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Favourite crosses?

I always think of a terminal herd as being a group of good maternal mama cows that are bred to a terminal sire with growth and muscle with all calves destined to go on feed and never reproduce. It works good with a small herd if you can buy in good replacements. Otherwise you are looking for something more "allpurpose" with more tradeoffs, or tackling a really maternal program and trying to provide those females to someone else.
 
BTW FWIW - I like the right type of baldies and I like the right SimmAngus type of cows.
 
I'm with northern rancher on this ACS. Breed for maternal...the steer calves are a by-product. Information out there says we have the lowest
number of cow since WWII or something like that. We've stayed
straightbred Angus and we've sold the heifers for more than the steers
many times and kept a nice cowherd all the while.

So, with that said, I'd breed them Black Angus. You'll have uniformity,
and believe me, when selling females (cuz you'll be able to do that too)
uniformity matters. The cattle will be all black, no horns to worry about,
probably easy calving; easy to maintain. Keep it simple, young man.
When you've built numbers you can do anything you want with a good
maternal herd of cattle. And I believe Black Angus will suit you best.
Lots to pick from right by you, as you have said. I like the other bulls mentioned here too, but I think Black Angus will get you where you want to go with less problems and the cattle will all fit together, color wise.
There's a reason Black Angus is so popular. They work for the producer and the feeder and the retailer.

Get some advice about what Black Angus bloodlines to use. There are some good ones out there. I think NR can head you in the right direction.
And watch the dispostions as you would with any breed.

Good luck!! I think you've learned some things already by asking questions here. Very wise of you...gives you a head start...
 
Faster horses said:
I'm with northern rancher on this ACS. Breed for maternal...the steer calves are a by-product. Information out there says we have the lowest
number of cow since WWII or something like that. We've stayed
straightbred Angus and we've sold the heifers for more than the steers
many times and kept a nice cowherd all the while.

So, with that said, I'd breed them Black Angus. You'll have uniformity,
and believe me, when selling females (cuz you'll be able to do that too)
uniformity matters. The cattle will be all black, no horns to worry about,
probably easy calving; easy to maintain. Keep it simple, young man.
When you've built numbers you can do anything you want with a good
maternal herd of cattle. And I believe Black Angus will suit you best.
Lots to pick from right by you, as you have said. I like the other bulls mentioned here too, but I think Black Angus will get you where you want to go with less problems and the cattle will all fit together, color wise.
There's a reason Black Angus is so popular. They work for the producer and the feeder and the retailer.

Get some advice about what Black Angus bloodlines to use. There are some good ones out there. I think NR can head you in the right direction.
And watch the dispostions as you would with any breed.

Good luck!! I think you've learned some things already by asking questions here. Very wise of you...gives you a head start...
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense given that Angus are the predominant breed up there and that is so for very good reasons. The breed has been tested for a very long time and continues to come through up North. One might have more fun crossing but the bottom line, if your trying to make a $, is what is the most cost efficient, given your marketplace? Looks to be Angus to me. The exception might be some niche market.
 
Liveoak said:
Faster horses said:
I'm with northern rancher on this ACS. Breed for maternal...the steer calves are a by-product. Information out there says we have the lowest
number of cow since WWII or something like that. We've stayed
straightbred Angus and we've sold the heifers for more than the steers
many times and kept a nice cowherd all the while.

So, with that said, I'd breed them Black Angus. You'll have uniformity,
and believe me, when selling females (cuz you'll be able to do that too)
uniformity matters. The cattle will be all black, no horns to worry about,
probably easy calving; easy to maintain. Keep it simple, young man.
When you've built numbers you can do anything you want with a good
maternal herd of cattle. And I believe Black Angus will suit you best.
Lots to pick from right by you, as you have said. I like the other bulls mentioned here too, but I think Black Angus will get you where you want to go with less problems and the cattle will all fit together, color wise.
There's a reason Black Angus is so popular. They work for the producer and the feeder and the retailer.

Get some advice about what Black Angus bloodlines to use. There are some good ones out there. I think NR can head you in the right direction.
And watch the dispostions as you would with any breed.

Good luck!! I think you've learned some things already by asking questions here. Very wise of you...gives you a head start...
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense given that Angus are the predominant breed up there and that is so for very good reasons. The breed has been tested for a very long time and continues to come through up North. One might have more fun crossing but the bottom line, if your trying to make a $, is what is the most cost efficient given your marketplace? Looks to be Angus to me. The exception might be some niche market.
Click to expand...

Trying to make a $? The answer would be crossbreeding exploiting hybrid vigor - hands down, every time. That means anything but an Angus in this situation. A horned hereford sounds like a far better idea.
 
Then, one of the important questions would be how are the cattle going to be marketed? Sale barn? Private treaty? Direct to feedlot?
 
Angus Cattle Shower said:
randi have you had any problems with pulling calves out of the bull from blaine and rayleen?
Click to expand...

I'd have to look back to be sure, but I don't think we pulled any. There were some pretty good sized ones, but they were long built calves too.
 
Liveoak said:
Then, one of the important questions would be how are the cattle going to be marketed? Sale barn? Private treaty? Direct to feedlot?
Click to expand...


Good cattle sell, regardless of colour. Off cattle are docked, also regardless of colour.

I have found that you do your own advertising before you sell, the guys that liked them before will fight over them if they are good enough. As I have said before of my multi-cultural cow herd..... just make them so they grow. :wink:

If I was to wish for the perfect herd for this ranch it would be 3/4 RA x 1/4 Simmental cows bred back to the same x bulls.
 
I think no matter what breed you have or want, work on the maternal
side and the rest will take care of itself. I prefer the angus/herford
cross. Black cows, use herford and bwf cows, use angus. I get very
few horns and very few reds.
 
Black angus are the breed of choice in my opinion. However, I also think a herd and program can benefit from some cross breeding. After reading about your program I'd probably lean toward a hereford bull. There is nothing like a baldie replacement in my opinion. Plus the cross also leaves you with nice weighing steer calves to sell also.

Unless you plan to one day try and produce bulls. Then I'd say black angus.

Guess it's better to know the direction of a program and the goal of a program weight or bulls before giving an opinion on bulls. :?
 

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