3 Way Cross

[Lee VanRoss]

Sadly... the fact is that black calves get more money just based on their color, so high quality animals of any other color are getting reamed at the sale barn.

But you don't have to sink to being a victim of the CAB program because there are now plenty of black options from breeds that were red/white in the past. I don't know why Limousine isn't mentioned more on this forum as a great herd improver and calf maker. There are great Limo bulls and some are homozygous black. I'd use one of them before I used a Char that would give me mouse colored calves that would take a hit at the point of sale.

Travlr: is spot on. I would only add whatever choice you make with your bull remember herd fertility is the primary indicator of profitability.
Concentrating of having as many calves as possible born during the first cycle of the calving season will go a long way to making your choice
of bulls look like a good decision. Simply put never retain female for breeding not born in the first cycle. Have a good year!

 

[gcreekrch]

Sadly... the fact is that black calves get more money just based on their color, so high quality animals of any other color are getting reamed at the sale barn.

But you don't have to sink to being a victim of the CAB program because there are now plenty of black options from breeds that were red/white in the past. I don't know why Limousine isn't mentioned more on this forum as a great herd improver and calf maker. There are great Limo bulls and some are homozygous black. I'd use one of them before I used a Char that would give me mouse colored calves that would take a hit at the point of sale.

Not the case here, all good calves bring good money.

 

[Travlr]

Not the case here, all good calves bring good money.

Oh... yeah... the OP is in Canada too. You guys aren't reduced to the CAB insanity like we are.

Still, Limousine are a good option then regardless of color. And Charolaise and Simmental would be too. The only concern being the smaller framed Hereford/Angus and calving issues. Older experienced cows may be best suited to the cross.

 

[Nesikep]

Not the case here, all good calves bring good money.

We were getting pretty docked when we had the Shorthorn roans. Buyers like the tan Gelbviehs from shorthorn mommas pretty good it seems though

 

[Hoser]

Oh... yeah... the OP is in Canada too. You guys aren't reduced to the CAB insanity like we are.

Still, Limousine are a good option then regardless of color. And Charolaise and Simmental would be too. The only concern being the smaller framed Hereford/Angus and calving issues. Older experienced cows may be best suited to the cross.

Growing up our neighbor had Limousine. Beautiful muscle and butts on them but man they were wild. His daughters 4-H steer busted out the trailer door on the way to weigh in. I'm sure there's some quiet ones but that's what I picture with limos.

And good point. I'll keep using Angus bulls for heifers and second time calvers.

 

[gcreekrch]

And good point. I'll keep using Angus bulls for heifers and second time calvers.

As we do.

 

[Travlr]

Growing up our neighbor had Limousine. Beautiful muscle and butts on them but man they were wild. His daughters 4-H steer busted out the trailer door on the way to weigh in. I'm sure there's some quiet ones but that's what I picture with limos.

And good point. I'll keep using Angus bulls for heifers and second time calvers.

Yeah... there was a world class Limo bull back in the 80's that threw awe inspiring offspring, but those calves grew up and threw wild calves, the second generation dangerous. The bull was weeded from people's herds because of this second generation anomaly. But I've done more with Limousine than any other breed and my best results were with them.

Back in the 80's there were a lot of people experimenting with double muscled cattle. Limo had a lot of double muscle influence, but that's been discouraged from what I understand. I haven't seen a double muscled Limo in many years, decades even.

All breeds have their outliers. Black angus had G A R Precision 1680, that was fingered as a carrier of a lethal genetic abnormality dubbed Curly Calf Syndrome (CCS).

 

[Ky hills]

I've had limited experience with Limousins, a few purchased stockers, and a bull.
I bought a small group of 500 lb limousin heifer calves once. A couple of them were crazy and I culled them out soon so as not to ruin the whole bunch of calves. The others that were noticeably calmer did fine and were some of the best calves in the group. I kind of would have liked to have kept them to see how they did as cows but didn't. Interesting thing of note and probably coincidental, the red calves were the calm ones and the black ones crazy.
The bull I got was was a red one, was actually looking for a black, but in that group the Red Bull stood out significantly compared to the others.
He was the calmest bull I've ever had of any breed. I was a leery of keeping Limousins for replacements and sold him. He sired some of the thickest made calves I've ever had.
When I was selling registered Charolais bulls, my biggest competition was from Limousins, they were a hot commodity for a while, but they were synonymous with being crazy at that time.
Whether it's good or bad phenotypically I've always really liked the appearance of those 80's and 90's Limousins. That thickness and big rear ends were unlike any other cattle around.
I think the worst thing that happened to Limousins was when they got watered down with Angus. Took the rear end right off of them, and probably hurt any gains that the Limousins had made in disposition too.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Limo breeders have worked on temperament because they had a well deserved reputation.
All Breeds have come a long way, working on fixing their problems.
Limies have always been low fertility, late maturing, poor marbling and bat sh@t crazy. But, again I say breeders have worked on all their short-comings.

 

[Travlr]

Limo breeders have worked on temperament because they had a well deserved reputation.
All Breeds have come a long way, working on fixing their problems.
Limies have always been low fertility, late maturing, poor marbling and bat sh@t crazy. But, again I say breeders have worked on all their short-comings.

Not my experience at all... in the 80's when I was working heavily with them. A few bad apples much like all other breeds. The worst for attitude I've had are black Angus without a doubt. And since the 80's I've never had one that caused any problems and preferred buying them as older cull cows to raise commercial replacement heifers.

A lot of popular breeds get a bad rap from competitors.

 

[anewcomer]

Jeanne, you're right. The early influx of the Continentals brought all the problem of each pure breed. Calving problems in the Charolais sired calves when bred to our small English breeds, massive Simmentals birthing "slow" calves, crazy Limousines. That was 20,30,40 years ago. Breeders have mitigated those problems. But old memories die hard!

 

[Nesikep]

Growing up our neighbor had Limousine. Beautiful muscle and butts on them but man they were wild. His daughters 4-H steer busted out the trailer door on the way to weigh in. I'm sure there's some quiet ones but that's what I picture with limos.

And good point. I'll keep using Angus bulls for heifers and second time calvers.

We had a limo bull for a few years, when we went to pick out the bull, there were 3 in the pen, one was just uninterested in us, one came up to us and snotted and was generally not happy (though he was the nicest built but already sold), and the 3rd came up to us an licked us, so he's the one that came home with us, and laid down comfortably in the trailer, and then ambled out calmly when he got here..
His daughters.. well, they didn't work out that great for the most part, I do still have 2 very nice cows from him though, but I found all of them were kinda flighty, they could be tame, but if you did so much as scold them you'd have to spend a month being extra nice to them for them to settle down again
These are the two I have left