Black Baldies

[NECowboy]

Do any of you guys have them, like them, plusses and minuses? Is it easy to get black baldy semen for aing?

 

[Ky hills]

I have some Angus x Hereford, baldies. I like them fine for cows, most all of them that I have had have consistently raised good calves. Most of the heifers that I buy to resell as bred replacements have been BWF. As far as baldie bulls, not sure if you are looking for "Black Herefords" or Simmentals, but there is semen available for both. I am sure that all of the larger AI companies have white face Simmentals, and I think I recall seeing a Black Hereford advertised in the Origen catalog,

 

[JMJ Farms]

I agree. Most all the Hereford x Angus crosses I have are good well balanced commercial cows. I'm gonna keep about 15-20 BWF and RWF replacement heifers out of this springs calf crop. Depending on your goal you can put a Charolais bull on them and they will raise some calves that will mash the scales.

 

[slick4591]

I have two and they are my most fertile cows. Good mommas, easy to keep and great dispositions. If I could change one thing that would be to keep them out of my tanks in hot weather.

 

[Muddy]

We have few black baldy cows here. They usually weaned bigger steers every year even if it's only 3/4 Angus steer and the cows are very fertile. That said stay away from using Hereford bulls or black Hereford bulls on black baldy cows, the calves will have too much Hereford in them. And the only one con I see in black baldy cows is that they're carrying red gene from Hereford side.

 

[NECowboy]

I have some Angus x Hereford, baldies. I like them fine for cows, most all of them that I have had have consistently raised good calves. Most of the heifers that I buy to resell as bred replacements have been BWF. As far as baldie bulls, not sure if you are looking for "Black Herefords" or Simmentals, but there is semen available for both. I am sure that all of the larger AI companies have white face Simmentals, and I think I recall seeing a Black Hereford advertised in the Origen catalog,

Ky I meant half black angus half Hereford bull but maybe that would be bad cuz with recessive gene you have a one fourth shot of getting red calf.

 

[NECowboy]

We have few black baldy cows here. They usually weaned bigger steers every year even if it's only 3/4 Angus steer and the cows are very fertile. That said stay away from using Hereford bulls or black Hereford bulls on black baldy cows, the calves will have too much Hereford in them. And the only one con I see in black baldy cows is that they're carrying red gene from Hereford side.

So would you then recommend breeding the replacement baldies back to a Black angus bull? Then you got the progeny of that where you prob want to do Hereford and alternate?

 

[Ky hills]

I have some Angus x Hereford, baldies. I like them fine for cows, most all of them that I have had have consistently raised good calves. Most of the heifers that I buy to resell as bred replacements have been BWF. As far as baldie bulls, not sure if you are looking for "Black Herefords" or Simmentals, but there is semen available for both. I am sure that all of the larger AI companies have white face Simmentals, and I think I recall seeing a Black Hereford advertised in the Origen catalog,

Ky I meant half black angus half Hereford bull but maybe that would be bad cuz with recessive gene you have a one fourth shot of getting red calf.

I wondered if that was what you meant. I actually have thought about using a BWF bull, and almost left one intact out of a registered Hereford cow, but didn't. My herd is already pretty well crossed with a lot of Hereford influence. If not for the red color gene coming out in some of the calves, I really don't see much difference than in some of the other breed crosses.
I used a Hereford bull this year on some straight bred Herefords and bwf cows in hopes of getting some heifer calves to retain.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I have some black and red baldies. I've only had a few heifers that I sold at the sale barn, kept the rest or sold them private treaty. The best way to make a black baldie calf is to use a Hereford bull on Angus cows.

 

[Rafter S]

The best way to make a black baldie calf is to use a Hereford bull on Angus cows.

Depending on where you are. I could argue that the best way to produce black baldys is by using a Hereford bull on black Brangus cows.

 

[JMJ Farms]

The best way to make a black baldie calf is to use a Hereford bull on Angus cows.

Depending on where you are. I could argue that the best way to produce black baldys is by using a Hereford bull on black Brangus cows.

I agree with that 200%. But I always referred to Hereford/Brangus cross as super baldies. They make a fine momma cow.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I have some black and red baldies. I've only had a few heifers that I sold at the sale barn, kept the rest or sold them private treaty. The best way to make a black baldie calf is to use a Hereford bull on Angus cows.

