There are no mountains in Mississippi. In fact, the only thing in the picture that actually exists in the state of Mississippi is the Herefords grazing in the grass.

Hereford Cattle in Mississippi

A red-and-white breed in a humid Southern cattle state

Hereford cattle - the white-faced, rust-red animals that have shaped commercial beef herds across the United States - have a quieter but durable place in Mississippi agriculture. They are not the state's most numerous breed. Angus genetics and Brahman-influenced composites such as Brangus dominate many commercial pastures. Even so, registered and commercial Herefords remain visible from the Tennessee line to the Gulf Coast, prized for calving ease, maternal ability, docility, and the familiar "baldy" calf they produce when crossed with black cattle.

From Herefordshire to the Magnolia State

The breed took shape in eighteenth-century Herefordshire, England, under breeders such as Benjamin Tomkins, who began a foundation herd in 1742 with a bull calf from the cow Silver and two cows, Pidgeon and Mottle. Henry Clay brought Herefords to the United States in 1817. Oklahoma State University's breed history notes that Clay's first shipment was a bull and two females; other accounts describe the first authenticated American importation as one cow, one heifer, and one bull. The American Hereford Cattle Breeders Association was organized in 1881 and later became the American Hereford Association. The polled, or naturally hornless, type dates to the early twentieth century, after Warren Gammon of Iowa began collecting and breeding hornless Herefords around 1901. Those two lines - horned and polled - now share a single national registry and appear throughout Mississippi.

Mississippi's most storied Hereford chapter belongs to Maurice "Hot" Moore of Tate County. After buying a farm near Senatobia in 1926 and turning from cotton to cattle, he imported western seedstock and, in 1940, paid $3,500 for a foundation cow - the same sum he had once earned as a minor-league baseball player. By 1951 he was Mississippi's Man of the Year in Agriculture. In 1959 Reader's Digest called him "The South's Super Cow-Man" and featured him among that May issue's cover stories. In 1963 he sold fifty Herefords at a then world-record average of $7,965 a head. Six years later he entered the American Polled Hereford Association Hall of Fame and later served as president of the association three times. The Circle M Ranch name still echoes in Southern Hereford pedigrees, and CMR Herefords continues that family legacy near Senatobia.

A Scattered but Active Industry

Mississippi supports an organized Hereford community. The Mississippi Hereford Association states that it will "actively promote and assist the Hereford breed in our state" and strongly encourage youth involvement. A national Hereford handbook listing has identified the association's site as mississippiherefords.com and named officers and directors from towns such as Ruth, Woodville, Petal, Beaumont, Corinth, and Hattiesburg. Farms range from small first-generation registered herds to long-standing family ranches.

Examples illustrate the pattern. Flat Creek Farm in Lucedale began with commercial "stock yard special" cows in 2014, bought its first registered Hereford heifers in 2016, and later sold the commercial cattle to concentrate on registered stock. McBride Cattle Company in north Mississippi, after more than a century of commercial cattle on the same land and a demonstration partnership with Mississippi State University in the 1980s, reduced numbers and launched a registered Hereford program in 2012. Warner McBride told Farm Progress that Herefords are "early maturing, easy calvers, good milkers, good mothers and they are a docile breed." The family uses sexed semen to produce more heifers and an Angus clean-up bull to market black-baldy calves. McMurry Farms in Forrest County has specialized in registered polled and horned Herefords for about 12 to 15 years at that location, running about 150 cows and selling roughly 30 to 35 bulls a year. Other farms listing Herefords appear around Vicksburg, Ripley, Wesson, Port Gibson, Nettleton, Vancleave, and Hickory.

A 1999 Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station survey of large beef operations found Hereford influence in 25.8 percent of cow herds, behind Angus (48.6 percent) and Brangus (41.1 percent). Hereford bulls made up only about 3.7 percent of sires in those herds; Charolais, Angus, and Brangus were used more often. More recent American Hereford Association figures still show a working registered base: in fiscal 2024-2025 Mississippi recorded 1,353 registrations, 1,840 cows on inventory, 94 adult members, and 65 junior members, ranking 19th among states in registrations. That mix describes much of the state: Hereford cows and bulls contribute maternal traits and hybrid vigor, while terminal sires of other breeds often finish the calf crop.

