When the term balancer first came about they were F1 Gelbvieh X Angus (red or black). The Gelbvieh folks changed that after just a couple of years to allow any percentage of either. Supposedly it wa to allow more "flxibility" in using balancers to jibe better with different herd compositions. Personally I think it was just a way for the gelbvieh association to make more money.alftn":2c8tar1n said:I think that the Balancer is a good idea, but not sure they the breeders have fixed the genetic yet...I mean a Brangus is a fix and selected 3/8 brimm/ 5/8 angus.. that is a breed . At this point a balancer is just a cross breed...often a f-1 cross..
With that said I think a Balancer bull on my f-1 black baldies , would be a great cross.
dun":2ys8bxdb said:When the term balancer first came about they were F1 Gelbvieh X Angus (red or black). The Gelbvieh folks changed that after just a couple of years to allow any percentage of either. Supposedly it wa to allow more "flxibility" in using balancers to jibe better with different herd compositions. Personally I think it was just a way for the gelbvieh association to make more money.God forbid anyone besides the Angus Assn would try to find a way to make some more money. :help:alftn":2ys8bxdb said:I think that the Balancer is a good idea, but not sure they the breeders have fixed the genetic yet...I mean a Brangus is a fix and selected 3/8 brimm/ 5/8 angus.. that is a breed . At this point a balancer is just a cross breed...often a f-1 cross..
With that said I think a Balancer bull on my f-1 black baldies , would be a great cross.
We used the F1s before the term balancer was even thought of and really liked the mix. Still have one of th original old cows left from that cross and several of her daughters and grandauthers
alftn":1l52yplp said:Is there anyone here on this board that has F-1 angus X hereford ( red or black ) crossed to a Balancer Bull ????? If so how does it work?? Pics????
Busterz":38glvgt4 said:Is adding a balancer really a 3 way cross? Especially to a GelbXAngus?
Itmay be a three way cross but when you throw in the double dose of angus you start treading on the breed regression deal that is the opposite of heterosisalftn":rnotzmln said:The 2 post in front of this one , What are you taslking about??? F-1 Black baldies cross to a Balancer is a 3 way cross, 3 breeds with a 50 % angus, 1/4 hereford and 1/4 gelv. or close to that....
dun":2il5xs53 said:Itmay be a three way cross but when you throw in the double dose of angus you start treading on the breed regression deal that is the opposite of heterosisalftn":2il5xs53 said:The 2 post in front of this one , What are you taslking about??? F-1 Black baldies cross to a Balancer is a 3 way cross, 3 breeds with a 50 % angus, 1/4 hereford and 1/4 gelv. or close to that....
We're doing similar this year. The balancers are bred to Hereford and the Herefords are bred to a Gelbvieh. The resulting heifrs will go back to Red AngusBSKDixie":1uqfwppo said:I agree Balancer bred back to Angus wouldn't be bad, but why not take a Balancer cow and breed her back to a Hereford bull? Then you get the full effect of heterosis, becuase that Hereford side will add feed efficiency, if you breed back to an Angus bull you're not maximizing heterosis to the full effect, youre backcrossing, backcrosses yield maximum maternal heterosis but only 50 percent of your maximum individual heterosis, so youre really not capitalizing on the full effect that you could be getting with the terminal cross of Balancer x Hereford. If you breed that Balancer to the Hereford bull, its gonna be a terminal cross anyways so you wont have to worry about replacements, ideally you would breed Angus x Hereford to a Gelbvieh bull to make a true terminal three way cross, but in this case you're starting with a Balancer cow so its a moot point.
I've worked with Balancers for several years and I have to say its a great cross, still run by the Gelbvieh Association, but they really know what they're doing there, they even have calf marketing program and other types of programs available for both Balancers and Smartcross (Balancer + % of another breed)
And just a little tidbit, a backcross is best to use when a particular breed works well a certain environment such as brahman type breeds in tropical areas
Best of luck to you, once again Balancers make some great commercial cattle!
HOSS":3b43yaxp said:My heaviest calves sired from the Balancer bull were from Angus x Limi cows. Another good 3 way cross.