Best choice of cow to breed with Red Brangus Bull

[just learnin]

Newbies.
We would like to raise registered red brangus, but would also like to breed the red brangus bull with other breeds of cows.
What would be the better choices for taking to auction or butchering for beef?
Would black angus heifers or cows be a sound choice or not?
We were told this may cause a birthing problem.
Temperment is also important.
Enjoy reading the board.

 

[cypressfarms]

Welcome Justlearnin,

Black angus would be a good cross for the red brangus bull you have.

Birthing problems would depend on your bull (his epd's), and your mgt. of the heifers/cows during and up to calving. I use brangus bulls, and don't have calving problems. There heads are wedge shaped and tend to come out easier than say a charolais.

Tempermant would be no problem. There will always be crazies every now and then. Just cull them. But in my experience angus are more docile than brangus.

If you want bigger calves to see you could also look at other cows. I'm sure everyone will chime in here, but here are a few others to consider:

-simmentals
-hereford
-almost any good f-1
-charolais

which brings me to the next statement. I would be more concerned about getting a good cow, than the type of breed. All breeds have something to offer, but if you get stuck with bad cows - any breed has something that should be culled.

 

[just learnin]

Thanks for the info.
I am a little confused by the epd's.
I have read other post on epd's, but don't quite get them.

 

[Frankie]

EPDs are simply a tool to compare one animal of a breed to another of the same breed. Simply put, if you breed a bull with a 5 birthweight EPD to a set of cows, you would EXPECT the calves to weigh five more pounds at birth than if you bred them to a bull (same breed) with a birthweight EPD of 0. Same with weaning and yearling weights (WW and YW). You would EXPECT the calves sired by a bull with a WW EPD of 40 to weigh 40 more pounds at weaning than if you bred those same cows to a bull with a WW EPD of 0. EPDs will never tell you what something will weigh, they just allow you to compare breeding animals of the same breed. Cows' EPDs work the same way. Some people try to make them much more complicated.

 

[MoGal]

I have 2 registered brangus bulls as well. (also a charolais and a lim flex... all are used in a leasing program).

I will say this, I've seen firsthand a group of charolais cross cows have brangus calves this year and they are some of the growthiest calves.

You could get some really nice gold/buckskin calves with charx cows and they do sell well.

 

[Tod Dague]

Thanks for the info.
I am a little confused by the epd's.
I have read other post on epd's, but don't quite get them.

EPD's are very new to Red Brangus and is not widely used among the breeders. I would stick with performance information with them. The Martin's or Marden's in College Station have some nice Red Brangus cattle.

 

[just learnin]

Thanks to everyone for all the good information.

Frankie,
Thanks for the help with the epd's. That sounds easy enough.
They are only used with the same breed?

 

[sidney411]

We had a bull from the Marden's. He was one of the best bull's we've ever had. We had him on BWF, and Gelveih cows and he threw some of the best, stockiest calves from all the cows. We've kept several replacement heifers from him. I was really sad when he got crippled and we had to get rid of him. I would highly reccomend Marden Red Brangus bulls.

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

I would suggest Murray Grey cows to cross with. ;-) :cboy:

 

[la4angus]

I would suggest Murray Grey cows to cross with. ;-) :cboy:

I would suggest crossing with Angus for Angus Plus or with Herefords for Super Baldies.

 

[MikeC]

My Brangus X Charolais cross calves do well in the feedlot. Real well. Try one, you'll be glad you did.