Best breed

[Anonymous]

What are some opinions on the best breed or cross to have. As far as ease of calving,rate of gain,temperment,as well as marketability. Cattle would be in southern michigan.

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[Anonymous]

I've been lookin at cattle for meat production & in my research I've found that the belgin blue have both a healther meat & higher yield at time of slauter. Yield is up to 80%. On a 2700# bull that would be just over 2000# meat. go to the breed @ ranch listings on the cattle today home page % you can get some idea of what I'm talkin about.
> What are some opinions on the best
> breed or cross to have. As far as
> ease of calving,rate of
> gain,temperment,as well as
> marketability. Cattle would be in
> southern michigan.

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[Anonymous]

Belgian blue cattle and their crosses are good for my business. Several breeders have massive vet bills for calvings. Not breed bashing, but more warning--caeasrian sections are subsidized in Belgium and cost under $100. They are often/usually required on purebred/fullblood animals, and recip dams. Not my choice, sorry!

 

[Anonymous]

We use Belgian bulls on our comercial heard and have a few purebred Belgian cows as well. So far we've had to have only one cesarian delivery and that was to a crossbred cow with a backwards calf.

One thing that matters to only me and my wife,but is a lot of fun is that at calving time with the crossbreds,you never know what colors or patterns your going to get. The variety is incredible and they sure garner that second look at the 4-H shows when my son shows them.

Rick



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[Anonymous]

So you would recomend this breed? I want something that will produce a large amount of meet with a good flavor & texture. I've been researchin the breed & am suposed to go look at som the first of August, I want to hear as many opinions on the breed as I can weither good or bad. I'll wind up gettin 1 bull & 1 heffer to form my own opinion of the breed, I just want to know what I'm in for.

> We use Belgian bulls on our
> comercial heard and have a few
> purebred Belgian cows as well. So
> far we've had to have only one
> cesarian delivery and that was to
> a crossbred cow with a backwards
> calf.

> One thing that matters to only me
> and my wife,but is a lot of fun is
> that at calving time with the
> crossbreds,you never know what
> colors or patterns your going to
> get. The variety is incredible and
> they sure garner that second look
> at the 4-H shows when my son shows
> them.

> Rick

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[Anonymous]

I never "recomend" anything to anyone,but here's what I can tell you so far.

Strangely enough we've never eaten any Blue meat but a few people in the area have bought finnished steers from us and have all been pleased. One comment was "jeez we had steaks from that steer we could cut with a fork". His words,not mine!

We've had to assist the odd heifer but calving difficulties are minimal. We have had the one C section mentioned above. My only suggestion would be to check the EPD,s of what you are buying.Look for the low birthweights.

temperament--- All our cattle,male,female,crossbred or purebred,range from calm to so friendly they can be annoying.We do our calving work,tagging,medicating,neuturing with the ellastrator,right in amongst the heard. We have no "nut cases" in the heard.

The one downside we have so far is that the purebred calves seem to mature a fair bit slower than the rest of the calf's. The crossbreds do fine.

Hope this helps Rick



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[Anonymous]

I would go with something more marketable and a little more easy keeping. Best adivce I could give go to the local sale barn and look at the type of calf that sells best(not color but body/frame type). Remember someone has to buy what you are selling. Wether it is someone at the sale barn,to a feedlot, or to another breeder you need to develope a product that they want.

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[Anonymous]

that in addition to fertility and calving problems, double muscled breeds don't marble? Their beef is very tender, I understand, but commercial marketing grids are built around quality grades (marbling) and yield grades (backfat). Unless you're direct marketing your cattle, you could take a serious hit to your pocketbook when you sell double muscled calves at the sale barn or on the rail. Good luck...

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[Anonymous]

What is double muscling and which breeds are prone to it?

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[Anonymous]

"Double Muscling" refers to cattle characterized by bulging muscles of the shoulder and thigh. Check out the picture of the Belgium Blue at the OK State Cattle Breeds site:

<A HREF="http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle" TARGET="_blank">www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle</A>

Double muscled breeds that come to mind are Belgium Blue and Piedmontese. The quality does show up in other breeds. It's a fault in the Angus breed; you can't register a double muscled calf.

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[Anonymous]

I can't imagine how a Belgian Blue ever gets born! You would think that they would hip lock every time.... I shudder to think what the whole birth canal looks like after having one of those calves go through it... thank you for your response.

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[Anonymous]

> What are some opinions on the best
> breed or cross to have. As far as
> ease of calving,rate of
> gain,temperment,as well as
> marketability. Cattle would be in
> southern michigan.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the Murray Grey.They are tops in every category you mentioned.

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[Anonymous]

I am a purebred Simmental breeder, but I feel the best momma cows are Simmental X Angus. You get your hybrid vigor, heavy milking, easy keeper, fertile, and black for marketing. Jeanne

> I would wholeheartedly recommend
> the Murray Grey.They are tops in
> every category you mentioned.

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[Anonymous]

Hi Ryan, I agree with Mike that the Murray Greys excel in all the qualities you mentioned. I read the thread about the Belgian Blues and will tell you that a Murray Grey Breeder in Missouri tried the Blues on the Grey females and had so many calving problems that he went back to pure Greys. He had been sold a "bill of goods" about how healthy the meat is, but wasn't told about the dead cows and calves. We had our first breech birth this year. The vet came out and he and my husband with a bad shoulder pulled him out with regular chain pullers (not the ratchet type). The bull calf weighed 86# which is not too heavy for his 1500# dam if he had presented correctly. But the cow and calf were both fine and he is a big healthy bull calf today. We eat our own beef and I can only say that it is the best beef we have ever eaten. We like lean beef so we finish with a minimal amount of grain but if you like marbling and backfat you can accomplish that with more grain. For very lean beef a lot of Grey breeders finish their cattle on grass. (Very economical). If you would like to see some photos of Greys, go to <A HREF="http://www.mgi-inc.org" TARGET="_blank">http://www.mgi-inc.org</A> Check out the Members Directory to see various photos. Hope you choose well for what you want to do. Darla *.~

> What are some opinions on the best
> breed or cross to have. As far as
> ease of calving,rate of
> gain,temperment,as well as
> marketability. Cattle would be in
> southern michigan.

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[secretwatersranch]

Hey i think all that you guys said was true, but i would stick with beefmasters
1.Easy birthing
2.Great carcass
3.Best disposition
4.Hardiness... they can eat anything!

 

[J7]

Wow, talk about gravedigging.

 

[redfornow]

The thing about a grave is sometimes you find something interesting. This was a interesting topic.
But dear God I have children younger than is tread lol

MD

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

What are some opinions on the best breed or cross to have. As far as ease of calving,rate of gain,temperment,as well as marketability. Cattle would be in southern michigan.

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Murray Grey would fill your bill...... ;-) :cboy:

 

[Ryan]

What are some opinions on the best breed or cross to have. As far as ease of calving,rate of gain,temperment,as well as marketability. Cattle would be in southern michigan.

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For the record, The above Ryan is not me.
8)
Ryan

 

[farmer rich]

I would go for the lim for a combination of calving ease, weight gain, high feed conversion, high carcase weight and high killing out percentage. Only downside in your market may be low marbling. A cross with angus or hereford would negate that. Handled well, temperment will not be a problem.