What breeds do you cross?

[Aero]

Angus x Aubrac

[TheBullLady]

We run Brahman, Simbrah and Simmental cows and use a Simmental bull. The percentage females make super replacements, and the heat tolerance, and fast growth make them great for our climate.

[MO_cows]

Next year's calves will be Angus X Tarentaise. These make nice commercial females, so Murphy's Law says we'll get more bulls.

[alftn]

I have a problem with crosses being given names and the treated as a BREED OF CATTLE, 1/4 to 3/4 mixes, It takes years (lifetime) to fix cattle genetics... Brangus and gerts , alot of time and breeding went into them (and culling) befor they were a BREED.. Now you have f-1 mutts being call a "breed" and being use as Herd Bulls....I personally want to maintain some purity of cattle breeds, that is one reason I like Brit cattle...and for the life of me , I do not understand.. I do think people are in such a hurry to get ahead...they will improve a breed through appx. reg. or breeding UP...Like it or not THESE ARE NOW CROSS BRED CATTLE, they are not pure breed, not even in a 100 generations...The F-1 black Baldies (angus X hereford) are probly the greatest cross going, but they were never considered a Breed. These modern 3 or 4 way crosses are call breeds, NOT WANTING TO START A FIGHT, It is hard for me to see a "breed" that come in every color, every shape, horn or polled, ie BEEFMASTER, as a breed.They are Composites, good one, but still composities...

[Red Bull Breeder]

I can't say that i disagree with you alftn.

[Watertondifter]

Many a cross out there that work for various reasons. Right now, the Limousin on Angus is injecting growth, style, and MUSCLE. It could also help me with marketing my calves. However, Hereford on Angus are still, in my mind, the very best maternal cross out there.

I agree with you but those limi calves have fire in' em. I like those herf X Angus. Hereford bulls are about to be in high demand again.

[Lucky_P]

Been breeding Simmental/SimAngus for over 20 years. Started breeding back toward the Angus side about 4 years ago, since the market wants black calves.
Once we get the cows up past 7/8 Angus, the plan is to come back on those cows with a Pinzgauer bull to make some good (mostly black) halfblood cows and come back on them with a high-growth 'terminal' Angus or a high-marbling black Simmental bull for the terminal market.

The Angus sires we're using excel in marbling and tenderness, with good carcass traits. Pinzgauer adds muscling, tenderness, maternal traits, and good disposition.

Love my old red/yellow/spotted Simmies, but black calves bring more.

[crossbredcalves]

I am breeding my heifers to a Red Angus bull. Two of them are 1/2 Shorthorn, 1/4 Gelbvieh and 1/4 Holstein. The other is Longhorn. I am breeding them to him for convenience. He is a nice bull and I was offered free breedings to him by my boss so I didn't have to buy a bull for 3 heifers. I think they will be good calves. Should be small birth weight. I plan on keeping the heifers and selling bull calves.

[TexasBred]

I can't say that i disagree with you alftn.

Nor me....all I see is a cross breed.

[plumber_greg]

Angus/Simmi, sent to the feedlot, scoring low in my grid on marbling. gs

[BamaCowboy]

Right now we have angus/hereford cross cows and using beefmaster bull, put's just enough ear on them.
I also used F1 Braford cross cows and Angus bull just out standing calves.
When I was growing up back in the 1950's we used Hereford cows and Angus bulls to get black baldies and crossed them back on Angus bulls. There was still some of these cross's in the herd when I took over after collage and brought the 1st Beefmaster bull in to the county. After the 1st calves hit the ground , for our operation the beefmaster cross works great. But to each his own, what works for me might not work for you , makes the world go round. Bottom line is what makes you $

[IHman]

I run a Hereford bulls on angus & angus simme cross cows. FIL runs a fullblood simme and a charolais on a red angus simme cross herd.

[purecountry]

Galloway
Angus x Galloway
Angus x Tarentaise
Angus x Shorthorn
Angus x Hereford
Highland
Highland x anything
My favorites are the ones with Tarentaise or Highland in 'em. Plan on developing more of that in the future. Highlands and Galloways have the hair and toughness for our winter grazing, and Tarentaise in the mix puts more milk, better udders, better feet and some muscle in the recipe. We try to sell everything as beef or seedstock(Galloways), but those that have to go to the auctions get dinged if they have too much hair.

Keep in mind all this is based on the assumption that the individual representatives from each of my choices are outstanding in providing the advertised traits of their repsective breed. You use crap cows or bulls from any breed, you'll end up with crap. And I've had lots of crap from each of the breeds I've listed. It's not about breed, it's about type. If I thought I could get everything I needed from one breed, that's all I'd have. Right now the best composite cows for our program have a bit of Highland, Tarentaise or Galloway. Those breeds standing alone each present some marketing challenges. To go with one well marketed breed like Angus or Sim in our area, we meet other challenges like finding genetics that haven't been overfed that will work in our system. And so continues the blissful struggle of the everday cattleman thinking he/she can breed the perfect cow.