Angus vs Welsh black

Help Support CattleToday:

S.R.R.

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Messages
1,219
Reaction score
0
Location
Canada
Welsh Black a breed that has the beef, the fast growth and of course the color black. Alot of breeds that have turned black have angus in them here is one that is black on its own. What do you know good or bad about this breed? Some of the bull testing I have seen and EFI look real good.
 
Hands down ANGUS. But its your choice This is what I found with a Quick google search "The majority of Welsh Blacks are horned, and black, varying from rusty black to jet black, with some white permitted on the underline behind the navel." Black Angus are genetically Poled I prefer No Horns Myself. Thats my 2 cents.
 
Depth or rather shallowness of the gene pool would be a major concern

dun
 
Intresting. It seem that little is known about the welsh black. Being one of the only original true black breeds I thought that people would know more about them! I think that somehow a true replacement to the good old angus has been missed.
 
There were a few American Breeders but most have gone away from the purebreds. Had a fellow in Arizona start up aboput ten years ago. Lawyer with some buck. He was shot by some crazy neighbor.

Good number of purebred breeders in Canada and over half of the cattle registered up here are now polled. Polled genetics are hard to come by in Wales, but the herd is large. There are more Welsh Black cattle registered in the UK than any other beef breed.

Not gonna say they are better than Angus, but they are certainly just as good.

Another pure black breed that a lot of folks forget about is the Galloways. Here is a sound structured animal who grows a bit more hair but produces a great quality beef on a lot less quality diet.

American Angus Association considered letting Galloways into their herd book a few years back. Wouldn't hurt some of those leggy, light quartered cattle we see up here from time to time.
 
rkaiser":1qyhgrhl said:
Another pure black breed that a lot of folks forget about is the Galloways. Here is a sound structured animal who grows a bit more hair but produces a great quality beef on a lot less quality diet.

.

What is average birth weight of a Galloway sired calf Randy? .
 
Averaged 80 pounds across the board on our purebreds this year. High of 94 on a bull calf and low of 68 on a heifer. No assists and lots of spunk. :)
 
rkaiser":1ijcwc0u said:
Good number of purebred breeders in Canada and over half of the cattle registered up here are now polled. Polled genetics are hard to come by in Wales, but the herd is large. There are more Welsh Black cattle registered in the UK than any other beef breed.

Sorry, couldn't let this one pass.
Welsh Black is not a common breed in the UK. It is most often used pure or crossed as a suckler dam, prized for its moderate size, thrifty nature and good milking ability, it is not generally used as a terminal sire although it is used to sell Welsh branded beef as a niche product.

To set the record straight. - There are more Limousin cattle registered in the UK than any other beef breed(36%), this is followed by Charolais(20%), then Simmental(13%), then Angus(10%), then Belgian Blue(10%). Welsh Black are firmly in the Other breeds Category (part of 11%).
 
Thanks for the correction farmer rich. My source was a Welshman, so maybe he meant more Welsh cattle Registered in Wales rather than the UK.

How many Welsh black cattle are in Wales? The last journal I received from the Welsh Black society over there talked of 800 plus members.
 
There are probably more welsh black in wales than anywhere else, though they are still a minority breed there too. In wales 45% of cattle born in 2003 were sired by a Limousin bull. That is according to the British Cattle Movement service figures. Every animal born in the UK legally is registered and has a passport so these figures cover 100% of the cattle population.

Why are Limousin currently the most popular sire breed?
Well, this is a combination of superior carcase traits, high pre and post weaning growth weights, exellent feed conversion ratios, superior conformation and calving ease.

Highland cattle are used in a commercial context in a few herds in the same way as the Welsh Black, that is as a component of the comercial beef cow. They are extremely hardy and are used mainly in the poorest hill and scottish island environments. Aside from that they are popular pasture ornaments and are a common hobby breed amongst those who have more money than sense (although my wife wants one for the front paddock so this may soon include me).
 
Farmer rich says -"There are probably more welsh black in wales than anywhere else, though they are still a minority breed there too. In wales 45% of cattle born in 2003 were sired by a Limousin bull."

