Holstein cross

[Buckaroo]

i have been thinking aboutu getting some of those holstein beef cross dairy calves to make breeding cows out of. they would either be cross with an agus or hereford. what do yall folks think of this. do you think they would make a decent cow or would i have to be worried about to much milk production. i would have them on very good pastures with plenty of hard grass and they would also have acess to grazing some millet or oats and peas. i am thinking of once have had thier first calf would breed them char probably to raise calves out of. what pitfalss should i watch out for if i was to do this.

[Lucky_P]

Have had some in the past - HOxAN and HOxSM.
Some will be good cows, some won't. Most will raise one heck of a calf - but some will milk so heavily that they don't breed back in a timely fashion. Hard to be profitable, regardless of how big a calf she'll raise, if she's only producing one every 18-24 months.
Bred to a 'terminal' bull, the calves oughta be dandy.

[backhoeboogie]

Since I have had nurse cows, I have had some of those crosses myself. There is one left in the herd and she happens to be the biggest gal out there. Her udder is slightly larger than normal and she appears more brangus than anything. Calves are nice and she is regular. Most are not optimum.

In my opinion, you are rolling the dice. Why not get a bull with heavy milking EPD?

Get yourself some good cows and you'll earn more in the long haul.

[novatech]

Brahman X Brown Swiss or Jersey make for some good mommas for breeding back to a terminal bull.
The Brahman X Jersey make for some good steaks on the steer calves. Hadn't eaten the Brahman X Brown Swiss.

[TexasBred]

Brahman X Brown Swiss or Jersey make for some good mommas for breeding back to a terminal bull.
The Brahman X Jersey make for some good steaks on the steer calves. Hadn't eaten the Brahman X Brown Swiss.

Never owned any swiss but the BrahmanXJersey or Holstein makes one he77 of a good cow down n this neck of the woodds.

[dun]

We ran F1 Holsten Angus & Holstein Herefords on irrigated pasture and they really did well. In this area the F1s don;t do so well with out some supplemnt.

[KNERSIE]

I've had holsteinxhereford, holsteinxangus, herefordxayrshire, angusxjersey and herefordxjersey in the past. From my experience on lower quality grazing the herefordxjersey and angusxjersey made the best cows for your goal closely followed by the herefordxayrshire. The holsteinxbeef cows were a very distant 3rd.

[alisonb]

I tried it about 10yrs ago, won't do it again. Bred Holstein to Bonsmara or Angus. They had to be milked daily some twice a day as they just had too much milk for the calf to consume, if they were not milked the calf would develop severe diarrhea encouraging flies and diseases. Some cows also had mastitis complications. They had great calves though.

[expensive hobby]

I have a holsteinXangus mama. She had 2 great heifer calves for me but did not breed back after her first. I plan on keeping her for one more go round. If she does not produce for me this spring then she is going down the road. Her calves are nice but are tall and boney like her. I have never had to milk her. Will wait to see what happens this spring. But from knowing what I know now, I would not do it. My situation was just an experiment, just like you are talking about. Get a good bull with strong milk EPD and will you will be miles ahead. Just my

[MoGal]

My husband crossed holstein to angus and kept the heifers for many years. His recommendation is to give Scourgard 30-60 days before calving. He thinks a char bull would give you too big of a calf, but I keep telling him they've worked on their birthweights and they have some chars with low birthweights (this is the reason he won't let me breed our aged cows to a char).... anyways, the calf will grow like a weed.

It seemed to me that if we had them calve from Oct. to May, they did fine. Hot, humid summer days seemed like they scoured a little easier, but that also can happen to non dairy breeds as well.

We have quite a few holstein x angus and now 1/4 holstein, 1/4 angus and 1/2 red poll and I like those as well. We only have about 40 head, but almost half of them have some holstein in them (1/8 to 1/2). Breedback hasn't been a problem, but I add extra Vitamin E to the minerals prior to breeding time (actually its a bag of Vit. A, D, and E)

Good luck in your endeavors!

[bigbull338]

hol X cows are great calf raisers.but you have sale barns an buyers that love to dock the calves so they can get cheap feeder calves.but they really are a great way to get started in the cow business.

[Spotted Brahma]

Brahman Holstein cross are all I want in my cowherd,thats just my preference.