Building that perfect cow

[Tbrake]

Just like everyone else, I'm trying to build the perfect cow. Maintains condition, raises big calf, breeds back well, and so on. I have 60 cows here at the house with good working equipment to play with. They are all nice, young angus cows. Milk well, and all raise a pretty good calf. I have bred them gelveih, angus, Hereford with no major difference in ww. I am not biased to any breed. I have used semen from both Genex and select sires, again not biased. I've been researching simmental, charolais, and Brahman bulls. Looking to add more hip to my calves, not real worried about adding a bunch of milk. Lots of questions and lots of possible answers. Looking for recommendations from people who have been in the same shoes. Bulls I have used in the past. Right answer, final answer, chisum, victor 719t. Gelvieh calves were bull bred.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Where are you located? Might try limousin. Adding muscle is what they do.

 

[RanchMan90]

I would probably use them ol red cows (herf or Angus), that way you can color the calves any way you want to :2cents:

 

[Nesikep]

We're all looking for the perfect cow.. I find they come one by one! I have a couple that are darned close to it, they're Gelbvieh/Shorthorn, with a little Saler perhaps.. I do have some Limo cross heifers coming up, they are nice, but I think they might grow to be bigger cows.. a bit of Gelbvieh makes them really nice and stouter, but without it they seem to lack some presence

 

[elkwc]

What is the perfect cow for one isn't for another. When I decided to get back into the cow business I planned to purchase all Hereford cows and use the Angus bulls the lady has that I date. Due to the price of Hereford females the last two years I went with Black and Red Angus females. The blacks were registered. Monday finally purchased some Hereford females from a good L1 herd and will cross them with Angus. Most of the bulls we've used have been Angus. Currently have one Balancer. And some of the previous bulls had a little Maine, Simmi and Limi in them. In my experience the Angus and Hereford/Angus cross has performed as well as anything and sold better. I just weaned the heaviest calf I've ever weaned. He is out of a good registered daughters of WP and his sire is a high performing son of HD. He weaned 150-200 lbs heavier than the Balancer calves some of which were 2-3 weeks older. In the end the bloodlines makes as much difference as anything. And then some breeds and some bloodlines perform better in some environments. I would never tell anyone what a perfect cow for them would be.We each have to find out for ourselves. Another factor in breed selection is how are you going to market them and if at a sale what sells the best in your area. I've been watching some auctions online this week. To get a feel for the market and also see what it is in other areas. I've seen more cattle cut off at sales this week than I have in the previous years when I've watched. Today there was some red and black angus calves off the same ranch and a buyer asked them to cut the blacks off. They brought 20 dollars a hundred more than the reds. Here I've never seen them cut them off. In some areas the Char crosses were selling near the top and in others they were being docked. The same with Herefords, Simis and others. My only suggestion is to set down and decide what will work best for you and then breed towards that. In the end you may try a few breeds and several bloodlines before you find the animal you desire.

 

[dun]

I find they come one by one!

Exceptional but not perfect, only becuase I don;t believe anything is perfect. Granny and her daughters, grand daughters and great grand daughters. We have a couple of others that are in the same quality range. Granny was angus, when we got her both ear tattoos had been blotched so I assumed she had been registered. Her daughters are Flek sired and their daughters and grand daughters are Red Angus or Hereford sired. The others that are exceptional have some Gelbvieh or Hereford but are Red Angus based. Going back to the quote, it depends on the particular nick that you get with a breeding. Sometimes it doesn;t work even using the same cow and bull combination. That's where it goes back to the nick. But one preponderant animal can put a mark on it's calves more often then not. The trick is finding that preponderant animal and then finding the one that nicks to most often.

 

[Nesikep]

well.. perfection may happen, but it's going to be localized... what's perfect for me most likely isn't perfect for you!

I completely agree about finding the nick.. Caddy made awesome calves when bred Gelbvieh.. bred Limo.. they just don't work great, even though many other good cows work with the Limo.. after breeding Caddy to the Limo twice and not being terribly impressed, she's bred to her son this year (gelbvieh sired).. maybe that'll work better.. should find out starting in about 6 weeks

This heifer here turned out to be about as good as I can hope for.. definitely sets the bar high at least.. docile, not too big, great hooves and udder, and makes great calves.. Longevity ought to be there.. Momma is 12 and doing fine, grandma was my "granny" Rosie that had 16, and her mother had 14 calves.

