Rydero
Well-known member
gcreekrch said:Rydero said:I'm toying with adding Brangus to the mix in my cow herd. It'd be tempting to just use straight Brangus cows but I could also just buy a Brangus bull to make crosses too. Doesn't seem to be many breeders in the northern states and I haven't found any in Canada yet, just curious if it's a cold hardiness issue in which case crossing them may be the way to go.
Also curious if the cows were half Brangus bred another way (Charolais) if the calves would still have an identifiable Brahman look.
25 -30 years ago there was a Brangus breeder near Seven Persons Alberta. Have no idea if they are still in business. A couple of smaller operators were using those bulls for a time. The cattle never saw an auction ring, they went straight to a small feedlot in southern BC to be finished. I have no idea how they did from there.
You being in Manitobe I would be thinking of crossing with Muskox to keep them warm!
I'll cross them with polar bear, hopefully they hibernate and come out of their den with a calf like the bears do, lol. Save me a lot of hassle making and feeding hay.
The consensus seems to be to keep it confined to a cross which seems reasonable, I figured that may be the case. Easiest way to do a test on marketability and performance would be to just AI a group of cows Brangus see how the calves look and do. Keep some crossed heifers, see what the calves look like and if there's any performance gains. Fairly low cost to try and no fear of freezing a poor bull's junk off.