Black angus hiefers/Brahman bull

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osj_99_25

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I have yearling black angus heifers and I'm thinking of using a grey brahman bull on them. Would that be OK for the first calf heifers? Don't want to have calving issues.
 
I have a polled hereford bull that I can use on them, but just wanted input on using a polled brahman bull. I live in south Texas and I've heard brangus do better than angus in hot/humid climates.

@Son of Butch, what kind of trouble will I have by breeding a brahman bull to angus heifers?
 
A Brahman bull on Angus cows will produce F1 hybrids, which should do well in your part of the country, but I'd be reluctant to use one on yearling heifers. I'd recommend breeding them to a calving ease bull for the first calf (I use a Longhorn), then use a Brahman for the second and subsequent calves.

If you do get some F1 hybrid heifers for sale later, let me know. I might be interested in buying some.
 
F1 calves will usually have higher birth weights than their parents. I would use a LBW bull of the same breed as the heifers the first time around.
 
What trouble? The calving issues you said you wanted to avoid.
Breeding Angus heifers to a Brahman or Charolais bull is a death wish.
Breed heifers to a calving ease Angus bull, that's what they are made for.
Wait a year until they are cows to breed them to the polled Brahman bull.
 
That cross is about as much heterosis as you put together. Heterosis starts in the womb. Good guess, your gonna have elevated birth weights.
 
Ok thanks for all your comments. I'm in the learning stages of raising/breeding cattle and you guys have been very helpful. I guess I'll stick to my polled hereford bull for at least another year.
 
I wouldn't use a Hereford bull on Angus heifers. My cousin made that mistake few years ago. It was a nightmare for him and still haunts him to this very day.
 
I don't see why a Hereford would be a problem. We bred a Hereford to heifers before we sold out about 6 years ago and there wasn't ever any problems. He was horned though not polled.
 
Son of Butch":1zei25bi said:
What trouble? The calving issues you said you wanted to avoid.
Breeding Angus heifers to a Brahman or Charolais bull is a death wish.
Breed heifers to a calving ease Angus bull, that's what they are made for.
Wait a year until they are cows to breed them to the polled Brahman bull.

This is just plain silliness as are most of the responses within this thread. The irresponsible use of generalities is a TERRIBLE MISSERVICE to those inquiring. There are both Brahman and Charolais bulls that are ABSOLUTELY heifer safe.

Angus has no more of a stronghold on low birthweights than any other breed. They may have some of the best bw to ww spreads,,, but there are low birthweight easy calving bulls in every single breed out there.

Breed heifers to a calving ease (INSERT BREED NAME) bull, that's what they are made for.
 
Every breed has been genetically developed nowadays to have lower birth weights. If you do enough research you can find a Brahma and/or a Charolais that throws LBW calves. The Charolais' that we bought are suppose to be LBW and the first calf we had out of one was about 75 pounds. We are waiting on more to know how it goes for sure but its looking OK so far. I'm still against breeding a heifer straight to a Charolais but its not impossible and troublesome like it used to be and i'm beginning to change my tune on it. You breed any breed to heifer that is unproven it could have problems. We had a Black Angus bull before we bought our Charolais' and the first calf we got out of him weighed over 100 pounds and we had to help the momma a little bit to have it. We worried then that we had bought an Angus bull that threw big calves but never had him throw a big calf again and the heifer had the next calf out of him with ease and every heifer he bred has their calf with ease. Don't forget that the bull is only half of the fetus the other is the heifer. That has more influence then you would think it would. You never know what could happen when a heifer has her first calf. Its all gambling until they are born.
 
bulldurham":3o37xr8i said:
This is just plain silliness as are most of the responses within this thread. The irresponsible use of generalities is a TERRIBLE MISSERVICE to those inquiring. There are both Brahman and Charolais bulls that are ABSOLUTELY heifer safe.

Angus has no more of a stronghold on low birthweights than any other breed. They may have some of the best bw to ww spreads,,, but there are low birthweight easy calving bulls in every single breed out there.

Breed heifers to a calving ease (INSERT BREED NAME) bull, that's what they are made for.

There are not many bulls safe for heifers to chose from in those breeds, that exceptions exist does not change the rule. And generally speaking straightbred calves tend to be smaller than crossbred calves, all things equal. So Angus would be the breed of choice simply because the heifers are Angus, even if the Hereford bull gives good birth weights.
Over all, the advice here is not to bad.
 
"Birth weight of beef calves is the single most important trait factor in profitability of the average beef herd. Birth weight accounts for over 70% of the variability in calf survival to weaning." Dr John Comerford - PSU - 2009

Sire breed effect on birth weight - 1988
Brahman sires that averaged 65.3 lbs bw when bred to Brahman cows
averaged 85.8 bw when bred to hereford cows, 86.2 bw when bred to Limos and 84.3 bw from simmental cows.
for an average bw of 85.4 lbs or 20.1 lbs increase in bw

[no angus cows were in this study, but I would think even a Texan should be able to connect the dots]
 
You could always breed them to a brangus bull, I think those are referred to as an ultra black when crossed with an angus. I think that would be you're best bet as far as minimum calving issues if you choose one that throws LBW calves and it gives you some though not all of the hybrid vigor that you're seeking.
 

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