Another breed debate. Beefalo VS Simmentals

[cmf1]

I just read this thread... Wow... I e been researching Beefalo off and on for 6 years... Peoe who made some of these posts obviously haven't done any and consider an opinion they heard of someone else as factual information. Craziness! Even professors and news outlets do it. In fact, looking at two articles from that Mother Earth pub state completely the opposite as fact about Beefalo! Other peoe argue that they are not a breed. Did not ALL breeds start as something else crossed with another?

Did these cattle/buffalo crosses fail once? Yes. Why? At that time do to the lack of popularity of the man "hoarding" the breed turned into controversy and DNA testing. Was that testing anywhere near as good as it is today? Not hardly. Were the people doing the testing as knowledgable as those who do it today? Nope. Testing done on the same DNA today shows different results than what those in the past concluded do to the similarity of the crossed animals.

How are Beefalo doing now? Are any breeders from this thread ready to post up current trends in today's beef market?

I love " breed pimping".
Means somebody is excited about their cattle.!

A little bit of hard facts and info, maybe some pix, and how you make ( or try to ) money with them, and a little less " in your face" from your research...
May get some to sniff what you want to spread.

Have fun and welcome to the boards!

 

[Linda Makin Kidwell]

No offense to those who have them but beefalo go into my "why?" category. Right along with alpacas and designer dogs. :mrgreen:

My red angus make me lol but not because they suck. Sorry you had a bad experience.

I guess I feel like beefalo are mules doing a horse's job. I am certain they have their merits. I have great respect for many Bos taurus/Bos indicus breeds. Why add Bison bison to the mix? If you like buffalo meat raise buffalo.

That being said, if you have a great beefalo calf, enjoy her. When it comes down to it, the breed behind a great animal is less important than the animal herself.

Please, beefalo peeple, don't send me propaganda I won't convert. But I respect you as breeders nonetheless.

PS Good for you to have some Simmis!

I understand we all have out own experiences with animals...I was raised with cow farms all around me. Buffalo are more dangerous and can jump an 6 ft fence. Jersey and Buffalo hybrids produce terrific cream and milk that last longer due to the Buffalo enzymes and they are far more gentle than Buffalo. I don't think anyone is attempting to convert you. Just sharing experiences or asking questions. The hybrid is safer to raise and also produces sweeter meat with little to no fat trimming needed. Perfect marbling as well. I've researched all this and spoken with people who have raised them...combined with my own knowledge of standard. Beefalo have a higher protien content than cows. Not to mention the fact they're usually bigger than cows which means more meat. So...we are investing in a specific breed of beefalo ourselves. I subscribe on utube to a bison farm...man you have to be so careful...even if tou've had raised them yourself. They're temperamental and you have to be careful introducing newcomers to the herd. And they have to be separated so several fencing areas with specific bison that are ok with being together. No thanks!

 

[farmerjan]

First off, welcome to the CT forums @Linda Makin Kidwell.

Don't know if you realized it but you are resurrecting a thread that has been inactive for 9 years...
But, still interesting subject... and if you have these animals, please take time to give some of your observations etc.
Not everyone likes the same animals... and just because someone wants to raise these beefalo's they should not be put down for it.
No one says bad things about @lithuanian farmer, and her breeding all the double muscled breeds even if some of us think that some of the bulls are ugly to look at with all that muscling...and partly because she is both a smart and gifted person with a DVM degree... and shows the evidences of her breeding programs and why she likes certain things and the general relationship of cattle and state of the beef industry there...

I am personally not a fan of these "mini-breeds" of cattle... but to each his/her own... I prefer the "odd ball" breeds, and like to play with different breeds and genetics, but they do not pay the bills in the general scheme of things in the commercial cattle markets.

Thank you for coming on here and braving the "razzing" you are going to take with your choice in animals.

 

[Rmc]

Sorry to burst your bubbles but every known American Bison is a a beefalo cross. No known herds of bison exist that are free from domestic cattle genes.
But no sense in letting facts get in the way .

