Angus x Jersey

[Mudge]

Has anyone ever cross bred these two type of cows.. and would you recomend others to do it?

what would be the pro's of doing it?

and the possible cons.


its what im looking to do, i think the cows would be pretty, and be the best of both worlds with relativly good marketing ability id think because of the uniqniess(sp?).. being angus are beef cows, and jersey are good tasting beef and good dairy cows.. (right???)

anythoughts?

 

[SEC]

The cows are pretty, udder structure will be put to the test but they do a nice job.

Where I seen the cows they were 1/4 Hereford 1/4 Jersey and 1/2 Angus. The sires were Angus. For up here their hair coat was too slick.The udders on the cows were okay, if they were going to wreck it would have been in the first 3 calvings. They wre calved on grass, meaning more pressure onthe udders. The steers were okay, but were docked.

You would be better off buy a son of Traveler 71 and keep some of the Angus traits. The calves will still be fine boned and smaller, females will be very similar.

In the scenario I am speaking of the weaning weights were no heavier than the straightbred cows

 

[J. T.]

The Angus Jersey crosses I've seen have been light muscled but can raise a nice calf due to the milk flow. The heavy milk production can result in spoiled udders, however. Too heavy milk production can result in delayed breeding and scoured calves. Unless you plan to have just a few head that can be given lots of attention, I'd steer clear of this cross. If you just have a couple or so, you may be able to graft another calf on the cow to double your income and take care of the extra milk.

 

[dun]

The Jersey influence will kill you at selling time because of the light muscle. They should milk well though.
We used Angus or Hereford on Holstens. Calves were discounted at sale, but those F1 daughters raised boomer big claves and the dock wasn;t as bad on there calves. I'm figuring that was 25 years or so ago, now the dock for dairy influence is a lot worse

 

[Mudge]

thx for the replies guys.

 

[stocky]

With a jersey cow and an angus bull you will get a medium sized brown cow with alot of milk. There will be some that the udders will break down and there will be a few that suckle down too much. We used to breed our jerseys to an angus bull and kept the heifers for beef cows. If you breed them to a charolais bull, you will end up with a 650-750 lb yellow charlois calf that will top the market when you sell it. If you breed it to an angus, you will end up with alot of light boned, scrawny rear end brown calves that will get docked alot at the market. The charolais bull seems to be the only bull that will color the calves and give them a good body for selling as feeders. I have several of the angus jersey crosses and most of them will raise calves until they are 15 years old, more or less

 

[SEC]

That is one thing that I will give credit to on the Jersey cross, they have unbelievable longevity!

 

[WAguy]

Mudge, how many are you talking about, and how are you intending to market them? They might not do well at the salebarn, but I think they make nice family cows. Not the extreme milk production of a purebred dairy cow and the associated problems. And get better beef out of them them than from a pure dairy cow. Like J.T. said, if you can pay attention to them, they do nicely. Might require alittle marketing though to convince people of their advantages as a family cow, as many are in love with the cute purebred Jerseys.

I have a Jersey/Lowline angus cow (only 45 inches tall) I milk once daily getting a gallon after the calf gets her share. 300 gallons a year saves over $1000 a year not having to buy milk at the store. And then I get a calf – the last one out of a Jersey bull I sold for $1000 as a yearling, so pretty good year for my cow. This year's calf is out of a beef bull, so not worth as much, but with the milk, I still get much more back than what the feed bill cost.

Of course, there is labor involved – you don't make a living doing this. But there are some self-sufficiency types who want to make their own milk and meat.

By the way, are you breeding angus cows to jersey bulls, or vice versa? Obviously the Jersey cows would be much higher maintenance.

 

[Mudge]

We where going to do Angus Bull to Jersey Heifers, Then where planning on selling at the sale barn.

Planned on only having 5 Hef's and 1 Bull at first then grow the operation outward throught the years.
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But that chalois cross sounds very intrigiung i tell you that much

 

[10-e-c-dirtfarmer]

IMHO, For cows, NO MORE than 1/4 Jersey, the rest Angus Hereford X. Or as Bush would say "in other words" A Black Baldy with a touch of Jerzz. Then breed the cows to a charolais bull, IMO that would make a very good market calf.

 

[WAguy]

IMHO, For cows, NO MORE than 1/4 Jersey, the rest Angus Hereford X. Or as Bush would say "in other words" A Black Baldy with a touch of Jerzz. Then breed the cows to a charolais bull, IMO that would make a very good market calf.

Of course, to get to 1/4 Jersey, you have to have 1/2 Jerseys, and they come from full Jerseys. So you can't sustain the proper mix without having the wrong mix, unless you get a bull that is 1/2 Jersey.

Mudge, I assume you are going to milk the 5 Jersey heifers. Are you a dairy?

 

[goddy]

I know that in New Zealand Jersey and Jersey cross cattle did very well in blind taste tests but the tendency to have yellow fat counted against them in the marketplace.
Goddy

 

[Mudge]

IMHO, For cows, NO MORE than 1/4 Jersey, the rest Angus Hereford X. Or as Bush would say "in other words" A Black Baldy with a touch of Jerzz. Then breed the cows to a charolais bull, IMO that would make a very good market calf.

Of course, to get to 1/4 Jersey, you have to have 1/2 Jerseys, and they come from full Jerseys. So you can't sustain the proper mix without having the wrong mix, unless you get a bull that is 1/2 Jersey.

Mudge, I assume you are going to milk the 5 Jersey heifers. Are you a dairy?

No we are not dairy, we just geting our feet wet. Out plan was to do the Ang/Jerz mix, since the jerz hef's will have an abundance of milk, we could put some more money into young calves and put them in with the momma. and build up the farm slowly like that.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Mudge, many of us have a nurse cow or two. In my case, it is just one dairy who raises many calves. She is 1/2 jersey 1/2 holstein and is bred to a Brangus bull. She throws nice calves, with less ear, but they are not as nice as a beef cow. We sell the steers for decent income at the sale barn. She can raise 4 darn good calves. I buy beef calves that are split and put on her. That is where the money is to be made.

If you had 5 jerseys, they could nurse their own 5 calves, plus 15 additional calves, with rich plentiful milk. Those beef calves, grafted on to the cows can make you a lot of nickels.

If you were not using the Jerseys as nurse cows, I'd stay away from them altogether.

 

[Ryder]

Don't do the cross on a herd basis. Beef breeds are bred for the efficient production of beef. Dairy breeds for milk. Leave it that way. If you go tampering with it you will not have the most efficient cows for either purpose.

If it aint broke, don't fix it.

 

[francismilker]

I'm pretty fond of the cross myself. In the past, I've put a jersey bull on a bunch of angus heifers with the expectation of selling cow/calf pairs. The outcome was a good looking crop of heifers in which I raised to be mamma cows. The crossbred cows bred to an angus bull produced some very marketable, fast gaining calves due to milk flow. I've been told the yellow fat color is almost non-existent with this cross but I can't be for sure. These cows were good, sound cows with the exception of being a little less meaty during the winter. All of the cows I've got in the pasture now are at least 1/4 milk influenced. (whether it's holstein, milking shorthorn, or jersey) Once they are bred down to being only 1/4 milkbred they seem to raise a good, fast growing calf. Another valuable asset that a lot of folks don't notice is these cows having an above normal tendacy to be nurse cows for a calf that isn't getting enough to eat. I've got a couple of two year old, first freshening cows now that are hostein\angus cross that are raising their calves and giving all the other calves in the pasture the right to nurse at will. It's very valuable when you have a cow that's not measuring up for some reason.