Why the Breed Fits - and Where It Strains

Mississippi is a humid subtropical cow-calf state. Mississippi State University Extension describes cow-calf and stocker operations as prominent parts of the state's beef industry and notes that cattle and calves contribute millions of dollars annually. Warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and dallisgrass can support long grazing seasons when rainfall cooperates. Winters are mild compared with the Great Plains, where Herefords historically excelled. Summers, however, bring heat, humidity, flies, and Gulf Coast ticks.

Breed guides commonly warn that pure Herefords can suffer heat stress in hot, humid climates and that crossing with Brahman or other Bos indicus genetics is often recommended there. Gulf Coast ranchers have made the same point: Herefords are valued for maternal traits and Certified Hereford Beef access, but they do not match Brahman in a tropical setting and are frequently used in F-1 crosses. Producers therefore treat Herefords as a maternal and marketing tool. Common practices include rotational grazing, shade and water, mineral programs, low-stress handling, and crossbreeding. A Hereford cow bred to an Angus bull yields the black baldy, a commercial favorite. On the Coast and in the Piney Woods, Brahman or Braford influence still appears when parasite and heat pressure rise.

Place in the State's Cattle Economy

Beef cattle are a major Mississippi commodity, but the typical herd is a commercial cow-calf unit selling calves at weaning. Registered Hereford breeders occupy a smaller niche: they supply bulls, replacement heifers, and show stock, and they participate in American Hereford Association performance recording. Quality-over-quantity language is common among registered operations that have downsized from large commercial numbers, as at McBride Cattle Company. Listings of registered polled cows in southeast Mississippi and of linebred bulls in central counties show that a market still exists for cattle grown at home rather than imported from drier western ranges.

Challenges are familiar across Southern beef production: drought that shortens grazing, heat that reduces gains, input costs, and competition from Angus-branded and Brahman-composite genetics. Advantages are equally familiar: forage that can carry cattle for most of the year, a long growing season, university and extension support, and a breed association that still has local leadership.

Conclusion

Hereford cattle in Mississippi are neither a relic nor the dominant commercial type. They are a working maternal breed with a documented Southern history, an active state association, and farms scattered from the hills of north Mississippi to the Gulf. Their red-and-white pattern still marks pastures because the animals calve easily, raise calves on grass, and stay quiet enough for family operations. In a climate that favors composites and heat-tolerant blood, the Hereford endures as a source of hybrid vigor, replacement females, and a recognizable piece of the state's agricultural identity.

References

  1. American Hereford Association. "History." https://hereford.org/about/history/
  2. Oklahoma State University. "Hereford Cattle." https://breeds.okstate.edu/cattle/hereford-cattle
  3. Hereford America. "History." https://herefordamerica.com/history/
  4. CMR Herefords. "About" (Jim Woodrick, "The South's Super Cow-Man"). http://www.cmrherefords.com/about/
  5. Mississippi Hereford Association. https://mississippiherefords.com/
  6. American Hereford Association. "State and Regional Hereford Associations," 2022 Hereford Handbook. Issuu listing
  7. Flat Creek Farm. https://flatcreekfrm.com/
  8. Ginger Rowsey. "Farming with a purpose." Farm Progress, Dec. 2, 2022. https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-life/farming-with-a-purpose
  9. Vanessa Pacheco. "Forrest County farm sows smiles." WDAM, Apr. 15, 2022. https://www.wdam.com/2022/04/15/forrest-county-farm-sows-smiles/
  10. Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Bulletin 1128, large-herd breed survey. https://www.mafes.msstate.edu/publications/bulletins/b1128.pdf
  11. American Hereford Association. 2024-2025 Annual Report (state registration table). https://hereford.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AnnualReport_LR.pdf
  12. Mississippi State University Extension Service. "Mississippi Beef Cattle Producer Pocket Guide." https://www.extension.msstate.edu/publications/mississippi-beef-cattle-producer-pocket-guide
  13. Cattle Daily. "Hereford Cattle: The Complete Breed Guide." https://cattledaily.com/hereford-cattle-the-complete-breed-guide/
  14. BRC Ranch. "Why Brahman? Why Hereford?" https://brcranch.com/why-brahman-why-hereford/