We often get the question, “What breed of cows do you raise?” We never quite know how to answer because we have such a hodge-podge of breeds. Why is that? It is mostly because we have purchased breeding cows when we’ve had opportunities to obtain cows that display the physical characteristics coupled with a history of our style of husbandry that we know will produce great grass-fed beef here in our extreme East Texas climate. For us, phenotype is just as important as breed. We’ll never keep breeding a cow just because she’s a particular breed, nor would we buy a bull for that reason. There are plenty of cows within any breed that are not suitable for grass-based operations, and they should be the first on the hamburger list.

So we have lots of deep-bodied, well-fleshed Devons, Limousines, Angus, and South Poll, and of course, crosses of all of those. We’ve even got a couple of cows that have Jersey influence to get more milky offspring that raise nice fat, fast-growing calves. Every year we evaluate last year’s calf and momma cow’s condition and decide whether to breed her again or not. It doesn’t matter what breed she is, so long as she is producing healthy calves in our pasture management system. 

We thought you might enjoy a photo update of our current beef herd. I couldn’t get all the cows in the pictures, but it’s a good cross-section. And there are some piggy and human pictures thrown in just for fun. Enjoy!