I guess we are switching from Registered purebreds to cattle born and delt a UK passport.
Is there a reason for your attempt to discredit Welsh Blacks farmer rich?
Popularity of cattle is never much related to common sense in the first place as cattle will differ within breeds as much as outside their gene pool.
Angus cattle are highly accepted by cattleman in North America for most of the same traits that a high quality Polled Welsh Black herd exibits. Beyond that it's a numbers game, and a human game to prove something like the muscling merits of Limousin cattle.
 
I am in no way trying to discredit the Welsh Black breed Mr Kaiser, I merely responded to an incorrect and misleading statement made in your earlyer post. I have no axe to grind and can only repeat my previous post - Welsh Black is not a common breed in the UK. It is most often used pure or crossed as a suckler dam, prized for its moderate size, thrifty nature and good milking ability, it is not generally used as a terminal sire although it is used to sell Welsh branded beef as a niche product.



Popularity of cattle is never much related to common sense in the first place as cattle will differ within breeds as much as outside their gene pool.

On the subject of popularity I would say that the popularity of a breed has much to do with the mean performance of the animals within that breed. Although what you have said contains a grain of truth, there is a reason why Limousin is the UK's most popular breed just as the angus seems to dominate the US industry. Some will say its down to breed promotion, others will say that its because of their superior performance and carcase traits that ideally suit their respective markets.

There is also a reason why welsh black is not popular here, this is due to their smaller size, lower growth rates and poorer confirmation when compared to the continental breeds as well as the more popular british ones. Not an attempt to discredit, just pointing out a fact, and remember we are supplying different markets that require a different sort of animal..
 
Just wondering is a 1100lb 365 day wt. and 2500lb mature wt. mean
"smaller size, lower growth rates" ? maybe the Welsh Black in Canada are bigger then the UK. Or are these number just rare for this breed
 
S.R.R.":3n3nnuos said:
Just wondering is a 1100lb 365 day wt. and 2500lb mature wt. mean
"smaller size, lower growth rates" ? maybe the Welsh Black in Canada are bigger then the UK. Or are these number just rare for this breed

Not being familiar with the breed in Canada I did look around and wasn't particularly impressed with the performance figures quoted. Mind you 2500lb does appear to be the maximum mature bull weight for WB, not the mean and 1100lb was quoted for a finished animal (bull/steer?). I would imagine that would take a lot of feed and is not a typical yearling weight for the breed.
 
Poorer conformation.

Than Limousin???

Obviously Mr. Farmer Rich has formed his opinion, and it obviously has to do with his breed of choice.

I hope you do well with your Limo's sir, I had them on the farm for a while, and can't say a lot of bad things about them. As I will not say a lot of bad things about any breed including Welsh Black and Galloway cattle.

I stand by my statement about difference within breeds vs. difference among breeds.
 
Sorry to be a stickler on this farmer rich but this is from them in the know "Welsh Blacks are among the FASTEST GROWING of all BRITISH Breeds, both in RATE of GAIN and WEIGHT for AGE, and their excellent feed conversion achieves this gain, more economically than most. " Interesting stuff eh? Here is the link.

http://www.welshblack.com/welshblackadvantage.html
 
I probably did come across as a little partisan in my earlyer posts and I will not deny that Limousin are my breed of choice, I am not however blind to their faults.
I feed cattle of many breeds, and lims and chars pay the bills.
I like them because they are profitable.
Again, our markets require different types of animal, something I have learnt through earlyer discussions on this board.
 
S.R.R.":3meh0an5 said:
Sorry to be a stickler on this farmer rich but this is from them that know "Welsh Blacks are among the FASTEST GROWING of all BRITISH Breeds, both in RATE of GAIN and WEIGHT for AGE, and their excellent feed conversion achieves this gaiin, more economically than most. " Here is a link.

Yup, thats what the WB society web page says. Most breed societies make similar claims. Care to back it up with indipendent research? :p ;-)
 

Latest posts

Top