russoniellov1
Member
what do you guys think of british whites , they look mighty fine, is it worth my time to start a pure bred operation, or maybe just cross them on angus cows.
russoniellov1":1ax8rri8 said:what do you guys think of british whites , they look mighty fine, is it worth my time to start a pure bred operation, or maybe just cross them on angus cows.
Jwest":1ioeitgz said:Being a breeder of British White cattle and having crossed 10 registered Angus cattle more than once with a British White bull in my early years of building my herd, I feel I must comment on the thread regarding the color result of the cross.
You DO NOT always get a black calf or a black calf with a white line back. Many of my resulting crosses were perfectly marked as a British White, and that includes male and female calves, and NONE were solid black. Many of the bulls were placed into commercial bull service.
That linebacked marking is not just the impact of the Angus coming through. In the very ancient history of this breed, line back markings are pervasive and part of this breed. You will almost never, and I never, got a perfectly black calf from the cross of Angus and British White. The British White dominates the cross, thus you either get the lineback marking are a white calf that is classic British White. The resulting calves from Angus/BW X heifers will most likely be classically marked British White, but there's no guarantee. As with a highly purebred British White, or even the pairing of two American Fullblood British White's, you can get the lineback marking. It is one of the oldest markings of cattle in the history of the world, you will find it in the ancient cave paintings of thousands of years ago, and it is a pervasive trate that recurs in the polled British White and in the horned White Park.
You can calm down an Angus with the British White Cross, and certainly in a commercial operation, you will get excellent replacement calves from the cross and saleable commercial bulls as well as excellent beef steers.
I would like to see someone cross some registered Brahmins with a British white bull and see the resulting coloration and disposition. I think it would become something very commercially viable, and I'd be willing to provide a bull to accomplish that.
There isn't much reason to use Angus anymore to cross with the British white, while the resulting calves are good, mine certainly were, but there are more purebred British White calves and older females available now so the need to cross to create a herd in the long term is not really necessary. I chose Angus because their body style and beef quality were comparable and I wanted to retain strong color points in my British whites, which wouldn't have happened with a cross with something like a Charloais. But, if you recognize their potential to bring a gentle nature to your herd and interesting coloration that your buyers will like, I think crossing with female Brahmins is an interesting direction to go in.
http://www.texasbritishwhitecattle.com