 

[Caustic Burno]

About the time you get it almost right you die and the kids run them through the salebarn before the last shovel of dirt lands.

There is always a better cow.

 

[Tbrake]

Thanks for all the replys. Some good information. Hopefully this will help narrow it down a little. Based out of se Kansas, 95% is fescue, a few bramuda pastures. What's everyone think about breeding Brahman? Some of the Brahman cross cows I've had in the past seemed very good. Raised the biggest calf, and seemed to hold condition very well. I know Brahman heifers are highly sought after in this area, but how do the steers go through the sale barn? I wasn't smart enough to compare them back then.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Thanks for all the replys. Some good information. Hopefully this will help narrow it down a little. Based out of se Kansas, 95% is fescue, a few bramuda pastures. What's everyone think about breeding Brahman? Some of the Brahman cross cows I've had in the past seemed very good. Raised the biggest calf, and seemed to hold condition very well. I know Brahman heifers are highly sought after in this area, but how do the steers go through the sale barn? I wasn't smart enough to compare them back then.

Forty percent of the US herd is Brahman influenced they are absolutely a calf raising machine. First Brahman are not for every environment or person. Brimmers are lead and if mistreated will never forget,they do not do cowboy well, it is more about being a cattleman and understanding the breed.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We like a Hereford F1 cow with a simi or limi bull.
Have had more maternal success with RA than BA.
So a rwf cow with a black terminal bull.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Forty percent of the US herd is Brahman influenced

You cite that all the time, can you provide a source?

 

[Caustic Burno]

Forty percent of the US herd is Brahman influenced

You cite that all the time, can you provide a source?

http://www.brahman.org/PDFs/Utilizing-B ... ystems.pdf

 

[Muddy]

So....All it says 40% of beef cows are located in subtropical areas in United States.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Go back and reread the whole paragraph

 

[Caustic Burno]

I know it hurts but Angus is not the number one breed of the world.
I have one standing in my pasture I am just not pasture or genetic blind.
13% of the cattle in the USA are located in Texas alone with the majority Brahman influence

 

[Caustic Burno]

The problem with most cattlemen is they are breed whores versus cash.
I am looking for call girl prices not street corner. I don't care if it is a musk ox cross that mashes the scales and grades that brings top dollar.
In this environment nothing will out perform the Brahman crossbred calf
or bring the premium.

 

[Son of Butch]

13% of the cattle in the USA are located in Texas alone with the majority Brahman influence

Wal-Mart has to get their beef somewhere. Never hear of anyone bragging certified Brahman beef.

Seriously though, show ring has chased building the perfect cow for decades upon decades and has contributed little.
Goal should be building a profitable herd. Only 2 types of cows, good cows (profitable) and bad cows (not profitable)
Best a commercial man can hope for is a herd of Very Good cows.
IF you are in a part of the country that requires % of Brahman to build a herd of Very Good cows so be it.

 

[Caustic Burno]

13% of the cattle in the USA are located in Texas alone with the majority Brahman influence

Wal-Mart has to get their beef somewhere.
Never hear anyone bragging certified Brahma beef.

Seriously though, show ring has chased building the perfect cow for decades upon decades and has contributed little.
Goal should be building profitable cows. Only 2 types of cows, good cows (profitable) and bad cows (not profitable)
Best a commercial man can hope for is a herd of Very Good cows.
IF you are in a part of the country that requires % of Brahman to build a herd of Very Good cows so be it.[/

We brag all the the time by selling bigger better calves under CAB

 

[Son of Butch]

13% of the cattle in the USA are located in Texas alone with the majority Brahman influence

Wal-Mart has to get their beef somewhere. Never hear anyone bragging certified Brahman beef.

Seriously though, show ring has chased building the perfect cow for decades upon decades and has contributed little.
Goal should be building profitable cows. Only 2 types of cows, good cows (profitable) and bad cows (not profitable)
Best a commercial man can hope for is a herd of Very Good cows.
IF you are in a part of the country that requires % of Brahman to build a herd of Very Good cows so be it

We brag all the the time by selling bigger better calves under CAB this was added by Caustic Bruno not me

Because of his admiration for me...C.B. tried to steal my post by adding the bottom line to make it appear as my endorsement.
I've never owned a % Brahman... and marketers do their best to hide it whenever they put either Brahman or Kangaroo meat in their products.

Buyers never brag about buying Brahmans, it's only the sellers bragging that they got rid of 'em...