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Why did you choose your breed?

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My father in law has a small herd of registered Charolais cows. They are good cows and have no worse disposition problem than any other breeds. The only thing I don't like the best is the color of the calves when crossed. I had 8 old baldy cows one year and he wanted me to use a bull he had. They were some wopping big calves the only problem was out of 8 calves I had 4 different colored calves. They sure were big but didn't sell to good.
 
I ended up with 30 cows about 6 years ago and 15 were Angus and 15 were Charolis.

I have my own scale as we load gravel trucks daily so I was able to weigh the calves separately and over three years found the Angus cows produced just as many pounds of calf as the Charlois. The Charolis always looked better - - - I believe because the calf they produced was a lot smaller % of the cows weight and the Angus had to work harder to produce a calf that was at least 50% of her body weight at weaning.

I separated the cows for winter feeding and found the Charolis needed about 40% more feed than the Angus so I feel I can raise more pounds of calf with Angus on the same ground. I now am down to 2 Charlois cows and 2 smokey cows - - - the rest are Angus.

If you wanted to use a Charolis bull I feel you would do great but I'm so pleased with straight Angus I feel for vigor I will just use an Angus bull that is not closely related to my cows and feel I get a vigor from that.

My calves this year were born in April and May and sold in early October ( I know with just 18 head it is not a great sample ) with no creep feed just grass, mothers milk and mineral. I averaged 588# on 12 steers and 6 heifers. They were out of a 3/4 Angus 1/4 Charlois Bull and all the heifers were smokey so I did not keep any back. They were bred to a registered Angus bull this year that I intend to keep for about 4 years and hopefully will get some great heifers to keep back.

When preg checked we were 100% again - - - I feel this is important as well.
 
3 M L & C said:
My father in law has a small herd of registered Charolais cows. They are good cows and have no worse disposition problem than any other breeds. The only thing I don't like the best is the color of the calves when crossed. I had 8 old baldy cows one year and he wanted me to use a bull he had. They were some wopping big calves the only problem was out of 8 calves I had 4 different colored calves. They sure were big but didn't sell to good.
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I sure wish we were closer!! Those are the kind of calves I like to feed out!! I know not everyone is set up to do it, nor are most of us willing to take the gamble in finishing out our own calves, but the off colored ones are where a person can really make it work. The problem usually lies in the fact that there is never enough of them to make up a pen.
My little feeding operation works well for me, but I very seldom buy anything from Valentine. Just to many good cattle there. Besides, there are way to many people around here that are trying to get into my niche.
 
rynophiliac said:
Bar M, why did you choose Charolais bulls? Because of the calves growth? Have you tried any other bulls to compare them to?
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Yeah I love the growth and come selling time I don't sit and kick myself for selling this female or keeping that one. (which is a blessing or curse will talk about that later)
And yeah I have use simm bulls heifers all get bred RA or Salers that has been a good cross for me on heifers even if mom isn't too sure that little salers calf makes her love him.
 
We were purebred Black Angus for 3 generations. I tried some Gelbviehs and others, but ended up with Galloway bulls on the Angus cows. Wanted a little more hair and hardiness for Canadian winters, and we were working towards grass finishing our beef. Galloways have their chassis a bit lower to the ground, with more flesh than flash, so we've found they grass finish easier than any of our Angus did. They're tough, hardy, and pretty hands off. They work for us, that's what counts.

If we expand in the future with any crosses it will be Highland-Angus-Galloway crosses. Angus for more carcass, Galloway for grass finishing ability, and Highland in the cow side because they're the most instinctual mothers I've ever had, and they're tough as fender leather.

Overall, I'll say that I've seen great cattle in every breed. If you gave me a herd of purebred Limousin for 10 years they'd be adapted to our ranch and management and work well in the long run. And in 3 years of brand inspecting I was chased over auction market alleyways by every damn breed known to man, so no one can tell me that one breed is quieter than another. Disposition is a result of management and environment over generations.
 
PureCountry said:
We were purebred Black Angus for 3 generations. I tried some Gelbviehs and others, but ended up with Galloway bulls on the Angus cows. Wanted a little more hair and hardiness for Canadian winters, and we were working towards grass finishing our beef. Galloways have their chassis a bit lower to the ground, with more flesh than flash, so we've found they grass finish easier than any of our Angus did. They're tough, hardy, and pretty hands off. They work for us, that's what counts.

If we expand in the future with any crosses it will be Highland-Angus-Galloway crosses. Angus for more carcass, Galloway for grass finishing ability, and Highland in the cow side because they're the most instinctual mothers I've ever had, and they're tough as fender leather.

Overall, I'll say that I've seen great cattle in every breed. If you gave me a herd of purebred Limousin for 10 years they'd be adapted to our ranch and management and work well in the long run. And in 3 years of brand inspecting I was chased over auction market alleyways by every damn breed known to man, so no one can tell me that one breed is quieter than another. Disposition is a result of management and environment over generations.
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And in 3 years of brand inspecting I was chased over auction market alleyways by every damn breed known to man, so no one can tell me that one breed is quieter than another.

Of you had some Youtube video we could all get a good laugh. :wink: :lol: :lol:
 
For reasons I'm sure any rancher can appreciate, video cameras are not welcome in the alleys. :lol:

If you want to see funny, imagine the first nations kids that were hired at minimum wage for big pre-sort sales who had never worked cattle before, and showed up in running shoes and street clothes jumping up fences, slipping in the $h!t and usually making animals wilder than the already were.

The real interesting days were when someone brought in a cow, calf and her yearling from the year before, that they had finally caught after 2 years on community pasture. Snaky. :lol:
 
So i'm new to this website but i'll chime in here. I've been running Red Angus Bulls on Red angus based cows. Red angus/simm and red angus/Herefords. Last year I bought a Red Factor Charolais so It'll be interesting to see the calves out of them.
 
being a sale barn rep I look at a lot of different kind of cattle every year none the less I ve found no matter the breed good cattle sell good. color plays less of a factor after 600 lbs with the exceptions of longhorn crosses and smokies in this area anyway. I was lucky enough to do one of my collage internships with soapweed and some of the best advice I received was select for moderation, and don't chase fads I don't know if he remembers that but I ve tried to practice that ever since. In my personal herd we use Hereford and angus bulls on simangus cows. black bulls go on baldys and Hereford go on black. simple personally I like the baldy calves gives some eye appeal to them. we get a few red baldies but they over 600 lbs they sell right with the blacks. like the Hereford bulls no calving difficulties and really enjoy working with the breeder. good luck
 

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