Breeding some crossbred happiness

[OzssieDave19]

So I'm running a hand full of females. I started with black baldy cows. Joined them to Char bull sold them, kept the heifers and have now joined them to an Angus. Hire bull. I have also got one bb heifer ai to a Speckle Park.

So I was thinking. As I am a little guy my bull will always be dictated by what I can borrow or hire or ai. If I keep daughters every few years will I end up with a multi breed super cow? My home raised heifers are vaccinated, pest free and very quiet. Easy calving, fatten well as they are spoilt and give me a lot of enjoyment.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Sounds like you need to stick with AI...but you won't end up with a ""super cow breed""just from crossbreeding.. that takes years of selection of traits and breeding in a certain direction to lock in a consistent composition..but by that time you've lost what makes a ""crossbred"" heterosis ..what your doing makes a good cow..its just all over the place without using the right Bulls..most people with a hodgepodge herd, clean up the calves with a purebred bull..

 

[OzssieDave19]

That's a fair point. Most people do end up pulling in a pure bred to clean it up I think that's how angus became popular that black coat covers a lot lol. I guess my main idea is use the best animal I can lay my hands on the day but not bog down on breed. It should give me nice x bred cows that make beef.

 

[WalnutCrest]

That's a fair point. Most people do end up pulling in a pure bred to clean it up I think that's how angus became popular that black coat covers a lot lol. I guess my main idea is use the best animal I can lay my hands on the day but not bog down on breed. It should give me nice x bred cows that make beef.

Efficiency of production in your cow herd should be job #1. The cow herd will be the source of your greatest expenses, your greatest frustration and your greatest opportunity for improvement. Lock down maternal function and efficiency (i.e., how many pounds of beef can they produce per acre per year at the lowest cost), and go from there.

Good luck to you, sir!