Bull Breed Selection

[cloud9cattle]

Good Morning,

I am located in Central Texas and recently purchased 10 brangusxangus and super baldy heifers averaging about 300 pounds and me being the type of person I am have already thinking ahead to next spring as part of developing my plan for the business have been looking at different bloodlines in bulls. Now I wont be purchasing a bull until the heifers are a good 750-800 pounds I am still curious as to what breeds are good to use on first heifers. I do not plan to AI because I do not have the facilities or the training to do so. I was speaking to a neighbor and reccomended using a longhorn,corriente, or even a jersey bull on them. I really dont want to do that because i feel like its almost a waste of a calf. What are yall thoughts?

 

[Taurus]

I would use a calving ease Brangus bull if it were me for just on heifers.

 

[Rahe Family Belties]

A calving ease Angus would still give you a bit of ear or white face and look like a Brangus cross.
Heifers would still be valuable replacements and steers could go right to the feedlot.

 

[Nesikep]

300 lbs is darned light, they may take quite some time to get to breeding size... How old are they? Rather than trying to breed them as early as possible and putting huge emphasis on a calving ease bull, I'd probably rather keep them open a few months longer and have a better bull selection available. I think they were weaned too early, and/or came from not very good milking cows, perhaps heifers themselves. I do think putting a jersey or longhorn bull on them would be a bit of a waste of a calf, especially if you had to buy the bull to do it... I think waiting until they're a correct size and using a brangus or angus bull on them would both provide you with a uniform calf crop and a more valuable one.

My two cents worth.. and welcome

 

[Taurus]

At last he knows that the heifers are not ready for breeding. That's why he is waiting till they are in 750-800lbs. Anyways I'm still sticking with Brangus or Angus for the heifers.

 

[Brute 23]

Don't need a heifer bull. If they are quality animals they will be just fine with a good, young, bull. Brangus, Angus, Hereford, Char, all would make for nice calves.

 

[BRYANT]

My cattle are all Brahman and Brahman cross and I think Brahman cattle can have their calves when others can't , that being said I would use an Angus or Brangus the first time then I think that a Char. is a very good cross there after. You will find you are going to get alot of different opinios on this question everyone has their likes . But I sure would not use the bulls you listed !!!!!

 

[Nesikep]

I'd be weary of a Char bull.. Perhaps if you were AI'ing from a well known calving ease sire I'd go with it.

Around here, my heifers are usually in the 900-1000 lb range at breeding (14 months) and they do well for me, but they also had good milk for 8 months and were 650+ lbs at weaning... Being weaned around the 300 lb range I believe is too early for them. If you're buying the bull, I'd chose a good balance between BW, calving ease, and growth, and Angus or Brangus would be my choices given what you are starting with, and that way you can keep him for a few years... If anything I'd delay breeding to accomodate that bull.

two more cents for you

 

[BRYANT]

I'd be weary of a Char bull.. Perhaps if you were AI'ing from a well known calving ease sire I'd go with it.

Would you be "weary" just for the first time or would you never want to breed them to Char. ?

 

[Taurus]

I'd be weary of a Char bull.. Perhaps if you were AI'ing from a well known calving ease sire I'd go with it.

Would you be "weary" just for the first time or would you never want to breed them to Char. ?

I would be weary of a char bull on first time heifers but if you can find a right Char bull for heifers I don't see it as a problem. But in this situation, I wouldn't use char bull on this specific group of heifers.

 

[Rafter S]

If these heifers are the only cattle you have, then I would also wait until they're larger for the first breeding, and just buy a good bull and don't worry about birth weights too much. That way you won't be sacrificing quality in your later calves just for the sake of calving ease with the first ones.

If you have other cattle, and are buying a bull just to get these heifers bred, then you can breed them at the 750 - 800 lbs as you said, and get almost any kind of calving ease bull.

 

[cloud9cattle]

I apperciate the responses. Just to clerify I do intend to wait till they are 65-75% of their mature weight. With the market the way it is I was able to purchase these heifers off a neighbor who was pulling calves early off of his first calvers. I like the CHAR. cross on super baldie and brangus influenced cows however i do believe they will be to much on first and even second calf heifers. I like angus and brangus however would the use of a brangus bull back on brangus cross cattle add to much brahman influence? I plan to breed up over time and through generations build up to the replacements I want to use as my foundation.

 

[Nesikep]

What Taurus said, I'd be weary of a char bull while they're young.

I don't know the quality of the breeding of these heifers, but if I were to do things over again myself, I'd make sure I have a couple *really good* heifers (or even cows) to start with... If I had these anyhow, I guess I'd keep them and breed them too. We started off with a bunch of bred heifers 22 years ago, and we had a nightmare the first year, I can't remember how big they were, but we bought some calves from the same place and they were in the 350 lb range. Of the 22 head of cattle we bought, we've culled all but 6 (soon to be 4) bloodlines completely. 5 of the bloodlines we have are from the bred heifers we bought, and the remaining one is from one of the calves we bred the following year. Doing it over, I would start with at least some known good stock, and I don't know if what you have qualifies.

 

[Limomike]

They wouldnt have any more brangus influence in them than the already got. Brangus around here sells good, so I would stay with it.

 

[cloud9cattle]

Weve even played with the notion selling them before winter and using the money off of the weight increase and using the money in the spring to buy purebred stock. Would that be a better route?

 

[cloud9cattle]

 

[cow pollinater]

I would cull the big one in the middle and then breed the rest back to a low birth weight angus bull. It looks like you already have a little ear and some white faces so little black calves on their sides that grow like weeds could make you a ton of money.
An average brangus bull would add around five pounds of weight at birth and an average char would add about eight... There are calving ease bulls in both breeds but there are also angus that go above and beyond in calving ease and the best of the best beats the best of the rest when it comes to something like calving ease, especially when you have both ears and white faces as neither are known for outstanding calving ease but will both add tons of growth from heterosis. Plus, angus calves will sell at a premium.
As far as putting some weight on them and selling them, I've never been able to make that work(I never have, but I worked on an operation that did) outside of stockers in the thousand head range. I think if you have them bought, put them to work. With prices being what they are it may take a while to get your money back out of them but if you sold them you'd turn right back around and buy back into a high market. Your area might be different but for me a five hundred pound calf in May on a truck headed out of state is worth just as much as an eight hundred pound calf a few months later that I have more input costs in.

 

[Nesikep]

I like them, especially the closer one in the first pic is more my style... I'm figuring they're over 400 in these pictures from what I can see

 

[Kingfisher]

Where in Central Texas are you located?

 

[cloud9cattle]

I apperciate it. We really like her. Named her "red" for obvious reasons very docile. Regarding the taller black one shes not in the plans to keep or a part of the group we are discussing. We bought her at the sale as an open heifer and they pulled off a whale of a calf off of her. Shes gained about 200 pounds and will be put with the neighbors angus bull next week. Once shes bred she will be sent back and sold as a bred. We only gave 550 for her. Should make return on her. I will post pics of the others shortly. On a side note i found it easier going to photobucket to post pictures than the website listed in the instructions.

We are located in Temple/Belton off HWY36