Kathleen, I'm glad to hear that Stan has started rehab. I'll bet he was surprised to learn that he had some weak areas.
I hadn't heard of Braford but I can see what it is. Nobody here raises the type of cattle that have been developed for hot climates. Ours need a lot of hair to thrive outside, without shelter, in the winter. Those loose folds of relatively hairless skin, with veins close to the surface, are not good for a climate where we have months of below freezing weather with snow and wind. They are great for cooling in southern climates.
I haven't heard of Black Herefords. Always something new. Polled and horned, yes. Chandler Ranch is still raising horned Herefords and has for over 100 years. Most of the Herefords are polled. Horns are a pain. They don't fit well in squeeze chutes, and they tend to use them on each other and on humans. Getting hit with a big blunt head with 800 pounds of cow behind it is bad enough, without having protrusions! When I think about it, Black Herefords might be what we call black baldies, a black cow with a white face. Those are very common here. Half breds look like that, 3/4 or some other mix has black eye patches and other black markings on a white face. The neck stripe and white underparts disappear with the first cross.
