hurleyjd":34i05znx said:
I bred thirty one Red Angus to a Jersey bull. I have fifteen calves on the ground now. I am really happy with the conformation of the calves. Smooth straight toplines and are growing as fast as some purebred Red Angus calves that I have. Plan to keep the ajax heifers for mother cows. Will be about two years before I can see the results of the cross. What would be a good bull to put on the ajax heifers in the future. I am thinking maybe a milking shorthorn.
They're yours and you've bred them the way you want. To answer your question, if I had RedAngus X Jeresy cross
cows, I'd use a bull from a breed that allows you to identify the calves as sired by a specific breed bull. Angus has the AngusSource tag. Red Angus and Gelbvieh both have an ear tag that identifes the calves as half bloods and there may be other breeds that have similar programs. At least the buyers will know half the genetic make up of the calf. For heifers, I'd suggest an Angus bull with a high calving ease EPD or a low birthweight EPD.
And, yes, crossbred calves will often outgrow purebred calves. It's called heterosis. I wouldn't count on it to continue as the calves get bigger.