Baldy breeding - suggestions wanted

[SPH]

An Angus x Hereford cross is the best baldy mating you can get IMO. Our main customer base for bulls are guys running Angus or Angus cross cows who are seeking out good Hereford bulls. Have a repeat customer that sells all his calves at the sale barn despite our urging him to hold back some heifers he could probably sell for more private treaty as replacement heifers who tells us his black baldy calves have been bring top price so he keeps using Hereford bulls on his black cows.

Recent observation from a conversation with a local breeder at our county cattleman's association dinner. They are selling their own brand of freezer beef out of a mostly Limousin based herd and said their beef was getting too lean so they had to go buy an Angus bull to cross with to add some marbling and fat to their carcasses. Not a bad cross but mentioned there are some good Hereford bulls out there that can help with that too. Had a guy buy a steer and a cull heifer from us this past fall that was going to feed them out to butcher who told us he only buys Hereford feeders as he and his neighbors partner to butcher some calves every year and the best beef they have eat have come from Hereford or Hereford crosses.

 

[Ky hills]

@SPH we have been having some calves processed for beef for ourselves for a few years, have had one Angus and the rest Herefords. The Herefords are every bit as good with great marbling. I second your statements on the BWF as replacement heifers, even though I personally prefer straight Herefords, those BWF make some fine cows. We along with others have topped bred heifer sales fairly consistently with BWF heifers.

 

[Son of Butch]

.... though I personally prefer straight Herefords, those BWF make some fine cows. We along with others have topped bred heifer sales fairly consistently with BWF heifers.

Baldie cows have a bullet proof reputation.

 

[Ky hills]

Baldie cows have a bullet proof reputation.

Yes they do, and we have several and are going in a direction to have more of them. My statement on preferring straight Herefords is mainly due to my observations within our herd. BWF have been overall good and certainly like them. They tend to exhibit the expected hybrid vigor that can result in larger mature size, heavier milking individuals that in some instances have a higher nutritional need to maintain. Disposition can be quite a range too, and seems to be more in line with the Angus part of the equation. That isn't all bad especially when being protective of new calves, but in a few cases I have seen some individual BWF have some pretty flighty or aggressive dispositions with or without a calf.

 

[moses388]

2022 update

The white-face heifer has grown up and had her calf on Wed Jan 19 2022. AI sire is LMF Revenue Z24. This is my first Simmental calf. The result is what I hoped for - white face, black legs, no socks. I will probably use Revenue until he is no longer available. I might try it on her mom as well - the brown cow with white-face. Thanks for the past replies.

 

[J+ Cattle]

@moses388 the BWF heifer and her calf both look nice, the BWF heifer has a better udder than her dam so I would say that you're improving your herd. Is the new calf a bull or heifer?

 

[perryT200]

Here we get BWF a totally different way. A dairy farm breeds their first time black Holstein heifers to Herefords for lower birth weight and easier calving for the first time. 90+% are black white face, some are red.
My buddy buys them as bucket calves.
Plan is to breed the heifers back to Angus, either black or red.
While this used red Holstein search the forum for RX3

 

[CCCowman]

2022 update

The white-face heifer has grown up and had her calf on Wed Jan 19 2022. AI sire is LMF Revenue Z24. This is my first Simmental calf. The result is what I hoped for - white face, black legs, no socks. I will probably use Revenue until he is no longer available. I might try it on her mom as well - the brown cow with white-face. Thanks for the past replies.

Nice looking momma and baby. If you really want to step up get some Black Hereford semen. DCD Leader, Jo Rev, FDK Black Diamond, Georgia Dawg.... you cant go wrong with those. Key is getting Homo Black for black calves. Look at the ABHA website or send me a message and I can hook you up. Here's a couple of mine. The brockle face is a Georgia Dawg heifer calf. The other is a DCD Leader bull calf

 

[coachg]

Angus over Hereford or vice versa .

 

[Warren Allison]

We left two BWF calves intact last week when we worked our calves.
Used a BWF 3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford bull some last year and getting ready before long to turn him out with cows again soon.View attachment 3931

BWF, like the bull you referenced..3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford is a composite not a cross bred, I see people calling Blackl Simmentals or Simm crosses with white faces BWFs. A black baldy is 1/2 Herford and 1/2 black Angus. A crossbred ... a pb Hereford parent and a purebred angus parent. TYhat;s a nice looking bull in that pic.

 

[moses388]

@moses388 the BWF heifer and her calf both look nice, the BWF heifer has a better udder than her dam so I would say that you're improving your herd. Is the new calf a bull or heifer?

Newborn is a bull. No plans to keep him. Will be sold as a feeder steer.

 

[moses388]

If you really want to step up get some Black Hereford semen. DCD Leader, Jo Rev, FDK Black Diamond, Georgia Dawg.... you cant go wrong with those.

I have looked at Jo Bulls Genetics and originally wanted to use Black Hereford. It would have been special order and I couldn't justify it to breed only one animal. It was convenient to use the Simmental bull.

 

[CCCowman]

I have looked at Jo Bulls Genetics and originally wanted to use Black Hereford. It would have been special order and I couldn't justify it to breed only one animal. It was convenient to use the Simmental bull.

Jo Bulls has some great genetics out there.

Nothing wrong with Simmentals. Some really good cattle there.