charolais heifers

[Beef08]

hey guys just bought 3 charolais heifers ready to be bred and curious to ya'lls opinion of rather to breed them to a brangus bull or hereford.

[Red Bull Breeder]

None of them a Fullblood Limi is what folks use on char's around here.

[Keren]

None of them a Fullblood Limi is what folks use on char's around here.

Why? You'll get more heterosis from a british or indicus over the continental char. Not much to be gained by crossing continental on continental. And the way I see it, limo to char isnt going to add any softness, easy doing ability, finish etc.

I'd use the brangus - three way cross is supposed to yield maximum heterosis, I dont know how that works with the brangus being a stabilised breed, but still. I figure you'd get some nice smokey calves, touch of ear perhaps not enough to mark the calves down but enough to give you that brahman ability to keep living forever. The angus gives you a bit of softness, ability to finish, probably increase your marbling as well. The char give you a bit more oomph to the calves, more muscle, more bone.

[JR Cattle Co.]

Don't forget...these are heifers. Whatever you decide, make sure it's easy calving.

[Red Bull Breeder]

You get yellow colored calves that around here sell really well,Keren.

[VanC]

You get yellow colored calves that around here sell really well,Keren.

They sell really well here, too, but most guys use Red Angus or Herefords.

[Beef08]

ok well our heard has to much ear as it is, and i was trying to get away from it..and i really like our hereford bull but the only thing that worries me is his big head and how will that affect these heifer's calves.

[novaman]

ok well our heard has to much ear as it is, and i was trying to get away from it..and i really like our hereford bull but the only thing that worries me is his big head and how will that affect these heifer's calves.

If your in doubt about the bull I wouldn't use him. Unless you've got epd's that show him an easy-calving bull. Keep in mind we are talking about Char heifers here. They should be decent sized come calving time so they may handle a bit more than a smaller framed heifer. Personally I like a red bull to get tan or yellow calves. We use both Gelbvieh and Red Angus on our Char cows. Have very vigorous calves from birth that grow like weeds.

[xbred]

i've bred char heifers to horned herfords for several years now...never a problem...good calves

[Australian]

Forget about Hereford or Angus. Can't see a lot of benefit using them. Using a high Brahman content Brangus might be alright or a Charbray. South Devon or Brahman would be great. These crosses allow you to go to mostly any bull over them. I use South Devon and Brahman and Brahman over the few pure Charolais I have. Have used Hereford over them but have been dissappointed because they are light coloured and I can't get a decent line of calves to sell.Why don't you use Charolais back over them? I find Charolais are fairly high maintenance in our country. They have to be fed long before any of the other cattle when things get tough. My best doing cattle when tough times set in are Black Baldies and Brahman, Brahman cross and Herefords. Worst performers have been Gelbvieh and straight Angus. (Angus used to do well when old Scottish bloodlines were used but when import blood started infiltrating the breed, do ability suffered. South Devons do it tought but look after their calf well and are the quickest to bounce back into good condition when things improve.

[mnmtranching]

I wouldn't mess around. Breed them to a Angus red or black. 70 pound birth weight.
You will have a good doing very marketable product.

[Jovid]

I wouldn't mess around. Breed them to a Angus red or black. 70 pound birth weight.
You will have a good doing very marketable product.

Or a Red Poll

[Busterz]

Use the hereford bull if he hasn't caused any calving problems before.
You should get yellow, yellow baldy or some red baldy calves. They should all sell well as they would do good in the feedyard. If you keep the heifers the yellow or yellow baldies would have some heat resistance due to the light color. I'd stick with the british-continental unless I absolutely had to have some of the heat tolerance of a brahman/brangus.

[Beef08]

the reason i am giving the choice of brangus and hereford is cause we have one bull of each. i am not bout to go buy another bull just to breed to 3 heifers. but thanks for all your opinions

[novaman]

the reason i am giving the choice of brangus and hereford is cause we have one bull of each. i am not bout to go buy another bull just to breed to 3 heifers. but thanks for all your opinions

If you've only got 3 heifers I would consider AI. Could use anything you wanted without the expense of buying a bull. Maybe your not set up for AI and/or don't want to mess with heat detecting but it is an option if you decide to go another route.