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Charolais Cattle

We've had Charolais for almost 30 years now. I agree with everyone else who says to check the birthweight of any bull you use. Also keep in mind that a cow who weighed over a hundred pounds at birth will pass that on too. Just as a small birthweight cow just may not have the pelvis size to get the job done. Up here pelvic measurement is a tool that a few people use when selecting replacement heifers, and it does help.

We have been using Limo bulls on our Charolais cows for a few years now, mainly due to the bias against white cattle that was going on. Boy, you want to talk about a nice combination, that is it. We prefer our cows white, though, and still keep a very special white bull just to get some good replacements.

As for Angus, here comes a fight. :) :) :) :) We've got three Angus cows right now. One is on a trailer as we speak on her way to the auction mart, another would like to kill you as soon as look at you, and the third is the only one that's worth a dime in my books. They've been having Limo calves for us, and they're OK, except the one that would also like to kill you, just like his Mama. :shock: :shock: And he didn't get his disposition from his Limo daddy either, because the Limo breed has worked on disposition just as hard as the Charolais has worked on calving over the years.
 
Kato said:
And he didn't get his disposition from his Limo daddy either, because the Limo breed has worked on disposition just as hard as the Charolais has worked on calving over the years.
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I think wildness in Limo's is a recessive gene - it's recessed back in the hole between their ears where the brains are meant to be :lol: :lol: We had a beautiful, docile limo bull but the majority of his calves were stone mad. The purebred herd he came from was largely made up of quiet docile cows. Maybe the heterosis of crossing them brings out the trait?
 
We used Limousin in the early 80's. We didn't notice any disposition
problems except one bull liked to jump out of the corral. :shock:
We called the lady we bought him from and she advised us to
fix up a 'visor' type apparatus that hung down over his eyes so he
couldn't see UP. :shock: :?

We said we weren't going to do that. :roll:

She made the deal good, came
and got the bull and used him on her own cattle.
But she calved all year long and
where he went (on his own or otherwise) wasn't all that important to her. :P

I really liked those Limousin bulls. When you gathered
them out of the cows, they came right out and trailing them was a pleasure. The didn't fight each other and they
strode right out. I really did like them. I thought the calves were smart. We tried to keep replacements out of them
and that just didn't work, so we changed our program.
If we got the heifers to breed until they were 4 years old, they were there for a long time,
it was just losing so many because they didn't breed that was the problem...

I don't think I've ever seen a Limo-Charolais cross. Do you have
any pictures?
 
we have had two char bulls the last 6 yrs and haven't pulled one calf from them. had them on black cows, they do grow!!
 
Faster, I know you're just sharing a story, but I do think that many of the prevalent opinions of breeds today harken back to experiences that occurred in the 80's. A lot has changed since then for many breeds. Except maybe Highlanders, they maybe haven't changed all that much?? Heh, heh. Seriously, that was a time when some of the Continentals were just pretty bad. Not so nowadays.

8)

HP
 
I agree. In the 80's we didn't know about chosing a bull based on
more feminine/fertile females. Sorry that I didn't add that.
It's much easier to find out information now, than just eyeballing
a bull like we did then. The lady that we bought the bulls from helped
us and kept us on track buying at least 7/8 Limousin; not 3/4; 1/2,
etc. so we had some predictibility in the calves.

One thing I learned about BW is some friends that raised registered
herefords decided to cross with Limousin about the time we were using
them. They were older and had 50 Hereford cows that they had all
the data on, as they were home raised. These folks purchased 2 Limo
bulls and bred to these 50 cows. All the cows calved without help, except 2. They had to pull the calves out of these 2 cows. Next year, same
thing. Same bulls, same cows, same 2 pulls. The folks went back and looked at the info on the cows. Both cows weighed over 100 lbs.
when they were born. :shock: Thus, I learned that BW is not always the
bulls fault; in fact, I think I read where 70% of BW comes from the dam.
So if you have big BW in your cows, buying a low-birthweight bull isn't
going to fix the problem.

Anyway, I hope I didn't hijack this thread. If I did, I apologize.
 
FH, this is what they look like as babies. White cow X Limo bull.

calf2007.jpg
 
We started using a Charolais bull on one group of cows and have absolutely nothing bad to say about it. This is coming from a guy that raises Angus bulls!!!

They have come a long ways and are a good fit for our British cattle. The calves look good, perform well, and help when we market our calves.

The only criteria I have for using the Char bull is that we don't keep replacements out of them. Not saying they won't make wonderful cows, but its alot easier to have a herd that is all the same color, or black white faced. Those smokey calves look real good next to them. But we are in an area where color is key, and do get lower prices on "off" colored cows.

