson Alexander the N.I tractor dealer ????

Ya thats the man. I think they have a couple of hundred sucklers and as you can imagine the best of stock. Serious operation that fellow has going.

tismesoitis

BelgianBlue13 wrote: »

yes,i think i should have some experiance! do you know of any herds looking for people to show their cattle?

No.you need to go to the best herd that shows the type/breed of stock that you're interested in working with and offer your services. This knowledge is not something you'l pick up in a couple of weekends.Also go to as many shows as you can and try judge the cattle and see how you get on.

redzerologhlen

BelgianBlue13 wrote: »

can some of ye help me with AI bulls?
and thanks redzerologhlen thats a big help!!

Its just a bit of a help because it shows pics of the cows that bred the calves which is something you wont see at the shows. I see he has bred some champions with no blue blood in them too which would be rare enough now I would imagine. Also I seen pics of one calf he had up which he said he wouldnt show because he was too muscley. It wont make you any money I would imagine but a grand hobby to have none the less.

Richk2012 wrote: »

Just looked at that briefly redzer , Nelson Alexander is the co owner with his son James .
Is that Nelson Alexander the N.I tractor dealer ????

Ya thats him alright. They have their own website too for anyone not on facebook that wants to have a nosey http://www.jalexherd.com/page.php

Richk2012

Ya thats him alright. They have their own website too for anyone not on facebook that wants to have a nosey http://www.jalexherd.com/page.php[/QUOTE]

Just after having a good look at his website there . It would bring you back down to earth quite quickly ..

Great quality stock , and not only his pedigrees but serious style to his commercial cows too .. Great outfit

pakalasa

This is what it takes alright;
http://www.jalexherd.com/meet-the-girls

All their cows have lovely feminine heads on them