I do it both ways and like the cross just as well no matter which breed is the sire.

 

[Muddy]

We have few black baldy cows here. They usually weaned bigger steers every year even if it's only 3/4 Angus steer and the cows are very fertile. That said stay away from using Hereford bulls or black Hereford bulls on black baldy cows, the calves will have too much Hereford in them. And the only one con I see in black baldy cows is that they're carrying red gene from Hereford side.

So would you then recommend breeding the replacement baldies back to a Black angus bull? Then you got the progeny of that where you prob want to do Hereford and alternate?

No I didn't suggest it to breed them back to a black Angus bull. We just use a black Angus on everything here but if I have more resources, I would breed the black baldy cows to a Charolais or a black Sim and I can breed my black Angus cows to a red Hereford bull.

Black baldy steers, especially if it's a big group, brings 10 more cents than black steers at one of the local sale barns here. But red baldy steers and featherneck steers are 5-10 cents less than black steers. Yellow and grey baldies (black baldy X Charolais) sells just same as black steers, but the chances that they will be a bit heavier than most black steers.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I have some black and red baldies. I've only had a few heifers that I sold at the sale barn, kept the rest or sold them private treaty. The best way to make a black baldie calf is to use a Hereford bull on Angus cows.

I do it both ways and like the cross just as well no matter which breed is the sire.

I can agree to that TT. My reasoning was good Angus cows are easier and cheaper to come by than good Hereford cows. I do have a question, which cross wean the bigger calf? My guess is it would be the Hereford over the Angus, because of udder quality and quantity of milk.

 

[Kingfisher]

We have few black baldy cows here. They usually weaned bigger steers every year even if it's only 3/4 Angus steer and the cows are very fertile. That said stay away from using Hereford bulls or black Hereford bulls on black baldy cows, the calves will have too much Hereford in them. And the only one con I see in black baldy cows is that they're carrying red gene from Hereford side.

So would you then recommend breeding the replacement baldies back to a Black angus bull? Then you got the progeny of that where you prob want to do Hereford and alternate?

You know at that point when you got some good "baldy" cows a stout Red Angus will put some money makers on the ground for ya.

 

[Muddy]

I have some black and red baldies. I've only had a few heifers that I sold at the sale barn, kept the rest or sold them private treaty. The best way to make a black baldie calf is to use a Hereford bull on Angus cows.

I do it both ways and like the cross just as well no matter which breed is the sire.

I can agree to that TT. My reasoning was good Angus cows are easier and cheaper to come by than good Hereford cows. I do have a question, which cross wean the bigger calf? My guess is it would be the Hereford over the Angus, because of udder quality and quantity of milk.

That IF they are quality Hereford cows with excellent udders and not banana sized teats. Impossible to find a good group of weaned or yearling Hereford heifers at this moment.

 

[True Grit Farms]

TT, has some quality Hereford cattle Muddy.

 

[littletom]

We have 80 cows mostly black keep 3 bulls, separate herds. Had a horned Hereford for last 3 years sold him this year. Kept a lot of fancy baldie heifers first ones calved this year. Really like them a lot. Some of our cows go back to gerts 15 plus years ago. We did get a few red baldies kept a couple them too. Going to run all black bulls next 3-4 years, then get another horned Hereford bull to put in the bull group.

 

[Kingfisher]

We have 80 cows mostly black keep 3 bulls, separate herds. Had a horned Hereford for last 3 years sold him this year. Kept a lot of fancy baldie heifers first ones calved this year. Really like them a lot. Some of our cows go back to gerts 15 plus years ago. We did get a few red baldies kept a couple them too. Going to run all black bulls next 3-4 years, then get another horned Hereford bull to put in the bull group.

Just curious. What kind if grass? Where are you? I like that size of program.

 

[JMJ Farms]

We have 80 cows mostly black keep 3 bulls, separate herds. Had a horned Hereford for last 3 years sold him this year. Kept a lot of fancy baldie heifers first ones calved this year. Really like them a lot. Some of our cows go back to gerts 15 plus years ago. We did get a few red baldies kept a couple them too. Going to run all black bulls next 3-4 years, then get another horned Hereford bull to put in the bull group.

Sounds like a good plan to me :nod: