# corrientel cows?



## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

been looking at cows. I keep hearing of new breeds. Saw a corrientel )sp_ cow and calf )bull) for 500
are these decent cows, and is the price good?


----------



## mariaricarto (Jul 1, 2010)

Corriente cattle are used for roping. The ones I saw while living in Mexico were small, black and had horns. I don't know about the price.


----------



## glenn amolenaar (Mar 3, 2007)

If you want to make money with cattle I think it best to stay with the old breeds, and raise a commercial herd. Here black cattle usually bring the best prices. Look around your area check with people dealing daily with cattle, sit in a sale barn watch the prices.
Glenn


----------



## SDjulieinSC (Aug 8, 2005)

My experience with them has led me to believe that they do not have shining personalities! They are some tough little buggers for sure though.


----------



## spiritrider (Nov 14, 2009)

Actually the Corriente is a very old Spanish breed from the 1500s.
The popular beef breeds were developed in the 1800s and 1900s.
If you like the confirmation of Corries, the related Pineywoods cattle tho more expensive are a little more docile.
Corries are cheap here but most I've seen are hell on hooves.
spiritrider


----------



## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

I'd leave corriente alone unless you have aspirations to be a rodeo cowboy.


----------



## TheBigSwede (Nov 7, 2007)

They are the rangy-looking steers that you see in the team roping event at the rodeos.


----------



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

I had a heifer calf I was bottlefeeding. WILD, never tamed down. She would come to the bottle but as soon as it was empty she was gone. This went on for 6 weeks untill I sold her. That was enough to make me not want anymore.


----------



## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

For a first cow I have decided to pass. thanks guys.


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

What other breeds have you been considering? Wondering if you checked into Tarentaise?


----------



## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

guess not MO cows..as I have neverh eard of them


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Well this should keep you busy for awhile. OK State has basic info. on about all the breeds.

www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle


----------



## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

wow beautiful. Bet they are pricey though.


----------



## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

oh thankyou.....great link


----------



## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I've got a cattleman friend who bought 40 head of Corriente bred heifers two years ago because they were too cheap to pass on. ($200 each $8000 total) (cheaper than the worst selling slaughter cow at the sale barn.) 

He decided to calve them out before selling them. Then, as things happen, by sheer accident; they ended up being put on a lease pasture down the road and forgotten about because of the guy's personal circumstances. (bad divorce) He put an angus/hereford cross bull with them when he put them on pasture in case they started roaming when they came into heat.

Through the course of a year going by, he ended up getting a crop of corriente/hereford/angus crossed calves + the original purebred corriente calf crop. The crossbreds that were 11-12 months younger outgrew the purebreds by a considerable amount. So let's get this straight; 120 total head of cattle. (40 cows, 40 1st calves, 40 crossbred calves.) for an original investment of $8000!

With the future of his marriage making an about-face and getting better instead of worse he begin to think about keeping his herd. He ended up selling the original purebred calves for cheap corriente prices. However, the crossbreds were kept and allowed to grow to weining size. 

He done so exceptionally well on the crossbred calf crop that he kept letting them do what they were doing and now has a second crop of crossbreds on the ground. 

MOST UNIQUE about the whole situation was that during the long period of time these cows were left unhandled and un-taken-care-of they got no grain or hay. They were literally "forgotten" for lack of better explanation. These Mexican cattle had the genetics to get by on little or nothing and eat brush as goats and wild cattle do. Their body condition was no different than when they had been kicked out on pasture. 

He's not trying to start a new fad or niche' market but it's working well for him with zero input. Now he is keeping minerals out to them and has since vaccinated the cattle. He is also keeping some of his subpar hay out in front of them but they're not eating it. They prefer the standing weeds and brush. 

Go figure!


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

a good rangy cow like that that can live off of air and make the most of it when bred to a good beef bull will make a nice stocker just about every time, this is true in alot of things, Spanish Goat nannys when bred to Boer bucks are another example, low input for a good retern at market


----------



## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

They are survivors for sure, still got their "street smarts" because no one has been putting corn in front of them for generations like many modern beef breeds. I know one rancher who got his Corriente cows through a bad drought in the southwest a few years ago by burning the spines off of cholla cactus on his range and they quickly learned to eat it.


----------



## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

I found some of the corriente for sale over here in kansas and they are used for a multi purpose. roping and as a beef cow, The owners are happy with them they just have to many for there needs and they state that the beef is really good so who knows maybe the rest of us are missing on something lol


----------

