THBC Forum

I was surprised to find that HCS want not only to heavily charge for a late calf registration, but require a DNA test on the calves' old dams, who had had many calves registerred before. The irony is that I had these old cows tested by HHBI, and they all passed the test, whereas the vast majority of the cattle registerred by the HCS are bred to mainly American imports, which IBERS' report shows to have been subject to considerable introgression from outside the breed. Indeed, not only the jump in size, but factors of conformation and milk quality.

As discussed at their most recent meeting, the Traditional Hereford Breeders' Club is asking breeders to submit weight and management data, to generate breed-specific performance averages in order to publicise the attributes of the Traditional Hereford. Download the form to contribute data from your herd, including: BIRTH WEIGHTS | LIVE WEIGHTS | DEAD WEIGHTS & GRADES | FEEDING INFORMATION Once downloaded, enter your data into the form and save to your computer before returning by email to: sarah@traditionalherefords.net

For the Hereford breed to have a future, we need to have an independent market for our cattle which bypasses the corporate food chain. I know several Hereford breeders who are selling direct to consumer but are limited in how they can market because they are going alone. I envision a franchise system where independent ranchers, finishers, and butchers can work together to market beef with a personal connection back to a real person.