That was what the professor said... They are like mules/ they are sterile at the first cross. If this is true/ I wonder how they get away claiming them as buffalo cross?

 

[Ky hills]

Back in the 80- early 90's I used to go to the Kentucky Beef Expo show and sales in Louisville KY.
I went because I was involved with the Charolais breed at the time. Early on there were quite a few breeds represented, some that were not real common around here including Red Poll and Beefalo. The Beefalo they had there at the shows were not a first cross, but more on the line of the 3/8 5/8 Brahman influenced breeds. In other words 3/8 bison 5/8 beef cattle.
To me those Beefaloes didn't show any real noticeable bison characteristics. They just looked like whatever cattle breeds or crosses of beef cattle they were comprised of.
Some looked like Herefords, some looked like tannish Charolais crosses.

 

[Warren Allison]

MacGinley and @Jeanne - Simme Valley f1 Beefalo are NOT sterile Bison have 60 chromosones and cattle have 60 so the offspring have 60. Donkeys have 62 and horses 64, therefor mules have 63, and you can't divide 63 by 2,. therefor mules don't have viable sperm or eggs.
@redcowsrule33 , the value is that bison meat has more protein, less cholestrol than beef. Much better for you, and tastes a heck of a lot better. But, Bison are hard to raise because of the facilities you need. So, the meat of beefalo is almost as good as bison, but beefalo are as easy to raise as cattle.

 

[Warren Allison]

Sorry to burst your bubbles but every known American Bison is a a beefalo cross. No known herds of bison exist that are free from domestic cattle genes.
But no sense in letting facts get in the way .

Actually, there are two that are "pure" Bison. One herd around Yellowstone and another in SD, I think. But yeah, since the Spanish cattle appeared in the 1500;s, when Bison stil populated North American, there would be an occasional Bison/cattle calf born. And those born in wild bison hers, would breed back to bison, and those breed back again to Bison, etc. So., I am sure one could find minute traces of bovine DNA even in the "pure" bison herds. I guess the pure Bison are as much ure" as the Continental breeds of cattle that had " breed up" programs, and turned black and polled.

 

[WFfarm]

Actually, there are two that are "pure" Bison. One herd around Yellowstone and another in SD, I think. But yeah, since the Spanish cattle appeared in the 1500;s, when Bison stil populated North American, there would be an occasional Bison/cattle calf born. And those born in wild bison hers, would breed back to bison, and those breed back again to Bison, etc. So., I am sure one could find minute traces of bovine DNA even in the "pure" bison herds. I guess the pure Bison are as much ure" as the Continental breeds of cattle that had " breed up" programs, and turned black and polle

Can an all black bison qualify for CAB?

 

[Travlr]

Actually, there are two that are "pure" Bison. One herd around Yellowstone and another in SD, I think. But yeah, since the Spanish cattle appeared in the 1500;s, when Bison stil populated North American, there would be an occasional Bison/cattle calf born. And those born in wild bison hers, would breed back to bison, and those breed back again to Bison, etc. So., I am sure one could find minute traces of bovine DNA even in the "pure" bison herds. I guess the pure Bison are as much ure" as the Continental breeds of cattle that had " breed up" programs, and turned black and polled.

LOL... and thus, "minute traces of bovine DNA even in the "pure" bison herds" is why there are no pure bison.

 

[Warren Allison]

LOL... and thus, "minute traces of bovine DNA even in the "pure" bison herds" is why there are no pure bison.

Yes, this "pure" is in quotation marks. Just like say Simmental.... if an animal is like 93% Simm, it is considered "pure".

 

[Warren Allison]

Can an all black bison qualify for CAB?

Bison or Beefalo? Yes, if a beefalo is over 50% black, and has the other 10 characteristics needed to attain CAB, it sure can.

 

[Travlr]

Yes, this "pure" is in quotation marks. Just like say Simmental.... if an animal is like 93% Simm, it is considered "pure".

Yeah... for some people definitions don't really mean much.