We are on our third calf crop with the Char bull, and stayed pretty moderate BW when we bought him, but I have not seen a major increase in weaning weight from his calves. We are planning on buying at least two more this winter and will look for one with alot more "umpf" for weaning weight and post growth. I still am not totally conivinced, in our own herd, that there is a huge advantage to the Charolais over a well bred Angus bull.
 
Sic' em,

Did you get your bulls from Hangin' A in Pasco? If so those cattle are very maternal calving ease cattle and the daughters out of their bulls would make good cows. They are not high growth or power cattle however. For more power and growth go north or to Montana to Eatons or Buddy Cobb. Look at the Gerrard Charolais bull SVY Pilgram: http://www.gerrardcattlecompany.com/. They sell in the same bull sale as HEJ you know one of the black Charolais breeders.
 
we ran chsarolais on british cows for 35 years and never had the need for a calf puller. The only reason we quit was I can sell black baldie heifers for more than Charolais steers. The Lt bluegrass bull calves`really well on heifers from what i've seen. those char/angus cows are damn good too if you use the right bull to make them.
 
I've been to Denver today, and just got home. I have run Chars for 30 years, and like them. The white bull on black cattle works good. I don't like a black bull on white cows because there are way too many elephant tails. I like to stay within the breed on 1st calf heifers. Char on Char will be more consistently predictable than when you get heterosis involved. I am using a bull out of an RC Phase on heifers now. Last spring, I just checked the heifers about 10:30 and again at 5:30. Some people would have a coronary to think anyone would breed a heifer to Charolais, and then to not get up to check them! I lost one heifer with internal bleeding during the day, and one heifer lost a big calf out of the neighbors Limo also during the day. That was it on 21 head - ended up with 20 heifer pairs. Watch the CE direct number on the bull you use; the higher the better for heifers. Good luck, and always remember free advice is worth every cent it costs!
 
harris:
the previous post comes from an authority in the business, that ranches in as tough or the same country as yours.
I've seen the pictures of his cattle...
 
jingo2 said:
#1....Make sure the local vet will extend credit to you.....you're gonna need it.

#2....DON'T

#2a...that is unless they are free and if they are take them to the nearest sale barn THEN go buy something worht a crap

#3....Put YOUR personal Dr on speed dial, you will be needing him also.
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Any breed can have it's outliers. It's not just people who breed Charolais that could use your advice, jingo2. Seems that some Angus breeders have also had a cavalier approach to culling based on birthweight. Anything to make a dollar, I suppose.

Here's some responses from a former member of Ranchers when it was suggested that a large bull calf should be cut:

We sell bulls....not hamburger
Click to expand...

So, he was a bit heavier than he should have been.....I'll bet you're a bit heavier than you should be also..........
Click to expand...

http://ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=339347#339347
 
Here's a story of a hard calving bull. Maybe some older Canadians who have Charolais will remember a bull from back in the early 80's who's name I wish I could remember right now. Well, anyway, at Agribition (which is late November every year) he was the talk of the town. He had a frame score of at least 10, and the purebred guys were promoting him as the best thing since sliced bread. The commercial guys were not so sure. Anyway, he won everything possible, and was being promoted like a rock star.

Fast forward a few months to the Brandon Fair in April. By now the word had gotten out that he had a 140 pound birthweight! Semen was a non seller, and no purebred breeders even wanted him. His son's would be a liability. The judges obviously did not hear the talk, because once again, he won it all. They had a hard time getting a bid on him at the bull sale after the show, even with offering all the trophies with him. I wish I could remember what he sold for at the fair. I can, however remember being at the Brandon auction mart the next morning when he went through. :shock: :shock: :shock:

The moral of the story. No matter how pretty a bull is, or how much the money men would like to cash in on it, if he's not a good bull in the real world, he's not a good bull.
 
The biggest calf I ever had was out of a Braunvieh cow and a Charolais bull-he was 135 pounds unassisted and weihed 935 at nine months-kind of a big old dink lol.
 
harris25 said:
What can you tell me about breeding Charolais bulls to angus cattle the good and the bad? What about breeding Charolais heifers to a Charolais bull? I am looking to maybe get a cross breeding going at the recent sales the Charolais steers and heifers have been selling at a premium over the straight angus feeder calves.
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We neighbor Charolais bulls and it has led to many discussions at our house. Granted we pulled them out, but we didn't pick the bulls the bulls picked a way through the fence.

Smoky calves in the local sale barns seem to sell for less while a white one does just fine.

Rat tails or whatever you want to call the odd tail appears to happen some and of course that's a dock at the sale barn also.

But the weight of these cross calves is unreal. Or has been our experience.

Charlaios heifer bull cross makes a lot of people money. So there must be something to it.
 

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