MoGal said:
What about tarentaise?
They had them on "the cattle show" as a featured breed and I thought they were nice.... they were solid red (and maybe that's the only color they come in, I don't know).
Anyone have any experience with those or crosses thereof?
Also, do the red polls do okay in Canada?
We (I should say dad, I don't personally own any) have about 60 head of purebred Tarentaise. Purebreds are solid red, there has been a few black ones, but nothing I've ever used.
We sell a lot of crossbred females (usually Angus or Red Angus crosses), both open and bred. Lot of the people who buy them cross them with Simmental and Charolais and get good feedlot steers. Most of our bulls go to guys who use them for crossbreeding also. Most of the Angus x come out brown colored or near black. The Red Angus x come out looking more like a lighter Red Angus. We don't sell many to the sale barn, so I don't know how big of a hit they take. Our carcass data from the feedlot we take our calves to has always made us happy.
Purebreds are good mothers, but you have to watch bloodlines, some get nasty. They are very feminine, some almost to the point of being a little fine boned and can be slightly light muscled in the rear (which we are constantly breeding to have thicker, beefy-er type cows). They milk really well and usually wean nice sized calves.