[crimson]

Never had pedigrees heifers/cows, how much would a pedigree charolais or limousin for example cost? and what are the pro's and con's of them in comparison to non-pedigree . Preferably if i was to go for them, i would buy breeding females. I want to produce the best calves possible!

[SallyintNorth]

Personally I'd say the only reason to buy pedigree is to produce pedigrees, that you want to sell to other breeders.  It takes decades, if not generations, to make a name as a breeder

So if your aim is good beef cattle to sell as stores or finished beasts, pedigree or not won't matter two hoots. 

In fact, we and a lot of other beef producers find that crossbreeds make *much* better suckler cows.  Easier calvings, more milk, better mothers.  Save the cake bill, sell the weanlings for others to cake and finish

There are a lot of beef producers buy dairy cross beef females, or 1/4 dairy females, as sucklers.  Our 3/4 Angus 1/4 dairy, and 1/2 Angus 1/4 Hereford 1/4 dairy heifers often sell for breeding in the store ring

[Marches Farmer]

We raised British Blue X British Friesian heifer calves and sold them on at 10 months old as potential suckler cows.  Got them from a very good local dairy farm, fed them properly, always made a profit.  BFs were the "old fashioned" non extreme kind of dairy cow and the BB bit was AI'd from bulls without double muscling.

[SallyintNorth]

I absolutely echo that British Friesian as the dairy component is sought after, and that any BB should be *British* Blue - shorter gestation => easier calvings, and not the problems with internal double muscling of the early Belgian ones.

[crimson]

So if you had pedigrees and sold them in a mart , you wouldn't get any more than the average cow/calf? Could i sell them online, newspaper ads, to local farmers etc? or that unrealistic?

[twizzel]

Market is more for commercial stock so you are missing the market they should be aimed at. Most pedigree stock go through the breed specific sales as breeding stock rather than commercial stock. As said earlier it takes years of work to make a name for yourself and pedigree stock is fed a lot differently to be produced for sale, it's a huge amount of work and money.

My OH has a herd of beef suckler cows, we have a pedigree limousin bull but the majority of cows are lim, Charolais, Simmental cross, calves sold as stores and command very good prices as they are fed well in the first 12mths of life.

[SallyintNorth]

So if you had pedigrees and sold them in a mart , you wouldn't get any more than the average cow/calf?

In a store or fat ring, buyers buy what they see and, to an extent, what they know of the stock in front of them.  First and foremost, what they see, irrespective of what the breed says or what pedigree it's got. 

When it's a producer they don't know, then all they go on is what they see.  When they know the producer then of course they are also able to include knowledge of how the animals are likely to have been reared and are likely to grow on.  For instance, at marts which know BH and his stock, buyers know that our stock isn't forced and comes from heavy ground, so will grow on very well when pushed.

Could i sell them online, newspaper ads, to local farmers etc? or that unrealistic?

In selling pedigrees for breeding, track record is all.  You need to have been doing it for decades, and have been winning prizes - and the offspring of your breeding stock too - before you can really command the best prices.

Of course newcomers can break into this market - but it will take years, decades, to get recognition.

[landroverroy]

 I couldn't agree more with what Sally says.
A good animal stands for itself irrespective of what paperwork goes with it. And as she's pointed out, you won't get  a premium for the breeding behind it until your name is known as a breeder of quality. That takes decades and the majority of pedigree breeders never make it. So you're shelving out for breed society membership and for registration of your stock and getting no more for them than other breeders who produce quality but unregistered stock.
I started off with pedigree dexters, but never got more than commercial prices for my offspring, however good they were, simply because I wasn't known. And similarly I've also bought some quality registered cows at market for just meat prices and they've produced some lovely calves which I've got a good price for as unregistered stock. They've fetched a good price not because of any paperwork I got with their dams, but because they were quality animals.
 So what I'm saying is, is that the important thing is to buy decent animals, look after them well, and you'll get a decent price when you sell them.
We also have highland cattle and herefords.
We started off with a pedigree highland bull, on the basis that the bull was half the herd. But he wasn't half as good as the well bred and unregistered bull we bought next. The offspring from the second bull fetched more than those from the registered one.
 Our herefords also are unregistered, yet we get as much for our unregistered bulls as some people are asking for their rubbish pedigree ones. 
So my advice would be to start off with quality commercial stock and see how you get on. If you then feel that you want to to go along the pedigree/showing route at least you will have experience of producing good animals and will have seen what the market wants.
 

[shygirl]

is it just beef / investment that you are looking for?

if not, maybe pedigree rare breed cattle may interest you? its not mega bucks as they are often alot smaller/slighter than other improved cattle but every new breeder counts as they help keep the breeds from being lost. theres quite a range of breeds that are on the rbst list.
just a thought......