Brahman x Hereford or Hereford x Brahman

[danthecattleman]

I am looking to add raising F1 Brahman x Hereford replacement heifers for sale to commercial guys. I mostly see Hereford cows bred with Brahman bulls however what are the pros/cons of this versus running a Hereford bull with Brahman cows?

 

[Australian Cattleman]

Brahman over Hereford is the best way to go. Like the black baldy Angus over Hereford is the best way to go. I breed Brahman over South Devon which seems better than the other way.
Colin

 

[morecows]

I was wondering the same thing, so started priceing Brahman heifers. They were from 1600.00- 2250.00 open. Heavy breed Brahman cows 2-4 years old were 3500.00 - 4500.00. I dont know how much Hereford heifers or breed cows cost yet. But at the price for the Brahman cattle It would take me 4.5 years to break even if I sold the F1 goldens fore 1000.00 ea. That was with me buying 10-15 brahman cows. It seems to me that the Money would be in breeding and selling the brahman cattle.

? If i bought an F1 cow & F1 bull tigerstrip when they breed what type would i have then? would they be a good replacement cow for commercial.

 

[cherokeeruby']

I was wondering the same thing, so started priceing Brahman heifers. They were from 1600.00- 2250.00 open. Heavy breed Brahman cows 2-4 years old were 3500.00 - 4500.00. I dont know how much Hereford heifers or breed cows cost yet. But at the price for the Brahman cattle It would take me 4.5 years to break even if I sold the F1 goldens fore 1000.00 ea. That was with me buying 10-15 brahman cows. It seems to me that the Money would be in breeding and selling the brahman cattle.

? If i bought an F1 cow & F1 bull tigerstrip when they breed what type would i have then? would they be a good replacement cow for commercial.

If you cross a F1 cow with an F1 bull you would get F2, which would not be consistent, the F2 animal could be anwhere between pure brahman in appearance and function to pure hereford in function and appearance.

Not all Brahman cows cost that much, you should continue to look around. Buying older cows say 9 years old and up would probably be fairly inexpensive, they should have 4 or 5 more good years in them. If you find a few outstanding ones you could always AI her to a Brahman bull and get a replacement.

 

[Brandonm2]

I was wondering the same thing, so started priceing Brahman heifers. They were from 1600.00- 2250.00 open. Heavy breed Brahman cows 2-4 years old were 3500.00 - 4500.00. I dont know how much Hereford heifers or breed cows cost yet. But at the price for the Brahman cattle It would take me 4.5 years to break even if I sold the F1 goldens fore 1000.00 ea. That was with me buying 10-15 brahman cows. It seems to me that the Money would be in breeding and selling the brahman cattle.

? If i bought an F1 cow & F1 bull tigerstrip when they breed what type would i have then? would they be a good replacement cow for commercial.

Texas A&M did a study on this just recently with help from Michigan State. They found that the F2 Brahman-Herefords actually outperformed the F1s. I don't know if there was some color variation or not. I don't have a link to the original paper; but I read an article on it in the Alabama BCIA newsletter
http://www.albcia.org/October_Newsletter.pdf
You have to scroll down to page 10 to get to it. You could probably call or email one of those Texas A&M guys to find out if the variation between the calves increased in the F2s and if they think an F1xF1 cross is going to be a money maker or not.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Its hard to argue with a study. but i cant see a F1 cow that is /not a calf /not outperform a F2. what i mean is a F1 cant reproduce herself her offsprings will perform better on the feedlot than a F1 but it takes a f1 moma to put it there i woundnt recommend using a F1 bull at all .i would rather use a 3/4 herf 1/4 bra bull on f1s cows now speaking from the experiance ive had with them ill take the bra/herf F1 cow anytime.i went the brahman cow herf bull route originally would rather go hereford cow bra bull if i had to do over only one brahman to deal with that way ;-)

 

[Brandonm2]

I am NOT recommending it; but the research indicates that the Hereford-Brahman F2 cow is ~an equal to her F1 parents. This research is NOT done yet and early data may not hold up over the test of time. It would certainly be much easier to straight breed tiger stripes than maintain a Hereford herd to produce new F1s IF there is not a significant production loss.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I only have two bra/herf F1S left in my herd they are older than dirt i raised them from pups. Its going to be a sad day when i have to part with um they have been great cows when i had more every body wanted to buy um but no one wants to raise them

 

[danthecattleman]

alacowman did you have any calving problems with your hereford cows bred to brahman and what problems did you have with the brahman cows/hereford bull combo? Handling issues?

