Hello, and breed comparison

[Hopeful Rancher]

hello to all. I am new to you all, but I have been a long time reader. Decided to come out of the closet.
Got a question. I am trying to spice up my straight bred angus herd with some heterosis. I was wondering if I could get opinions on what breed is prefered between Gelbvieh and Simmental. Please explain to me why, what is your perceived strengths and weakness.

If you have a taste for really hot and spicey, there is always Chianina. :wink:

I said spice things up, not blow things up with a nuclear weapon

 

[Hopeful Rancher]

Welcome, where abouts in Oregon?

I am from SE Oregon

 

[cure]

I like both breeds but i have a question for all you that use simmies on angus? What percent of your calf crop have rat tails? You see we had simmie cows and were breeding them to angus bulls and i bet half of the calf crop would be rat tail the buyers would always cut the back even though they were good big calves so we sold all the cows to get away from that trait. Anyway just curious

 

[per]

Hardly ever had a rat tail cure. Only ever had a few in my career. Our Angus are all red though, that might be the difference.

 

[High Plains]

Have been breeding Simm x Angus cattle myself for a few years and heavily involved in a large operation that has been making that cross for at least 15 years. Have encountered some inconsistency, as expected, but really have gotten along quite well with the cattle. Genetics on the Simm side of things really needs to be researched before you go hog-wild. There are differences and we sure try to keep the daylight under them to a modest degree while watching rib shape, milk and calving ease. We're not breeding small cattle, mind you, but trying not to throw the baby out with the bath water. This year in a severe drought, running cows on burned up Buffalo grass and quite awhile on wheat stubble I haven't seen a lot of difference in the condition of my Simm x Angus cows and the Angus cows that belong to the man that runs my cows for me. Yes, he does have some smaller Angus cows that are holding their flesh better, but he also has some smaller Angus cows that are not holding their flesh. I have found no absolutes in that deparment, but I have found heavy weaning and yearling weights with the Simm x Angus calves. Mature size is not what most would call small, as I said, but I don't know that it's hurting anything except for creating a standing argument over cow size which has yet to be scientifically resolved. We stick to all homozygous black and polled Simmental and also have limits on carcass quality which we can't afford to get away from. 85% Choice is the average for the big herd that my friend operates, but he's also had some 50% CAB loads in those same cattle. Finish weights are heavy and yield grade is a bit easier to manage. Some of those bred heifers are just pretty darned fancy too. Not much of the extra leather that the old Simmy cattle used to pack around. The Angus component is the common denominator and I'd say that mediocre Angus cattle cannot be made better with good Simm genetics. Selection within the breeds is paramount, and it costs something to pursue cattle in the top 10 or 15% of the gene pool. Labor, semen, bull prices, etc... A lot of fun to keep trying for excellence!

 

[eatbeef]

Simmental. Cant beat the F1 heifers or bulls or steers. Just watch frame scores and that will keep size in check. Never had any trouble calving either. I got a couple hereford bulls that i have spent a pretty penny on and put them on my angus cows, then keep hiefers to use the simangus bulls on. But i also keep alot of my simangus hiefers and put back on simmental or simangus bulls.