 

[Ky hills]

Kind of funny to me, the opposite ends of the spectrum Wagyu with excessive marbling to bison without much marbling, I reckon there's something for everybody.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Geez, I guess I was having a bad day…. 15 years ago…

Let's just say my outlook has matured since then.

 

[Rmc]

Actually, there are two that are "pure" Bison. One herd around Yellowstone and another in SD,

You continue to believe what ever you want based on what Billie bob told Ralph what a professor to someone in 1980 or what ever else you want to believe. I am going to believe the dna research of Texas an and m college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences they published in 2022.
Just like I believe the paint horses originated from some of the Spanish horses first imported to the Americas . Not from ponies just because that is what Billie Bobs great grumpa told him.
But why let science get in the way of opinions?
It is pretty amazing that every bison alive today is due to the result of a bison x cattle mating!
Pretty odd to have half a million animals that descended from a sterile mating ! Not quite sure how that works! Can someone explain it to me ?

 

[mwj]

You continue to believe what ever you want based on what Billie bob told Ralph what a professor to someone in 1980 or what ever else you want to believe. I am going to believe the dna research of Texas an and m college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences they published in 2022.
Just like I believe the paint horses originated from some of the Spanish horses first imported to the Americas . Not from ponies just because that is what Billie Bobs great grumpa told him.
But why let science get in the way of opinions?
It is pretty amazing that every bison alive today is due to the result of a bison x cattle mating!
Pretty odd to have half a million animals that descended from a sterile mating ! Not quite sure how that works! Can someone explain it to me ?

How long did it take these folks to test EVERY bison in this country?

 

[Warren Allison]

You continue to believe what ever you want based on what Billie bob told Ralph what a professor to someone in 1980 or what ever else you want to believe. I am going to believe the dna research of Texas an and m college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences they published in 2022.
Just like I believe the paint horses originated from some of the Spanish horses first imported to the Americas . Not from ponies just because that is what Billie Bobs great grumpa told him.
But why let science get in the way of opinions?
It is pretty amazing that every bison alive today is due to the result of a bison x cattle mating!
Pretty odd to have half a million animals that descended from a sterile mating ! Not quite sure how that works! Can someone explain it to me ?

The Spanish imported a lot of ponies to the new world. As many, if not more, than they did horses. So far, in most all of your post, your "research" that you quote is questionable at best. So here is an assignment for you: Research the origin of the Chincoteague Pony, and let's see if you can get one right for a change.

 

[greybeard]

When I worked the Anadarko oil patch around Elk City Ok in the late 80s-early 90s, there was a place in El Reno that served both bison burgers and Beefalo burgers, and steaks. We frequented it often but I never did get used to the dry taste of the bison burger and the one chicken fried bison steak I had was one of the toughest,, stringiest I ever tried to chew. The beefalo burger was definitely better tasting than the straight bison burger and the bison ribeye steak was 'different' but not something I would eat regularly by any means. Way Too bland and lean and that same dry taste even med rare..

Maybe they've improved over the last 30 years but not worth my $$ to find out.

What happened to the Charles Goodnight bison herd?

 

[crossbreed]

When I worked the Anadarko oil patch around Elk City Ok in the late 80s-early 90s, there was a place in El Reno that served both bison burgers and Beefalo burgers, and steaks. We frequented it often but I never did get used to the dry taste of the bison burger and the one chicken fried bison steak I had was one of the toughest,, stringiest I ever tried to chew. The beefalo burger was definitely better tasting than the straight bison burger and the bison ribeye steak was 'different' but not something I would eat regularly by any means. Way Too bland and lean and that same dry taste even med rare..

Maybe they've improved over the last 30 years but not worth my $$ to find out.

What happened to the Charles Goodnight bison herd?

Are you sure Walter Merrick wasn't hauling old brood mares over there for hamburgers

 

[crossbreed]

Are you sure Walter Merrick wasn't hauling old brood mares over there for hamburgers

That was an amazing time in western okla, you could stand on a rig floor and count the rigs in sight at night