 

[Ryder]

Dan if you are in the south and fighting heat and bugs for which the Brahman is better adapted, why would you want to use Hereford cows and Brahman bull? You will have more cows than bulls, so it seems to me that it is more logical to have Brahman cows (more animals) and Hereford bull.

I often pass a place with Brahman cows and a Hereford bull. On hot, sunny days the cows are up and grazing. The bull is resting in the shade. He just doesn't like that heat.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

alacowman did you have any calving problems with your hereford cows bred to brahman and what problems did you have with the brahman cows/hereford bull combo? Handling issues?

Never had a problem calving. had one malpresentation-head turned back- otherwise they spit calves out like watermelon seeds. north ala winters are kind of harsh on bra cows it was hard to keep them in good condition.if i was farther south the bra cow would have been fine. thats why i would have chose hereford cows & bra bull but its no secret the brahman is a differant animal once you learn them youll be fine :hat:

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Dan if you are in the south and fighting heat and bugs for which the Brahman is better adapted, why would you want to use Hereford cows and Brahman bull? You will have more cows than bulls, so it seems to me that it is more logical to have Brahman cows (more animals) and Hereford bull.

I often pass a place with Brahman cows and a Hereford bull. On hot, sunny days the cows are up and grazing. The bull is resting in the shade. He just doesn't like that heat.

I agree with your point, but I can't resist pointing out that generally a bull spends more time resting in the shade than the cows do, no matter what the breed. Also, I would personally rather handle a herd of Hereford cows than a herd of Brahman cows.

 

[Beefy]

i would personally rather have brahman cows and a hereford bull. i like brahmans and always have. they are very well adapted to my area. however, they are very expensive. also they can be temperamental if mishandled. however they are excellent mothers and very protective of their calves and always wean a great calf. heat tolerant, disease and insect resistant, longevity, very little calving problems, etc. ive heard that brahman cows dont really like other breed bulls, but i dont know how true that is. if hes the only bull around she cant resist his advances.

with hereford cows, the biggest PRO i see is that you can get good hereford cows for cheap and a good brahman bull for cheap! its probably easier to get hereford cows too. if you get good milkers they will wean a great calf and supposedly herefords are as gentle as they come? like all breeds, some brahman bulls may throw some big calves and herefords may have more calving difficulty if you dont pay attention to whats going on.

Another thing to take into consideration is that you might change your mind or want to try something different down the road. if you have brahman cows you can breed them to angus, hereford, simmental, etc but all the calves with be eared. if you have hereford cows you can breed to an angus, brangus, simmental, etc.

in my case, it would make more sense for me to get brahman cows since i have other eared cattle that i could use a hereford bull on. i wouldnt to use a brahman bull on already eared cows.

either way will work equally as well, its just up to your preference.

 

[danthecattleman]

Thanks guys for the great feedback. As a follow up question, does anyone know if I breed red brahman with hereford will I get tigerstripes or just solid red and white face? I prefer the red brahman just for eye appeal. :cboy:

 

[ALACOWMAN]

To get consistent tigers you need gray brahman.with red youll get more red white face. either one makes great momas

 

[cherokeeruby']

Thanks guys for the great feedback. As a follow up question, does anyone know if I breed red brahman with hereford will I get tigerstripes or just solid red and white face? I prefer the red brahman just for eye appeal. :cboy:

Here are what the calves looked like when we ran a hereford bull with our red brahman cows.

 

[danthecattleman]

Good looking calves...thanks for the pic...now I know what to expect.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Just get some straight Brafords and call it a done deal. I would always put my tolerance traits in the cows rather than the bull, since they outnumber the bull 30:1. I run Brafords with Angus bulls. Bulls stay in the shade most of the day but get real busy when the sun goes down. Cows graze all day and raise calves.