2 Way & 3 Way crossed Cows Question

[wtrapp]

This is the first time I've been on in a long long time. Been dealing with family health issues. My question is 3 fold and I thank you in advance for your opinions. Here goes. I have an opportunity of buying one of two groups of cattle:

Group One: 50/50 Red Balancers 3-5 years old bred to calve starting Ocotober
Group Two: 1/2 Red Gelbvieh, 1/4 Red Angus and 1/4 Santa Gertrudis 3-4 years old with 150-200 LB calves

For either group the calves would be sold at the salebarn or freezer beef. I'm in middle Tennessee with Fescue pastures and both groups are Fescue tollerant. I currently have a Red Angus Bull so breeding to group one the calves would still be balancers but 75% RA & 25% RG. Group two calves would be (I think) 5/8 Red Angus 1/4 Red Gelbvieh and 1/8 Santa Gertrudis

In your opinons which group would be the better cows and why; would you recommend something other than the Red Angus bull; if so what? and which calves would make the better freezer beef and why?

Thank you,
Wayne

 

[u4411clb]

I reallly like the sound of those 1/2 Gelbvieh x 1/4 Angus x 1/4 Gert cows bred back to Angus bull. I would love that for Northen Alabama at least. And if you get those I would recommend staying with the Red Angus bull.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I reallly like the sound of those 1/2 Gelbvieh x 1/4 Angus x 1/4 Gert cows bred back to Angus bull. I would love that for Northen Alabama at least. And if you get those I would recommend staying with the Red Angus bull.

i know you've seen Raymond Jones cattle... he uses some of the best red Gelbvieh bulls ive ever layed eyes on

 

[u4411clb]

Yes and they cross them with Red Angus and they look very good. I would even like wtrapp's mother cows a little better with that touch of Gert. The brahman wouldn't stand out in the calves but should be enough to help with heat and insects and mothering ability and the Red Gelbvieh would help with the milk and muscling and then you get the carcass traits with the Red Angus and calving ease for someone getting started in this area if they look as good as they sound I would jump on that. 1/2+ Angus , 1/4 Continental, 1/4 is what the buyers at my salebarn tell me they want and sounds like he would be right there or as close as a man can get. I would just watch out for the heaviest milkers out of the bunch or would look to see if those would need to be culled because Gert and Gelbveih both can throw allot of milk.

 

[JWBrahman]

Yes and they cross them with Red Angus and they look very good. I would even like wtrapp's mother cows a little better with that touch of Gert. The brahman wouldn't stand out in the calves but should be enough to help with heat and insects and mothering ability and the Red Gelbvieh would help with the milk and muscling and then you get the carcass traits with the Red Angus and calving ease for someone getting started in this area if they look as good as they sound I would jump on that. 1/2+ Angus , 1/4 Continental, 1/4 is what the buyers at my salebarn tell me they want and sounds like he would be right there or as close as a man can get. I would just watch out for the heaviest milkers out of the bunch or would look to see if those would need to be culled because Gert and Gelbveih both can throw allot of milk.

Good post, very informative. With the second group you have the additional info from the calves to get an idea what kind of mommas you bought.

 

[wtrapp]

I'm thinking the 3 way cross cows & my Red Angus bull will be the way to go for me and my program. I also agree about the heavy milkers that could come from this cross so I'll have to keep an eye on that.