Best Beef Cattle/Steers for Texas Area?

[TexasRancher]

Anyone in and around Texas area that can help shed light on your "ideal" beef cattle and reasoning. Additonally, what type of grass do you seed...coastal?

Anyone outside the Texas area that knows cattle and grasses and can share their insight too would be appreciated. thanks

Crazy question....are there "training cattle"....are some breeds increasingly more difficult to handle and upkeep than others?

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Texas is a BIG place. Check around your area and see what others are doing. What might work in the panhandle might not work in Houston or West Texas.

 

[K2011]

We have costal,
The best breed in my book would be SIMMENTAL--reason--many/most are very docile they make good mothers and the calves tend to be "heavy"
As far as the breeds being "hard to handle" BRAHMANS seem to give us the most trouble--they also have a "thin hide" and do not do well in cold temperatures.

 

[Txwalt]

Folks down south tend to like some Brahman influence. Besides that, you might as well ask people what breed of dog is the best. Coastal is fine for hay. May not be the best for grazing. It all depends on what you plain on doing with that pasture. I've been at this one year so don't listen to me at all. I've been drinken. (I'm always drinken) :lol2:

Walt

 

[novatech]

Anyone in and around Texas area that can help shed light on your "ideal" beef cattle and reasoning. Additonally, what type of grass do you seed...coastal?

Anyone outside the Texas area that knows cattle and grasses and can share their insight too would be appreciated. thanks

Crazy question....are there "training cattle"....are some breeds increasingly more difficult to handle and upkeep than others?

Your questions are so general that it would be almost imposable to answer.
Grass; Check with your county agent. Your input cost and years to pay out that cost is an important issue, Seeded grasses will be less expensive vs. sprigged. Yearly rainfall and fertilizer requirements will also be important issues.
As far as breeds concerned we all have our favorites and our biases. I believe it is more important to choose cattle on an individual basis. If you look around your area you will find that most every breed is being raised and that most all are doing fine depending on the management given.
The most important thing to do is increase your knowledge about cattle. You can fine good and bad things within any breed of cattle, good and bad conformation, easy or poor keepers, good and bad calf raisers, big frame and small frame, tender and tough, marbled or lean, and the list goes on. The most important may be value at market, or breed improvement depending on your goals.
I assume by your question that you are new to cattle. Given that I would stay away from Brahman influenced cattle. I am very partial to them but they can be high strung as a general rule and not for the newbe's. Pure bred Brahman are actually much easier to handle and can become the family pets. This will be dependant on how they are handled, and of course selection of the ones with the right temprament.
I would start with pasture improvement and take my time in selection of the cattle.

 

[Jim62]

I think angus would be a good place to start for a beginner. Mine usually are very calm and easy to handle, and have their calves without any help, etc.. Of course, this too is only my opinion, and it's probably worth just about what you paid for it.

If that............ :tiphat:

 

[backhoeboogie]

I have some angus that I have to calve in the fall with. If you have a bad summer, they won't eat all grain 9% sweet feed. In the extreme heat, I wouldn't put anything high protein in them and 9% is about as low as you can get. So I am totally against that breed for Texas unless you calve in the fall.

Brangus do well and market well. If you are set on shortening the ear for market, run a set of brangus cows and put a market bull on them. You take a bad hit on your heifers from lack of ear but you'll do good on the steers.

Coastal cannot be seeded. If you have "seed" pods, it isn't coastal. Coastal has to be sprigged. Cheyenne can be seeded and it is almost as leafy as coastal.

Coastal is not the preferred grass for cattle, but they thrive on it. During low rain periods you can get it up to 18% protein if you cut it at the optimum time and it has been fertilized. A heavy rain can put you off a week from cutting hay and everything changes.

Humbam Clover can grow as tall as 8 feet on the Brazos flood plains in the coastal fields. Turn the cows on it and they will eat and eat. It puts a lot of N into the grass and once its gone from the field, it won't be back until the winter months. It has worked wonders.

The person I know making the most nickels on commercial cattle year after year is running LH influence cows under a BM bull. He weans some heavy calves with virtually no losses. He is fine during droughts, extremely hot summers, and normal ones too. He likes it consistent. I don't own a single LH influenced animal nor a BM influenced animal so don't take that as a sales pitch.

The person I know making the most nickels on small farm acreage is running nurse cows and she's been at it for years and years. She sticks with beef calves on dairy cows (mostly jersey).

For me personally the choice is brangus. This summer doesn't seem like it is going to be extreme but I have to consider year after year. I'll take a small hit on ear for the steers but I will get a huge bonus on the heifers or cows - consistently.

If you are bent on straight angus, plan for fall calving. Plant some winter forage and you'll do fine. In my opinion they are cold climate animals. When it hits 110 degrees, they are miserable and hang in the shade panting like dogs. I've been there. They next time it happens I WILL VIDEO TAPE IT AND PUT IT ON U-TUBE for all the nay sayers on this forum. The animal right folks are probably gonna have a hoopla over it.

 

[MikeC]

We seed costal,
The best breed in my book would be SIMMENTAL--reason--many/most are very docile they make good mothers and the calves tend to be "heavy"
As far as the breeds being "hard to handle" BRAHMANS seem to give us the most trouble--they also have a "thin hide" and do not do well in cold temperatures.

Where do you get costal ("Coastal") seed????????????????????????

 

[kerley]

Mike C. I am curious. In your opinion, what breed is best for Alabama ? Tom :cboy:

 

[PennBranch]

Dallas area gets about 40 inches of rain a year. You are blessed with many grasses to choose from a good place to start is here..http://forages.tamu.edu/

Almost any cattle will do well with good pasture. I know people will disagree but I wouldn't choose Herfords you are still bit hot, I would go for a darker pigmented breed. Angus have the market cornered with good marketing and consumer confidence. They also seem to have the best selection (at least in terms of sheer volume) of AI sires. If you went that way you could have a registered herd where you run a terminal bull and AI for replacement. Just my 2 cents.

But take anything I say with a grain of salt. While I come from a Ranch family...I am not a rancher. I have a few hundred acres in Texas waiting for me to retire so I can go broke slowly. I long for the days when I will be faced with issues like yours.

 

[bigbull338]

the guy is about 45mins from me.the type of cattle is really up to you.an what youd like to raise.you need to have good fences in all your pastures.plenty of water an good corral to work the cattle.beefmasters are gentle an easy to handle.you have to work any cow calmly an gently.an let them get to know you.

 

[Busterz]

If it were me I'd probably try to find some red brangus cows and use a polled hereford bull. (the red brangus cows would have heat tolerance and red ones would have little more heat tolerance than the black ones I would think. The polled hereford bull should be pretty gentle and a decent one would add some muscle. That cross should produce some nice red baldy calves, the heifers would probably make pretty good mommas too.

Or if you didn't want anything with brahman in it, I'd try to find some lighter colored cows, like charolais or red gelbvieh or braunvieh. Then try to find a gentle red or black angus bull. (I think the lighter color will help with the heat and then you could put a british bull on your continental cows for some nice cross calves.)