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Some photos of my Charolais X Mestizo F1's

Whitewing

Well-known member
Took a few minutes from a very busy ranch schedule to snap a few shots of some of my F1's from my Charolais/Mestizo crosses. No, they're not Black Angus, but for Venezuela, I think they look pretty decent. I've been pleased so far with the results of these crosses.

Also want to say that if sure felt good to get in these last few days of work. We sprayed all our recently planted bermuda for broad-leaf, moved dirt to repair the roads damaged by recent rainfalls, irrigated a number of acres of bermuda, fertilized, and today baled and stored 550 bales of bermuda before the bottom fell out just at dark! Oh, and I sold two young Charolais bulls as well. :D

Here's a few of the shots I promised:

This gal was born in Sept 2006 and was the first cross I produced....and it was by accident as her mother was bred by the neighbor's bull. I liked the results so much I decided to do some more cross. She's produced two calfs and has another in the oven. Sorry I didn't get a shot of her with her head up. :eek:
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Here's a pic of her second calf which is, of course, an F2. This 'novilla' is 3/4 Charolais.
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A young steer....and I've made steers out of most of my F1's, but not all.
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Here's a mestiza heifer that I bought a month or two ago. I'd say she's typical of the local cattle but actually think she looks much better than the average. Anyway, she's carrying a calf for a bull from another herd.
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A young heifer next to her mother.....yes, the mother's the black one. I'm amazed at how many black cows throw white or light colored offspring when crossed with the Charolais.
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Another young novilla. I actually like this coloration.
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This one looks a bit on the thin side, but it may just be the angle of the photo as well.
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Is this the second shot of this young lady? I don't recall.
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Mother and daughter.
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This young guy was born on 2 May this year and I liked him from the start. Just something about him....even when only a few days old he was impressive to me. I think he'll make a fine bull and I've left him intact.
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Twins! Both males and the first delivery for their mom.
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Happy cows grazing in bracaria and watering bermuda in the distance.
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Mother and son.
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This is the first time I've planted this piece. We cleared it at the end of last summer and have just seeded it with sorghum. I was going to plant the entire area in bermuda but decided to do a test piece first since I wasn't sure of that bermuda would do well here. Boy, was I mistaken as you'll see in the next photo. Tonight's rainfall is just what the doctor ordered for this recently seeded piece.
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Here's my test piece for bermuda for this recently cleared piece. We planted this on 2 July and it's been remarkable how well it's done. There's still a bit of broad leaf evident though I think our last spraying will clean that up. I'll plant the entire 20 acres next year using this couple of acres as my nursery.
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Bermuda baby!!!! :D
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Soapweed

Well-known member
Thanks for the Venezuelan cattle tour. The green sure makes a pretty background for your stand-out cattle. They look happy and content.
 

VLS_GUY

Well-known member
Whitewing,

If you can grow grass like that and manage it so it is like that the vast majority of the year you nutritional limitations on improving your cattle will no longer exist. Do you have an AI technician handy? Time to start experimenting to find out what works...
Have you penciled out starting a dairy?
 

burnt

Well-known member
Wow, great pictures and a very interesting tour of a Venezuela cattle operation. Looks mighty good! Should be able to produce some meat with that kind of grass coming on.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
VLS_GUY said:
Whitewing,

If you can grow grass like that and manage it so it is like that the vast majority of the year you nutritional limitations on improving your cattle will no longer exist. Do you have an AI technician handy? Time to start experimenting to find out what works...
Have you penciled out starting a dairy?

I have heard of some AI'ing the area though I've not spoken personally with anyone using the service. And along the lines of your post above, I'm considering introducing some genes that should improve the volume of milk my animals will eventually produce.

As for your comments about pasture, I'm afraid that I won't have grass like this the entire year because it's so darned dry half the year. In fact, I'll post a pic of my place below during the dry season so you can get an idea of just how dry it really is.

Having said that, the irrigation system I've installed (over 2,000 meters of 4" line) will help a lot....that and the 5 full ponds I've now got on the place.

My neighbor's place, which is about 60 or 70 feet lower than mine, was originally designed as a dairy farm. He's got all the facilities....covered areas for hundreds, if not a thousand cows, a huge flat low area that stays wet long after other areas have dried out, it's fully planted in bermuda, and he has the milking equipment as well.

However, he's concentrating on just producing bales of bermuda for sale, though he does run some cattle on the place. Personally, I think his place is way under utilized but that's his choice on how to run it.

Here's a shot of my place during our "summer" or dry season. The pasture in the right foreground is the same one I took the photos of the cattle in that are posted above. You can get an idea of just how dry it can get.

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nortexsook

Well-known member
What a contrast in those pictures. Kinda like western Texas and Oklahoma, in that with water it looks like cattle paradise, when it quits raining, not so much!
 

MO_cows

Well-known member
Are the mestiza cattle the result of criollo or corriente type cattle with Brahman influence? And how long ago if so?

Your Charolais influence is really beefing them up. Those native dairy cattle you posted before about crossing with - don't do it man! Maybe just select for the better milking/better calf raisers out of your herd. Or cross with something with muscle AND good udders/more milk. Like Gelbvieh or Tarentaise. Or even Red Angus.

Very interesting to see how things are done in other parts of the world, thank you very much for sharing.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
MO_cows said:
Are the mestiza cattle the result of criollo or corriente type cattle with Brahman influence? And how long ago if so?

Your Charolais influence is really beefing them up. Those native dairy cattle you posted before about crossing with - don't do it man! Maybe just select for the better milking/better calf raisers out of your herd. Or cross with something with muscle AND good udders/more milk. Like Gelbvieh or Tarentaise. Or even Red Angus.

Very interesting to see how things are done in other parts of the world, thank you very much for sharing.

MO_cows, the mestiza are also called criollo here.....which in Venezuela means 'country'......as in rural. I'm sure the cattle here can be traced back to the original Spanish corriente cattle though there's certainly now a lot of other genes from other races of cattle mixed in.

Brahman are very popular here because they're so tough.....tick and disease resistant, can walk long distances for water and survive on just about anything. Many 'ranchers' here simply turn their animals loose on marginal land with natural vegetation and a water hole and hope that at the end of the year they've got more than they started with.

And you guys have given me a chuckle with the comments on those native milk cows. I'm assuming they weren't your cup of tea. :D I've not finalized a decision yet but am actually leaning more towards crossing my F1's with a Senepol bull.

One of these days when I have the time, I'll take some pics of some of the typical cattle in my area. I think once you guys see them, you'll have an appreciation for how much better my animals look....even the mestizos.

Thanks again for the comments and recommendations.
 

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